FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015 44 survive UAE scare

NELSON: Zimbabwe enjoyed their first victory with Raza’s for 46. of the World Cup yesterday but not before they The next four fell at regular intervals. were given a fright by the tournament minnows Zimbabwe’s rock, Hamilton from the . Masakadza went for one, hit on the back pad in The Africans’ four-wicket win at Nelson’s front of middle stump and Chakabva, on 35, was Saxton Oval came with 12 balls to spare and was out hit wicket when he slipped playing back to a set up by an 83-run sixth wicket partnership Tauqir and his foot slipped into the between Sean Williams and . stumps. Williams, the man-of-the-match, finished on made 47 and 76 . But until the Zimbabwe middle- contributed nine to have Zimbabwe 167 for five order duo’s rescue mission the amateurs from before Williams and Ervine combined to all but UAE, led by a banker and an airline purser-both prevent a shock loss. aged 43 — had threatened a huge upset. After Following Ervine’s removal with the score at being sent into bat, the weekend warriors post- 250, Zimbabwe part- ed a UAE all-time record one-day international nered Williams through to the end. total of 285 for seven and then reduced the As Zimbabwe celebrated the win, the UAE-a Test-playing Zimbabweans to 167 for five in the team that survives on a limited diet of interna- 33rd over. tional matches-revelled in their finest SCOREBOARD But they were unable to maintain the pres- performance. sure, allowing Zimbabwe to slip away with Their total of 285 pipped their previous high- Scoreboard at close of play in the World Cup match between United Arab Williams hitting a boundary to end the closest est ODI score of 282 set against Afghanistan last Emirates and Zimbabwe yesterday in Nelson, New Zealand. match in the tournament so far. It gave year and easily bettered their previous best Zimbabwe their first win from two games in against a Test nation of 204 against Bangladesh United Arab Emirates Innings Zimbabwe Innings Pool B, but they looked a shadow of the side in 2008. A. Ali c Ervine b Chatara 7 S. Raza c Chandran b Tauqir 46 that impressed when losing to heavyweights Airline purser and vice-captain A. Berenger c Taylor b Mire 22 R. Chakabva hit wkt b Tauqir 35 South Africa by 62 runs in their tournament made 45 with the bat, steadying the UAE K. Chandran c Chigumbura b Mire 34 H. Masakadza lbw b Javed 1 opener. innings after going to the middle at 40 for two. They were expected to bounce back with a The 35-year-old bolstered K. Khan c Williams b Chatara 45 B. Taylor lbw b Aziz 47 S. Patil c Chakabva b Williams 32 morale-boosting win over the least experienced the innings with his personal best of 67 coming S. Williams not out 76 S. Anwar c Ervine b Williams 67 side in the tournament. Instead the gritty ama- from 50 balls in only his eighth international. R. Mustafa c Taylor b Chatara 4 S. Mire c Patil b Naveed 9 teurs from the Middle East pushed Zimbabwe all His partnership of 82 with (32) A. Javed not out 25 C. Ervine c & b Chandran 42 the way. was a UAE record for the fifth wicket. M. Naveed not out 23 E. Chigumbura not out 14 At the tail, (25 not out) and Extras (b-4 lb-6 nb-1 w-15) 26 Extras(lb-6 w-10) 16 Cautious start (23 not ) both posted their Total (for 7 wickets, 50 overs) 285 Total (for 6 wickets, 48 overs) 286 and made a highest scores and their unbeaten eighth-wicket Fall of wickets: 1-26 A. Ali, 2-40 A. Fall of wickets: 1-64 S. Raza, 2-72 H. cautious start to Zimbabwe’s reply, getting partnership of 53 was also a UAE record. Berenger, 3-122 K. Chandran, 4-134 K. Masakadza, 3-112 R. Chakabva, 4-144 B. through to 64 before UAE skipper and banker was the chief wicket-taker for Khan, 5-216 S. Patil, 6-230 R. Mustafa, 7- Taylor, 5-167 S. Mire, 6-250 C. Ervine. made the breakthrough Zimbabwe with three for 42. — AFP 232 S. Anwar Did not bat: T. Panyangara, T. Chatara, T. Did not bat: M. Tauqir, N. Aziz. Kamungozi : T. Panyangara 9-0-66-0(w-5), T. Chatara 10-1-42-3(nb-1 w-3), S. Mire 8-0- Bowling: M. Naveed 10-1-60-1(w-4), A. 39-2, T. Kamungozi 10-0-53-0, E. Javed 9-0-49-1(w-5), N. Aziz 10-0-53-1, M. India’s sounds of Chigumbura 1-0-12-0(w-2), S. Williams 8- Tauqir 9-0-51-2(w-1), K. Chandran 9-0-59- 0-43-2(w-1), S. Raza 3-0-11-0, H. 1, R. Mustafa 1-0-8-0. Masakadza 1-0-9-0. : Zimbabwe won by 4 wickets. silence irks media

