UNBEATEN half-century by Chanida Sutthiruiang steered Thailand Women to a convincing five-wicket win over Zimbabwe Women in the fourth Unofficial One Day International played at Takashinga Sports Club on Tuesday to level the four-match series 2-2.
Chasing 213 for victory, Thailand looked comfortable in the run chase with many of their batters getting starts, but Zimbabwe struck each time a partnership threatened to take the game away.
Naruemol Chaiwai, Thailand captain who scored a century in the previous game, was undone by Christabel Chatonzwa and caught by Nomvelo Sibanda for a two-ball duck.
The way the Zimbabwe girls celebrated the demise of Chaiwai appeared as if the match was over. Instead of keeping things simple, the Lady Chevrons tried too many things in a bid to get wickets.
Josephine Nkomo, the stand-in captain in the absence of Mary-Anne Musonda, probably missed the trick when she got Chatonzwa off the attack after taking the prized wicket of Chaiwai.
The opening batter is considered a part-time bowler in international cricket, but the Thailand batters struggled against her.
Chatonzwa was, in fact, the pick of Zimbabwe bowlers with two wickets for 22 runs in her seven overs.
Going forward, Zimbabwe would need to have a killer instinct. At 61-3 after 16 overs, Zimbabwe allowed a 64-run partnership for the fourth wicket to flourish due to misfields and some ordinary bowling.
Playing four games in eight days started taking a toll on the Zimbabwe girls who were not match fit going into this series.
Once the target was below 50 runs, the Thai girls started believing that they could level the series and started taking the attack to the home team. Zimbabwe, on the other end, was wilting in the heat.
You always got the sense that the Lady Chevrons went into the match sitting on their laurels, knowing that they had done enough not to lose the series but unfortunately did not do enough to clinch the series.
It was only fitting that Sutthiruiang hit the winning runs to remain unbeaten on 52 from 47 balls that included seven boundaries.
Nkomo won the toss and elected to bat first, and it was another stern spin examination as the Asians bowled 48 overs of spin.
Precious Marange top-scored for the hosts with 66 from 76 balls as she rescued the home team to post a competitive total.
Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano scored her second successive 50, but it was much on the slower side.
Nkomo was run out for 10, summing up a very disappointing day for the Lady Chevrons.
Thailand will feel they have the momentum as they go into the T20I series starting on Friday at the same venue.
