AHMEDABAD, India, 9 October 2006 — West Indies made a winning start to their Champions Trophy defense with a nine-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in yesterday’s qualifier.
West Indies dismissed Zimbabwe for 85 from 30.1 overs and Brian Lara (24 not out) wrapped up the match with consecutive sixes from off spinner Prosper Utseya as West Indies reached 90 for one with 35.4 overs remaining the break in the day-night match.
Off spinner Chris Gayle took three wickets and pacemen Jerome Taylor and Dwayne Smith two each to bundle out a depleted Zimbabwe for the third lowest team total in the competition after the United States’ 65 in 2004 and Bangladesh’s 77 in 2002.
Gayle cracked a chancy 41 off 48 balls with seven fours to set the pace in West Indies’ hurried chase. The left-handed opener pulled paceman Anthony Ireland for a six and hit him for two more fours in the same over.
“I started a bit slow and made some adjustments but the game went very well,” said opener Gayle, who was named player-of-the-match for his all-round display.
After opting to bat, Zimbabwe lost their top four batsmen by the 10th over for just 31 runs.
Wickets fell at regular intervals and only three batsmen managed to reach double figures as Smith and Gayle struck quick blows.
“We were hoping to score at least 250,” said skipper Utseya who top-scored with 27 before being the last man out, lbw to Gayle. “We didn’t play the best of cricket today.” Lara said the experience of playing better-class opposition constantly would help teams like Zimbabwe improve. “It is very important to encourage countries like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe as they also want to get out and play the best teams,” Lara said.
On his side’s performance, Lara said, “We worked on all the facets of the game and as captain I am very happy.” Sri Lanka, who beat Bangladesh in the tournament opener on Saturday, meet Zimbabwe next in Ahmedabad tomorrow.