MELBOURNE: Defending champions India nalist R. Kaushik of the WisdenIndia website. World Cup results/standings may be one of the most high-profile teams “There has to be a reason for it, but I don’t at the World Cup, but their reluctance to know what. Pool A interact with the media has frustrated the “Maybe they feel players are misquoted Played won lost tied N/R points run rate New Zealand 2 2 0 0 0 4 +2.624 large contingent of travelling reporters. for the sake of creating a controversy. But it Australia 1 1 0 0 0 2 +2.220 The players have not spoken publicly is a challenge reporting on the Indian Bangladesh 1 1 0 0 0 2 +2.100 since skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni team.” Sri Lanka 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1.960 addressed the mandatory post-match con- Dhoni, one of the most popular crick- Afghanistan 1 0 1 0 0 0 -2.100 ference after the victory over arch-rivals eters in India, rarely gives one-to-one inter- England 1 0 1 0 0 0 -2.220 in Adelaide last Sunday. views and has even gone on record to say Scotland 1 0 1 0 0 0 -3.039 When the squad’s media manager puts he speaks to the media only because his job out a release detailing practice times and requires him to. Pool B India 1 1 0 0 0 2 +1.520 venues, he does not fail to emphasise there During the World in England South Africa 1 1 0 0 0 2 +1.240 will be ‘no media activity’ after training. in 2009 after reports of dissension in the Ireland 1 1 0 0 0 2 +0.618 The earliest a member of the team will team appeared in an Indian newspaper, the Zimbabwe 2 1 1 0 0 2 -0.495 speak now is at the next mandatory pre- entire squad turned up for the media brief- UAE 1 0 1 0 0 0 -0.258 match media conference tomorrow ahead ing and left soon after Dhoni read out a West Indies 1 0 1 0 0 0 -0.618 of the key Pool B match against South statement. Pakistan 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1.520 Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground the No questions were taken, leaving Pool A Pool B next day. International Cricket Council media man- Feb 17, At Dunedin Feb 15, At Adelaide A media release said Dhoni will skip the agers embarrassed and journalists furious. Scotland 142 all out in 36.2 overs (Matt India 300-7 (Virat Kohli 107, conference, leaving his vice-captain Virat “I don’t think the BCCI cares about the Machan 56, Richie Berrington 50) v 74, Shikhar Dhawan 73; Sohail Khan 5-55) Kohli to take questions. While other teams media or understands their needs,” said New Zealand 146-7 v Pakistan 224 all out (Misbah-ul-Haq 76) organise regular media interactions during another Indian journalist Neeru Bhatia. “I find New Zealand won by three wickets India won by 76 runs the six-week tournament, the Indian squad it easier when working with other teams.” Feb 18, At Canberra Feb 16, At Nelson is apparently following a diktat from the International news organisations includ- Bangladesh 267 all out (Mushfiqur Rahim West Indies 304-7 (Lendl Simmons 102, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ing Agence France-Presse have suspended 71, Shakib Al Hasan 63) v Darren Sammy 89) v Ireland 307-6 (Paul to speak publicly only when it is mandated on-field coverage of matches hosted by the Afghanistan 162 all out Stirling 92, Ed Joyce 84, Niall O’Brien 79 by rules.“I think it all boils down to the mis- BCCI since 2012 after the board imposed Bangladesh won by 105 runs not out) Ireland won by four wicket. trust of the media,” said veteran Indian jour- restrictions on picture agencies. —AFP