Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor plays a shot during the ICC World Twenty20 qualifying match against Netherlands at Sylhet Stadium, yesterday. (AFP)

AFP/Dhaka


Skipper Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza kept Zimbabwe’s hopes alive in the World Twenty20 tournament yesterday with a hard-fought five-wicket win over the Netherlands in Sylhet.
Taylor hit a solid 39-ball 49 while Masakadza scored 43 off 45 balls to help Zimbabwe pass their 141-run target with a six off the last ball. When Taylor was dismissed after hitting two fours and a six, 15 runs were needed off the last 11 balls. When the last over began, seven were still needed.
Sean Williams hit a lucky boundary and then ran himself out for 26 with the scores tied. But Vusi Sibanda hit paceman Ahsan Malik for a huge six to give Zimbabwe victory.
Taylor said there was still plenty of room for improvement. “We committed very basic errors on the boundary which cost us 10-15 runs,” he said. “It wasn’t good enough for a professional outfit. Hopefully, we can rectify that against the UAE and we’ll be a chance.”
“We shouldn’t have finished in the last over if we had fielded properly,” said Brendan Taylor, the Zimbabwe captain who was also named the Man of the Match for his well-crafted 49. “We leaked 15-20 runs and we should have restricted them to 120. Tom Cooper obviously played really nicely. But we were really sloppy and we made it a lot more difficult for us than it should have been. Tomorrow, we need to regroup, have a good fielding session and come back on Friday and try and get all three departments right. If we do that, we are going to be tough to beat.”

Left it late
Chasing 141 for victory, Zimbabwe were well served by a second-wicket stand of 62 from 54 deliveries between Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza, though at various stages, they seemed to have left themselves with too much to do. “Definitely, what we felt was wickets in hand was the key,” explained Taylor. “Chasing 140, quick outfield, pretty decent wicket to bat on — if you got wickets in hand, you can always chase 10, 12, 13 runs an over at the end. That was the key to why we got over the line. Hopefully, we can continue that form at the top of the order and it should put us in good stead.
Netherlands skipper Peter Borren felt his team fell 20 runs short. “That said, we’ve got a good varied bowling attack, but we would have been confident with 150,” he said.
The Netherlands, who won the toss and batted, were lifted from a precarious 19-3 to 140-5 by a fighting 58-ball 72 not out from Tom Cooper, including nine fours and a six.
Cooper added an invaluable 52 for the fifth wicket with brother Ben Cooper (20) after spinner Prosper Utseya (2-24) had dismissed opener Stefan Myburgh for a duck off the third ball of the innings.
The Netherlands won their opening match against the United Arab Emirates in Group B. They will now face Ireland tomorrow decide who goes through to the next round. Yesterday’s win keeps Zimbabwe in the race after they lost their first match to Ireland. They face the UAE tomorrow. Bangladesh won both their games in Group A.  The top two teams from the preliminary rounds will join the eight seeded teams in the Super-10 stage starting March 21.

Brief scores
Netherlands 140 for 5 in 20 overs (T. Cooper 72 not out, P. Utseya 2-24) lost to Zimbabwe 146-5 in 20 overs (B. Taylor 49, H. Masakadza 43; P. Seelaar 2-9) by five wickets