Brilliant Chigumbura century not enough for Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean captains brutal assault helped his team recover from a desperate situation at 100-5 with less than 20 overs remaining to a competitive 244-8 in their 50 overs before a disciplined bowling performance promised much but just failed to deliver as the Irish reached 245-6 in reply to win with just three balls remaining. Had Zimbabwe fielded to their normal, high standard the result would almost certainly have been different.

Having chosen to bat first and seen the entire top order struggle on a surprisingly difficult pitch, Chigumbura came to the crease at 74-4 in the 25th over with a mountain to climb to justify his decision. But that is exactly what he did.

Cautious at first on the back of a long run of lean scores, the powerful right hander grew in confidence throughout his innings and was ably assisted by Prosper Utseya (26) in a sixth wicket stand of 54 to provide the innings with much needed stability.

Chigumburas half century came from 61 balls with just two fours and a delightful six flicked over deep backward square leg. He was compact and organised but there was nothing to indicate the ferocity to come which saw him move from 50 to 100 in just 20 more deliveries including a further six fours and two sixes, the last of which sailed over long on to raise his century from the final ball of the innings.

Zimbabwes new-look opening pair of Brendan Taylor (1) and Charles Coventry (5) struggled against the new ball and Sean Williams, too, never settled but Tatenda Taibu (45 from 78 balls) and Craig Ervine (27 from 53 balls) spent valuable time at the crease before Chigumbura transformed the innings.

Irelands reply began disastrously for Zimbabwe when Ed Rainsford sprained his ankle bowling the first ball and now faces a battle to regain fitness for the rest of the tournament. But senior spinners Ray Price and Prosper Utseya again bowled superbly for figures of 2-37 and 0-34 respectively in their 10 overs while Shingi Masakadza claimed 2-39 in 6.2 overs.

Alex Cusack (47) and Andre Botha (79) did the majority of the early scoring but it was left to experienced left hander Kevin OBrien to see the Irish to victory with an unbeaten 62 from just 61 balls.

The match did not have official status so Chigumburas remarkable innings will not be recorded in his career statistics but neither will Zimbabwes defeat.

It was the worst fielding performance we have produced since I took over as coach, said a disappointed coach Alan Butcher afterwards. It was diabolical and unacceptable and I told the players that. We didnt score enough runs and it was actually a good effort to get so close to victory given how poorly we fielded.

For Chigumbura it was a day of mixed emotions: Im pleased to have scored the hundred and to get back to form hopefully I can carry it on for the rest of the tournament. But we will have to improve as a team and it was very disappointing to field like we did and to lose.