BULAWAYO: In-form Sean Williams struck a quickfire 142 before bowlers held their nerves calm and kept spirited Oman at bay in the first Super Six fixture of the Cricket World Cup (CWC) Qualifier.
Put into bat first, Zimbabwe piled up a massive total of 332/7 on the scoreboard at the back of a brisk century by Sean Williams.
The in-form batter smashed 14 boundaries and three sixes on his way to top-score for Zimbabwe with a 103-ball 142.
He baton charged Oman bowlers with clean hitting and carried on his red-hot form in the ongoing CWC Qualifier.
Besides him, Sikandar Raza and Luke Jongwe made valuable contributions and lifted Zimbabwe to a commendable total.
Raza, Zimbabwe’s another in-form batter, played a cautious 42-run knock from 49 balls with the help of six boundaries.
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Later at the backend, Jongwe played a contrasting knock and bolstered Zimbabwe’s total. He scored 43 off 28 deliveries, hitting four boundaries.
Fayyaz Butt was the pick of the bowlers for Oman with four wickets but was expensive as he leaked 79 runs in his 10 overs. Kaleemullah and Bilal Khan, on the other hand, made one scalp each.
Set to chase 333, Oman fell just 14 runs short of stunning the dominant hosts Zimbabwe as they could accumulate 318/9 in their quota of 50 overs.
Opening batter Kashyap Prajapati glimmered the ray of hope for Oman to claim a stunning victory with a brisk century and laid solid foundation to pull of the run chase.
He scored 103 off 97 deliveries, smashing 12 boundaries and a six.
Besides him, Ayaan Khan (47), Aqib Ilyas (45) and skipper Zeeshan Maqsood (37) were the other notable contributors while Mohammad Nadeem played a fighting cameo.
Nadeem struck an unbeaten 30 off 18 deliveries, laced with four boundaries and a six but fell short of steering his side to glory.
Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara led the bowling attack for Zimbabwe with three wickets each followed by Richard Ngarava.
READ: Ton-up Williams powers Zimbabwe to thump Oman in CWC Qualifier