Zimbabweans off to a winning start
Zimbabwe opened their tour with a four-wicket win in a low-scoring match against Antigua & Barbuda at the Jolly Beach ground
Cricinfo staff
26-Apr-2006
Zimbabweans 181 for 6  beat Antigua & Barbuda 180 by four wickets
Zimbabwe opened their tour with a four-wicket win in a low-scoring match against Antigua & Barbuda at the Jolly Beach ground.
Zimbabwe performed well given that they barely had time to recover from a  gruelling 33-hour journey  at the weekend.  Antigua & Barbuda won the toss but struggled for runs,  and only a sixth-wicket stand of 44 between Daniel Thomas (33) and Gavin Williams (31) enabled them to post 180.  Ryan Higgins and Blessing Mahwire  took 2 for 19, while Prosper Utseya finished with 2 for 29.
Opener Piet Rinke led the Zimbabweans chase with a quickfire 42, but an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 40 between Gregory Strydom (23 not out) and Keith Dabengwa (15 not out) guided them home with 21 balls to spare.