Taibu hits 107 as Zimbabwe win tour opener
27/02/10
A purposeful century from Tatenda Taibu helped Zimbabwe secure a narrow victory by five runs in their opening tour match on Friday. The visitors batted first and made 281 all out off 49.2 overs at the Sir Frank Worrell Memorial Ground at the UWISPEC complex. In reply the University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor’s XI reached 276-8 off their allotted 50 overs in a closely-fought encounter.
Taibu, the 26-year-old team leader with 24 Tests and 112 ODIs, played his natural game and made 107 from just 92 balls, with 11 fours – most of them square in the off-side. It was a good warm-up ahead of Sunday’s one-off Digicel T20 International against the West Indies at Queen’s Park Oval.
He added 68 for the fourth wicket with Charles Coventry, who made 23. This came after openers Vusi Sabanda (27) and Hamilton Masakadza (38) had seen Zimbabwe advancing to 85-2 at a rate of close to six an over. The best bowlers for the Vice Chancellor’s XI were slow men Nikoli Parris (2-40) and Yannic Cariah (2-43).
In reply, Parris made a cracking 73 from 94 balls, with five boundaries. Teenager Kraigg Brathwaite also hit struck five fours in 80 from 117 balls in a third-wicket stand of 136 which put the Zimbabwe bowlers under pressure as the score reached 200 for just two wickets. After the fall of both, Cariah (24) and keeper Shane Dowrich (23) continued to build with a stand of 40 for the seventh wicket.
However, they both fell to Elton Chigumbura (2-27), and though the Vice Chancellor’s XI got 14 of the 20 they needed from the final over it was just not enough for victory.
The match was watched by former Trinidad and Tobago captain and West Indies batting star Larry Gomes. He was honoured for his contribution to the game in the twin-island republic as well as across the region.
