SEAN Williams blazed a career-best score, 174 from 101 balls, as Zimbabwe plummeted USA by 304 runs in their final Group A match played at Harare Sports Club on Monday.
The Zimbabwe captain, standing in for the injured Craig Ervine, clobbered 21 fours and five maximums as the locals scored 408/6, their highest One Day International total and the highest score by any team at Harare Sports Club.
Their previous best ODI score was 351 against Kenya in Mombasa in 2001. USA could only go as far as 104 runs in 25.1 overs as the Chevrons go to Bulawayo for the Super Six stage high in confidence.
“I think the multiple contributions from every individual pleased me. All those small contributions played a massive part,” Williams said after the match.
“Even in the fielding, picking up three run-outs in a game is work in the right direction. We don’t have to change much in our game. We have found our momentum and look forward to carrying it.
“It’s a different venue (Bulawayo), and everything about it is different, but still having that crowd behind us is always like having a 12th man.”
Joylord Gumbie got his maiden ODI 50, scoring 78. Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl scored 47 and 48, respectively, while opener Innocent Kaia and Tadiwanashe Marumani chipped in with 32 and 18 runs.
USA captain Monank Patel said they would take the battering as a learning curve.
“We haven’t played our best cricket, and I feel like mentally, we need to be strong and come back stronger in the next game,” he said.
“Our batting department has been struggling, and we got a few chances dropped. Otherwise, it would have been less than 400, but still lots of learnings from this game.
Zimbabwe go into the Super Six matches with four points, and two wins could be enough to take the Chevrons to the World Cup.
Meanwhile, West Indies complicated their chances of qualifying for India 2023 after losing to Netherlands in Super Over at Takashinga Cricket Club in Highfield, Harare on Monday.
Netherlands chased down West Indies’ 374/6 with the game going into the Super Over after the Dutch ended their chess on 374/9.
All-rounder and man of the match Logan van Beek smashed 30 runs in the Super Over before West Indies lost two wickets for eight runs, van Beek again getting to bowl the over-eliminator for his team. Netherlands carry two points into the Super Six while West Indies have zero points.
