Zimbabwe 215/4 (20 overs) beat Rwanda 71 (18.4 overs) by 144 runs
WINDOEK, Namibia – After shock defeats to Namibia and Uganda severely challenged their T20 World Cup aspirations, Zimbabwe put up their best show against Rwanda to keep their chances alive.
Sikandar Raza led the charge with a special performance. Leading from the front, the skipper opened the batting and hit a quick-fire 58 from 36. His knock included six fours and four sixes. His partner, Tadiwanashe Marumani, too, let it loose and added 50 from 31 balls with the help of three fours and three sixes.
Quick-fire contributions from Ryan Burl (44* from 21) and Luke Jongwe (17* from 4) in the death overs, helped Zimbabwe to 215/4.
A spirited display with the ball ensured that the Rwanda chase never took off. While Richard Ngrava (3/11), and Blessing Muzarabani (1/10) did early damage, Ryan Burl (2/7) hit the middle-order hard.
It was that man, Raza, who finished once more for Zimbabwe. He wiped off the tail with a stylish hat-trick in the 19th over to finish with 3/3.
Despite this win, Zimbabwe sit with only four points on the World Cup Africa Region Qualifiers table and need other results to fall their way in order to qualify for next year’s world cup.
Namibia sit at the top of the Africa Region Qualifier points table. They have four wins from four contests and have eight points to their name.
