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Sikandar Raza clubs Zimbabwe’s fastest ODI century in crushing win over Netherlands
Yet another imperious hand from Sean Williams and an all-round masterclass from Sikandar Raza ensured that a potentially tricky chase was handled with relative ease, as Zimbabwe made it two wins from two with a six-wicket victory over Netherlands.
Raza’s impact on the game was absolute, having started with a four-wicket haul to help keep the opposition down to what he deemed a “par” total of 315 – such was the nature of the track. That culminated with a truly belligerent display of power-hitting that climaxed incredibly in him reaching the fastest ever ODI century by a Zimbabwe batter, finishing unbeaten on 102 off 54 deliveries.
But while Raza will rightly take all the headlines, Williams’ role cannot be understated. His was a knock that was an exhibition in game management. Having come in to bat in the 14th over, he took a few overs to get in before cutting loose and looting 48 runs from overs 17-21. And he kept plugging away at a steady rate before Raza joined him in the 25th over.
At that point, Raza immediately made his intentions clear, as Williams took on a more reserved role. While Netherlands would no doubt rue some dropped chances over the course of the innings, once Williams – and then Raza – started going, there was no stopping the Zimbabwe juggernaut.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 319 for 4 (Sikandar Raza 102*, Sean Williams 91, Joylord Gumbie 40, Craig Ervine 50, Shariz Ahamed 2-62) beat Netherlands 315 for 6 (Vikramjit Singh 88, Max O’Dowd 59, Scott Edwards 83, Saqib Zulfiqar 34; Richard Ngarava 2-40, Sikandar Raza 4-55) by six wickets