Zimbabwe. Raza. Blessing. Virat. SKY. Dutch middle. Rossouw. Nortje. Shakib. And only the Pakistan Mr Bean.
Day 12 at the World Cup.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe weren't in the last World Cup. They were suspended for political interference. Considering that never happened when Robert Mugabe's friend ran their cricket, and hasn't happened to all the other teams in the World who have constantly had political interference, it just showed how irrelevant Zimbabwe had become. The ICC wasn't banning them because of interference but because the entire thing was annoying.
And there is so much else that has gone on. Brendan Taylor came forward, embarrassing his nation about his role in match-fixing. That was after their legendary big-chested talisman of the 90s, Heath Streak who was now taking money to help fix games.
Their best players have been picked off by cricket nations around the World. The entire thing has been embarrassing for a long time.
And if you are not old enough to remember, it has not always been like this. In 1983 a group of amateurs beat Australia at the World Cup. In 1992, it was a chicken farmer who destroyed England.
Then the Flower brothers met up with Streak and Strang, with so many others. And it all culminated in them making the quarter-final of the 1999 World Cup where Neil Johnson batted in his red floppy hate smashing a hundred against the Australians.
There have been moments since, but too many sad days. It hurts watching Colin de Grandhomme and Gary Ballance playing for other teams. It's embarrassing to think of all the administration strife they have lived through. And Zimbabwean cricket has been in this constant flux while most cricket fans just ignore them.
This World Cup has been different. They have played their way into the second round. They didn't qualify for the two tournaments between then. And now they have beaten Pakistan.
And a special shout out for those fans who travelled with them. Mostly at World Cup games you have cricket fans support their nation. There are a few Zimbabwean cricket nuffies there. But all tournament there has just been Zimbabweans. Often asking the players during the game on the boundary if they are in front or not. They just wanted to celebrate their nation.
That is beautiful enough even if your team loses, but when they win, when they beat Pakistan, when it happens on the last ball. You do not need to be from Bulawayo or Harare to feel this. This game, this win, this side, was special.
Raza
At the halfway point, I actually felt bad. Because this team hadn't put up the kind of innings that gave them a realistic chance. We have seen them be better than this.
But this batting line up - at this level at least - is a bit Sikandar Raza or bust. That's not a bad thing in some ways. Better to have him than just be a bust.
If you have a look at all of Zimbabwe's games of recent months, you can see there is a strong correlation between Raza making runs and Zimbabwe doing the same. That's normal. What isn't is that when he does fail, they rarely pass 150.
The nine times they haven't passed the amount, he has failed to score more than 20 a lot.
The problem with that is he isn't a top-order player, he's a number five. And you don't want to be that reliant on someone at his position. And then on top of that, he is their most aggressive batter, so you want him to keep playing with the freedom that has recently changed his game.
Not only that, coach Dave Houghton has recharged this team by giving it more freedom in a Zimball or Houghtball (Zimbash, someone suggested on YT) style. That is tough when there is really only one guy who can do that, and you need him to come off to put on a big score.
When he didn't score, you expected them to lose.
And the same is that Zimbabwe has so many good bowlers, Raza included. Today he knuckleballed the Pakistan middle order out. Raza is a senior player who wanted to get better, so he taught himself a new delivery and then worked out how to hide it. And he's become a whole new player.
Maybe the Zimbabweans are Raza or bust. But today, they had Raza, and Pakistan bust.
Pakistan batting and Zimbabwe bowling
Pakistan's openers have been so integral to their batting and so successful doing it, the worry is always that the worst could happen when they both fail.
The rest of the side found a way back against India, but against Zimbabwe today, that worry became a nightmarish reality.
The presence of Shan Masood at three should in theory give Pakistan a safety net, effectively the third opener and backup anchor in a tournament that so far has seemed to favour that style of batting more than usual.
Though Shan really needs someone scoring at a decent rate at the other end at the speed he bats. Against India he had Iftikhar and while he and Shadab were batting together, everything seemed fairly in control for Pakistan.
The pair put on 52 from 36 balls and had the required total down to 42 from 39 balls. But then Shadab holed out, attempting a second successive six. It wasn't a bad option. But it ended up being nuclear.
Pakistan though really should have been able to chase down a target of 130, credit must go to Zimbabwe's bowlers for ensuring they didn't.
We have been saying all tournament that the way they have been playing Zimbabwe's bowlers could deliver them an upset, this was the one.
I've already talked about Raza's contribution but this was really a group effort from Zimbabwe.
Blessing Muzarabani has been excellent all World Cup and he was once again today, taking the crucial wicket of Rizwan to really put Pakistan under pressure early on, and going at a miserly 4.5 an over. He was a man built for Perth.
Meanwhile Brad Evans might have been playing his first game in the competition, but he announced himself in some style. Getting rid of Babar Azam and then stepping up when needed to bowl the exhilarating final over.
Despite conceding 7 of the 10 runs he had to play with from his first two balls, he somehow kept his cool under immense pressure. Pakistan's win percentage was at 98% with 3 balls to go, but Evans winkled out the key wicket of Nawaz – who is having a tournament of last overs to forget – and then managed not to give it away last ball, sealing a famous win.
Wow. Still can't believe this.
India
Two great wins for India today, and one happened a long way from Sydney.
There was a moment 15 overs into India's game where they only had 114 on the board. Yes there were wickets in hand, and while the Dutch have solid seam, they are not a super strong death unit.
But this is where things can get weird for top teams. This is where a match like this can quickly become a problem. Instead they scored 65 off the next five to ensure there was little chance of any bananas out there.
If you go back even further, after ten overs they were 67/1. That is old-school Indian T20, before Rahul Dravid seemed to come in to tell them to whack the ball more.
It is something teams sometimes try against the associates. Establish a base score, and then try and up it at the end. Rather than lose a bunch of wickets chasing 12 runs an over early on. But it might also be because this tournament so far is just favouring the bowlers. Teams want to hit, but can't so far.
That means that players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma who are more anchor-type players are perhaps more important than many thought they would be.
If you are looking for better signs about Virat's form in general. This is only the third time since the start of 2019 where he has scored more than 40 runs three times on the trot.
That is an excellent sign. This was more of a net for him, but again, time in the middle is also important.
You look at the IPL, and that Kohli wasn't making big runs, and he was doing that slowly. That isn't what we have seen of recent times.
England matches, the Asia cup, Australia, South Africa and the now the World Cup. This is IPL and above level talent he has been going up against, and he is better.
I checked the tape, too, he seems to be shaping pretty good.
The entire World has been looking towards finding more hitters, and then we rock up in Australia, and the pitches are weird, and the seamers are taking over, and suddenly, the proper batters are getting their due. And if this tournament needs someone to stick around, it would seem that everything is coming up Virat.
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