Utseya bowled Zimbabwe to another impressive warm-up victory ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup, when they stunned World T20 champions Pakistan by 12 runs yesterday.
Utseya collected four wickets for 15 runs from four overs, as Pakistan, chasing 144 for victory from their 20 overs, were bowled out for 131.
The Zimbabweans, who played a series of limited-overs match against the senior West Indies side last month, and just concluded a brief series against West Indies-A, have now installed themselves as the form side.
They are also now one of the teams to watch in the T20 World Cup, after they also edged Australia by one run in their first warm-up match.
The Pakistanis slumped to 33 for three in the sixth over, but the Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, steadied the innings with a stand of 34 before they were dismissed within five balls of each other to leave Pakistan 67 for five.
Fawad Alam made 32 and Misbah-ul-Haq scored 21 in a stand of 51 for the sixth wicket before the Pakistanis lost their last five wickets for 13 runs in the space of the last 15 balls.
Earlier, Zimbabwe had a slow start to their innings, but Elton Chigumbura lifted them with a brisk knock of 49 not out off 34 balls. His knock included three fours and three sixes.
Opener Hamilton Masakadza hit a useful 33 with other valuable knocks coming from Charles Coventry (30) and Brendon Taylor (20).
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was the most successful bowler with four for 24 from four overs of leg spin.
Zimbabwe have been drawn in Group-B with 2009 runners-up Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Zimbabwe sailed to an exciting one-run win over Australia in their World Twenty20 Championship warm-up game.
Chasing Zimbabwe’s 173 for seven off 20 overs, Australia reached 172 for seven despite gathering 31 runs in the final two overs, to fall painstakingly short of their target.
Australia’s charge was led by the big-hitting left hander opener David Warner who pulverised the Zimbabwe bowling for 72 off 49 balls with five sixes and four fours.
Captain Michael Clarke joined the fray, smashing 49 from 42 balls that included four crisp boundaries, and added 78 for the second wicket off 65 balls with Warner.
When Warner gave leg-spinner Graeme Cremer a return catch in the 14th over, Clarke posted another 35 runs from 23 balls for the third wicket with David Hussey (16).
Hussey became off-spinner Prosper Utseya’s second wicket while Brad Haddin smashed a six in scoring 13 from six balls before becoming the first of two batsmen – Steve Smith was the other – to be run out off consecutive wides in the 19th over as Australia stumbled to 156 for five.
Clarke was the sixth wicket to fall, bowled while attempting a reverse sweep off Chris Mpofu.
With 13 needed in the final over Mitchell Johnson was the third run out victim off a wide delivery as Australia failed to reach their target.
Earlier, Elton Chigumbura blasted an entertaining 76 to haul Zimbabwe around from a shaky position of 36 for four after they won the toss and chose to bat.
He punished all bowlers hitting six huge sixes and five fours before he was caught by Smith on the long-off boundary seeking a third consecutive six off medium pacer Shane Watson.
Chigubura posted 114 for the fifth wicket with Sean Ervine whose 39 came from 30 balls.
Brief scorecard:
Zimbabwe: 173-7 (Elton Chigumbura 76, Sean Ervine 39; Mitchell Johnson 4-23) Australia: 172-7 (David Warner 72, Michael Clarke 49; Prosper Utseya 2-27).
Pakistan started their ICC World T20 campaign on a positive note by winning their first warm up match against Windward Island by 68 runs.
Pakistan were in early trouble after being put in to bat but Mohammad Hafeez struck 57 to propel the defending champions to 160 for seven at the end of the 20 overs.
The visitors were also helped by a short cameo (17 off eight balls) by Misbah-ul-Haq.
Afridi’s men made a poor start losing openers Salmaan Butt and Kamraan Akmal in the initial overs. However, the skipper with Fawad Alam provided some momentum, scoring a 20 each in quick time.
