End Of The Road For Zim Cricketers

Zimbabwe, with a history of being knocked out in the first round and without a win, followed that pattern after having lost their first game to Sri Lanka by 82 runs Tuesday.

The team became the first in the 12 country tournament to be knocked out of the global cricket festival.

The African nation, however, avoided beating their lowest score in twenty 20 cricket of 84, which they recorded against New Zealand way back in 2010.

This has probably been one of Zimbabwe’s worst appearances at the World Cup and against South Africa with poor batting.

Hamilton Masakadza, who has been in great form, only managed a paltry six runs.

Craig Ervine was Zimbabwe’s top scorer with 37 runs followed by Stuart Matsikenyari who recorded 11 runs while captain Brendan Taylor went out on four while Vusi Sibanda was a big letdown after being dismissed for a duck. This set an easy target of 93 for eight leaving the Proteas in need of 94 runs in 20 overs.

That proved too little as the South Africans, powered on by Richard Levi’s half century and Hashim Amla’s 32 easily beat the target recording 94 runs with 44 balls left and 7,2 overs to spare.

The lessons of the World Cup have ignited debate as to whether the Flame Lilies should continue relying on the same old players or give way to the Under 19 team that has shown signs of promise.

Sri Lanka and South Africa play each other on Saturday for the quarter finals.