Sibanda, Masakadza, and a painful mid-pitch drama

Zimbabwe struggled to get going at the start, and when Vusi Sibanda chopped one to cover point, the openers decided to scramble a single. But both Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza were ball watching ran into each while losing their bats in the process. Sibanda, the smaller of the two, was cut on the chin. To add to their woes, Masakadza was short of his ground. Zimbabwe's medical staff had some repair work to do on Sibanda, which they did for more than six minutes. But they couldn't offer their services to calm down Masakadza. Perhaps he will be pacified by the hits he gets on Youtube later.

Kagiso Rabada took a sensational one armed catch on the boundary against Australia last Sunday, but Michael Leask may have gone one better with his effort against Zimbabwe. Richmond Mutumbami made room to launch Mark Watt down the groun, but did not get enough distance on his shot and Leask was in business. Scottish hearts would have been in their mouths as he missed the catch on the first attempt, but his presence of mind helped as he succeeded in keeping the ball up, before leaning back, coming back into the field of play and taking a one-handed catch off the rebound.

The innings had already had one body blow and could have had a second, but not to a player. Umpire Aleem Dar was in harm's way when Sean Williams reverse-swept Michael Leask through point. Dar only saw the ball at the last minute and had to duck, before tumbling on the ground as he stayed out of the way. No damage done.

Sikandar Raza provided a reminder that boundary-riders are not the only players who can pull off stunners. Kyle Coetzer drove Tendai Chatara in the air, thinking his shot would evade Raza at short cover, but it wasn't. Instinctively. Raza moved to his right, stuck out and aim and plucked the ball from the sky to send Scotland's best batsmen on his way.

Josh Davey kept Scotland in it until the end with an assault on Zimbabwe's best bowler. Tendai Chatara had only given away six runs from his first two overs before Davey pulled his figures out of shape with three big hits off his third. The best of them was unintentional. It came off an outside edge that flew to long-off where Sean Williams was in position to take the catch. Instead, Williams let the ball burst through his hands and over the rope for six to give Davey a lifeline and Scotland a chance at victory.