History was created by the Zimbabwe cricket team on Saturday when they defeated Australia by three wickets in the third and final one-day international at Townsville to record their first away victory in the backyard of the opponent in a low scoring contest.
Zimbabwe legspinner Ryan Burl was the hero of their victory as he took a splendid five wicket haul inside three overs to rattle Australia, bowling the home team out for just 141 in 31 overs. In their reply, the Zimbabwe batsmen did starter but had enough gas in their engine for the third and final ODI of the three match series to go past the finish line in the 40th over.
Zimbabwe created history by winning their first-ever ODI in Australia by 11 overs and 3 wickets to spare. The visiting side finished at 142/7 in 39 overs in their reply, with Tadiwanashe Marumani (35) and captain Regis Chakabva (37 not out) doing the bulk of the scoring.
But as far as scoring most runs for his side is concerned, David Warner‘s 94 was the second highest individual contribution by a player in a completed innings in men’s ODIs, with Australia being shot out for just 141.
Australia’s total of 141 in 31 overs was also their lowest-ever total against Zimbabwe in ODI cricket history and overall the second lowest at home in 50-over cricket in the last 20 years, with 74 all-out against Sri Lanka being at the top.
Ryan Burl returned with stunning numbers of 3-0-10-5 whereas the others in Brad Evans took 2/35 from 56 overs while Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi and Sean Williams took one wicket apiece.
David Warner was unfortunate to have missed out on scoring a century once again, falling just 6 runs short this time. His 94 runs came from 96 balls with the help of 14 boundaries and 2 sixes while it was the only score in double digits in the Australian scorecard apart from Glenn Maxwell’s 19 on Saturday.
The Australian bowlers hit hard but could not prevent Zimbabwe from recording a historic victory. The right-arm fast bowler Josh Hazlewood took 3/30 from his 10 overs while Mitchell Starc was a little expensive, giving away 33 runs from his eight overs. Cameron Green once again bowled a tight spell of 6-0-17-1 whereas Marcus Stoinis took 1/6 in his 2 overs.