Zimbabwe sink outclassed Canadians for easy win

Ray Price

NAGPUR, India, (Reuters) – A devastating opening  spell from left-arm spinner Ray Price spurred Zimbabwe to a  crushing 175-run victory over Canada in their World Cup Group A  match today.

After setting Canada a daunting 299 for victory, Zimbabwe  made sure they maintained their perfect record against the North  Americans by skittling them for 123.

Ray Price
Ray Price

Price removed John Davison (0), Nitish Kumar (1) and Ashish  Bagai (0) to leave the Canadians reeling on seven for three and  they never recovered from the setback.
Bagai’s team had crawled to 14 runs after the first 10 overs  and facing a required run-rate of 7.12 at that stage, the result  was all but a foregone conclusion.
Ruvindu Gunasekera scored a painstakingly slow 24 off 64  balls and when Greg Lamb dislodged his bails with a rather tame  delivery, the Zimbabwean was rewarded with a sweaty  cheek-to-cheek rub from one of his delighted team mates.
Price finished with 3-16.
While Zimbabwe recorded their first win in this World Cup,  Canada seem destined to catch an early flight home after being  subjected to a second successive hammering.
Earlier, Tatenda Taibu (98 from 99 balls) and Craig Ervine  (85 off 81 balls) rescued Zimbabwe from a terrible start to  propel the Africans to a total of 298-9.
In a clash between the tournament’s two whipping boys,  Zimbabwe looked as if they were going to suffer a bad case of  stage-fright despite a nearly empty Vidarbha Cricket Association  Stadium as they too were reduced to seven for two.
Canada’s Khurram Chohan struck with the first ball of the  match when he had Brendan Taylor trapped lbw, a verdict that was  confirmed by the review system.
The Canadians shouts once again echoed around the  40,000-seater arena when Charles Coventry (4) fell lbw to Harvir  Baidwan in the fourth over, leaving Zimbabwe facing an uphill  task to post a respectable total against a team of part-timers.
However, once Taibu and Ervine came to the crease, they  steadied the innings with an 181-run partnership for the third  wicket by playing some smart cricket.
Ervine was dismissed when he offered an inside edge to  wicketkeeper Bagai while Taibu fell attempting a  slog-sweep to  bring up his century. His mis-timed effort, also off Balaji Rao,  went straight to John Davison at deep midwicket.
Rao finished with four for 57.