Zimbabwe hold nerve to beat Nepal in a thriller

Zimbabwe 201 (49.5 overs, R.Higgins 74, P.Khadra 4-28); Nepal 199-9 (50 overs, K.Chaugai 78). Zimbabwe won by two runs.

Zimbabwe came back from the dead twice in one day to break Nepal's hearts at the Colombo Cricket Club on Tuesday.

The Africans were reduced to 90-6 when they batted before recovering to reach 201-9 but that did not look to be enough as Nepal cruised to 150-2 in reply.

But at that point Zimbabwe lifted their game for a second time, the Associate side panicked and in the end a nerveless final over from Gary Balance won the day for Sean Williams' side.

Balance took two wickets in that final over with his leg-spin to secure a victory that all but guarantees Zimbabwe a place in the Super League while at the same time denying Nepal that chance.

It was brave captaincy from Williams to go with the spinner for the last over as a couple of lusty blows at that stage could have cost them the match but he said it was all part of a definite plan.

"We had a look at the Nepal batsmen and could see that while they were fine with the ball coming onto the bat they struggled when they had to wait for the ball to come to them.

"So in the last couple of overs we made a deliberate attempt to take the pace off the ball and Gary and also (Graeme) Cremer and (Ryan) Higgins saved us.

Cremer took 3-36, his fellow leg-spinner Higgins captured 2-31 while Balance's contribution was 2-15 in three overs. And with Williams also bowling ten overs of left-arm spin it really was slow bowling that strangled Nepal.

Higgins was also a star with the bat for Zimbabwe. He made a superb 74 from 87 balls with six fours and a six and, with Glen Querl, turned the innings around after the top order had failed.

Querl scored 42 from 63 deliveries with three fours, and the only other Zimbabwe batsman to pass 20 was all-rounder Keegan Meth, who shock off a virus to play and made 23.

Seam bowler Paras Khadra was superb for Nepal in taking 4-28, off-spinner Ratan Rauniyar captured 1-29 in a miserly 10-over spell and opening bowler Amrit Bhattarai was also impressive with 1-27, also from 10 overs.

The two sides are part of Group D that also includes not only England but also Ireland, who Zimbabwe beat in their opening match on Sunday.

Only two sides from each of the four groups in the tournament can progress to the Super League quarter-final.