Chasing a stiff target, Windward Island were never in the game once they lost their skipper Johnson Charles to Mohammad Aamer for just 15. All the Pakistani bowlers ended up having a good work-out with Aamer, Afridi , Seed Ajmal and Hafeez picking a scalp each. Keddy Lesporis top scored with 24 for Windward Island.
Ireland suffered a setback in their preparations for the World Twenty20 as they slumped to a nine-wicket thrashing at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago. Ireland fell to 90 all out and the home side raced to their target in just 7.1 overs ten days before the start of the tournament.
Gary Wilson top-scored for Ireland with 37 in a poor batting display, but the next best was Trent Johnston's 16 as the spinners proved too much to handle. Legspinner Samuel Badree opened the bowling as he often does in Twenty20 and removed Paul Stirling, while Sherwin Ganga's offspin collected three lower-order scalps as the innings fell away with 17 ball unused.
Trinidad and Tobago wasted no time in knocking off the runs as William Perkins and Lendl Simmons sped to an opening stand of 88. Boyd Rankin, feeling his way back after injury, was dispatched for 40 from his two overs as the openers cleared the boundary seven times between them.
Ireland will have a chance to make amends when the two teams meet again on Friday. Their first match of the World Twenty20 is on the opening day of the tournament against West Indies in Guyana.
Afghanistan's ICC Twenty20 World Cup-bound cricketers, currently in the UAE to play practice matches against the UAE national team and train at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, were unable to fly out to the West Indies due to air traffic disruptions on account of the volcanic ash in Europe.
"Afghanistan was scheduled to fly to West Indies through London but could not leave as their flight got cancelled due to volcanic ash disruption of flights to Europe. They will now extend their stay and continue to practice at the Sharjah Stadium," Mazhar Khan, the secretary of the Sharjah Cricket Council, told Gulf News.
"Afghanistan played three friendly matches against UAE. They won one match and lost two and had daily practice at the stadium since their return from Kuwait after winning the ACC Elite Trophy," added Khan.
Afghanistan is scheduled to play a practice match at Providence against the hosts on April 27 followed by a match against Ireland the next day. The team will then move to St Lucia to take on India in their first match of the World Cup.
The first friendly against the UAE saw the hosts posting 135 for 8 before Afghanistan were restricted to 114. In the second match, Afghanistan beat UAE by 59 runs. The third match saw UAE chasing down Afghanistan's total of 146 for 6 with two balls to spare.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the schedule of warm-up matches to be played in the lead-up to the ICC World Twenty20 2010 to be staged in the West Indies from 30 April to 16 May.
With just 16 days to go before the first match takes place in Guyana on 30 April, both the men's and women's teams will play a series of warm-up matches against either other competing teams or host XIs where a competing team is not available.
Teams will play their warm-ups from 27 to 29 April in Barbados, St Lucia and Guyana. In line with previous ICC events, none of these matches will carry official Twenty20 International status.
It should be noted in the men's warm-up schedule that India has elected not to play any warm-up matches while Sri Lanka has opted to play only one warm-up match.
Admission is free to all the warm-up matches.
Warm-up matches (Men's)
27 April 2010
0930 Windward XI v Pakistan, Beausejour Cricket Ground, St Lucia
1330 Barbados XI v Bangladesh, Kensington Oval, Barbados
1330 Australia v Zimbabwe, Beausejour Cricket Ground, St Lucia
1330 Ireland v New Zealand, Guyana National Stadium, Guyana
1700 West Indies v Afghanistan, Guyana National Stadium, Guyana
28 April 2010
0930 Sri Lanka v South Africa, Kensington Oval, Barbados
1330 Bangladesh v England, Kensington Oval, Barbados
1330 Ireland v Afghanistan, Guyana National Stadium, Guyana
1700 West Indies v New Zealand, Guyana National Stadium, Guyana
29 April 2010
0930 Windward XI v Australia, Beausejour Cricket Ground, St Lucia
1330 England v South Africa, Kensington Oval, Barbados
1330 Pakistan v Zimbabwe, Beausejour Cricket Ground, St Lucia
Thursday, April 29, 2010
6:14 PM
