Taylor, Cremer shine in Zimbabwe's first win on tour

February 11 2018
Cremer picked up four wickets in the chase.
Zimbabwe had to wait for long for their first win on the tour but when it came, it had to be a massive one as they pummelled Afghanistan by 154 runs, headlined first by Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza's belligerent batting followed by Tendai Chatara and Graeme Cremer's incisive bowling. Eventually, it culminated into a spirited show, something they had failed to showcase through the two T20Is and the previous ODI played so far on this tour to UAE.
Afghanistan were asked to chase 334 on Sunday (February 11), much like they had asked Zimbabwe to in the opening ODI. In just over 10 overs of their chase, Afghanistan lost half their side for 36 on the board with Chatara accounting for three of the first five wickets. There was little possibility for them to emerge out of such rut but the centurion from the first game - Rahmat Shah, combining with Mohammad Nabi didn't shy away from giving it a shot. As a result, they posted a 53-run stand for the sixth wicket before skipper Cremer planned his own show. By removing Nabi and Gulbadin Naib off back to back balls, the Zimbabwe skipper left the opponents reeling further on 89 for 7. The procession continued with Rahmat Shah finally being dismissed on 43 by Blessing Muzarabani. Cremer picked up two more wickets to end with four as Afghanistan were bowled for exactly the same total as Zimbabwe in the first game - 179.
Earlier in the game, Zimbabwe posted a daunting total riding on Brendan Taylor's superlative knock of 125 that came off just 121 balls. He set the stage on fire with eight sixes while combining in useful stands, first with Hamilton Masakadza in an 85-run stand for the second wicket before being part of a more defining partnership with Raza as they stitched a 136-run stand for the fifth wicket. While Masakadza missed out on a fifty by two runs, Raza lost out on his hundred by just eight runs. However, none of that stop Zimbabwe from setting a 334-run target.
The five-match ODI series now stands levelled at 1-1 with the third ODI to be played on Tuesday.
Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 333/5 in 50 overs (Brendan Taylor 125, Sikandar Raza 92; Rashid Khan 2-36) lost to Afghanistan 179 all out in 30.1 overs (Rahmat Shah 43; Graeme Cremer 4-41, Tendai Chatara 3-24) by 154 runs.