Tatenda Taibu guides Zimbabwe to 147 for 2 against Canada in 25 overs - ICC World Cup 2011
Zimbabwe were in a very strong position at the end of 25 overs in their Group A match against Canada in the ICC World Cup 2011. The African team scored 147 runs for the loss of just two wickets half-way through their innings.
Elton Chigumbura won the toss for Zimbabwe and elected to bat first. The wicket at Nagpur was conducive for batting and a high scoring game was expected before the start of play. However, the start of the innings wasn’t a good one for Zimbabwe. The team
lost a couple of early wickets, which gave Canada the edge in the earlier stages of the game.
Brendan Taylor and Charles Coventry opened the innings for Zimbabwe and the pair didn’t have the answers to some accurate bowling. Taylor was dismissed in the very first over of the match, without scoring any run. Coventry too didn’t last long as the flamboyant
batsman was out in the fourth over of the innings after scoring just four runs off 10 balls. The team was struggling at 7 for 2 in just 3.3 overs and they needed a special effort from their veteran player Taibu.
The wicketkeeper batsman didn’t disappoint his team as he played fluently. He dominated the bowlers and lifted the run-rate for his team significantly. With the help of eight boundaries, Taibu amassed 79 runs off 78 balls half way through the innings. Taibu
got good support from Craig Ervine, who rotated the strike early in his innings and unleashed later with a flurry of boundaries. Ervine was unbeaten on 62 from 61 balls with the help of four 4’s and two towering 6’s.
The pair put together an unbeaten partnership of 140 runs and will be looking forward to carry onto the start they got to post a massive target for Canada. The opening spell from Khurram Chohan and Harvir Baidwan was exceptional for Canada, as they didn’t
give away too many runs and also chipped in with a couple of wickets. Both took one wicket each for their team.
However, the support bowlers didn’t bowl well and allowed the batsmen to score too many runs, which may result in a 300 plus score at the end of the Zimbabwean innings. However, there is still plenty of time left in the match and Canada can bounce back at
any stage of the game.