New Zealand hand Zimbabwe a lesson in the one-off T20 international

The debutant has impressed in his very first outing

New Zealand beat Zimbabwe in the one-off T20 by a resounding margin of 80 runs thus completing the double as they previously won the ODI series as well by a 2-1 margin. The Zimbabweans were never in the hunt as they kept losing wickets right from the beginning chasing a huge total of 199 to win. Eventually they ended up with just 118 runs on the board losing 8 wickets in the process.

Earlier in the day, Zimbabwe won the toss (yet again) but decided to insert the Kiwis into bat. Central Districts opening batsman George Worker made his debut in international cricket and was slotted in to come in at number 3.

Skipper Kane Williamson began in terrific fashion as he struck three fours in the very first over bowled by Prosper Utseya. But, Muzarabani came on in the 4th over to remove him for 20 runs which he scored off 12 balls. Guptill was then joined by the debutant Worker and the duo started taking control of the innings before the right-hander was dismissed for 33.

The debutant though was in no mood to stop as he reached his half-century with a majestic six despite losing the seasoned campaigner Grant Elliot earlier. There was a moment when he collected 7 runs as a result of overthrows.

He was finally dismissed in the 16th over for a well compiled 62 off just 38 deliveries. But, cameos from the bat of wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi, Collin Munro and Nathan McCullum propelled New Zealand to 198 for the loss of 5 wickets. Sean Williams was easily Zimbabwe’s best bowler of the day as he picked 3 wickets for 28 runs off his 4 overs.

Worker was adjudged the man of the match for his excellent half-century on debut. He became only the 4th New Zealand player to score a fifty on his T20 debut. Anton Devcich, Aaron Redmond and Scott Styris are the other Kiwi players to have achieved this feat. He failed to go past Styris’ record though as the veteran all-rounder scored 66 against Australia in 2005.

New Zealand will now go to South Africa to play a short limited overs series that includes 2 T20s and 3 ODIs. Unfortunately, the Kiwis are not as lucky as Bangladesh were in the recent series as AB de Villiers returns to the side. Quinton de Kock has been dropped in favour of veteran Morne Van Wyk.

Thanks everyone in Harare who's got out & supported either side over course of the tour. The atmosphere has been a lot of fun #ZIMvNZ ^MB

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) August 9, 2015