Fresh from the highs of Sunday's opening-game chase, Zimbabwe plummeted to the lows of 68 for 5 before Sikandar Raza's third ODI hundred ensured they saw out 50 overs and reached a fighting total on a somewhat uneasy batting surface. Raza put on 60 with Sean Williams for the sixth wicket and 89 with Tinashe Panyangara for the ninth wicket to frustrate a New Zealand side whose bowling and fielding grew ragged after an impressive start.

 

They let off Raza twice. On 16, he pulled Matt Henry hard but straight towards Tom Latham at deep square leg. The ball just eluded the fielder's fingertips as he leaped backwards, at full-stretch; it would have been a far simpler chance had he stood back on the rope. Raza was on 67 - and Zimbabwe 182 for 8 - when he drove Kane Williamson uppishly towards the substitute fielder Ben Wheeler at cover. He dived forward, got both hands to the ball, but failed to hold on.

 

Including the run he picked up following that drop, Raza made 33 runs off his last 19 balls, including two huge sixes over wide long-on off Williamson in the penultimate over. With Panyangara weighing in with a few strikes of his own, Zimbabwe made 49 in their last five overs.

 

The pitch for this match was different to the surface used for the first ODI, and it looked dry enough for Elton Chigumbura to go against Zimbabwe's recent trend of preferring to chase. Zimbabwe had won the toss in the series opener, and all three during the recent ODI series against India, and had opted to bowl each time.

 

At the toss, Williamson said he had found it difficult to predict how pitches at the Harare Sports Club would behave. Accordingly, he shuffled his bowlers around early on, trying to work out how much help each would get. It was quickly apparent there would be something in it for everyone.

 

There was inconsistent bounce for Mitchell McClenaghan, who bustled in, banged the ball in short, and tested the top order. Hamilton Masakadza was out for a duck, fending a bouncer awkwardly to second slip. Craig Ervine, the hero of the first ODI, looked far less assured today, and twice took his eye off short balls from McClenaghan, earning himself smacks on the side of his helmet.

 

There was seam movement for Henry, who started with two maidens - one to each opener - before Chibhabha dispatched three off-target deliveries to the square boundaries in his third over. Grant Elliott, who replaced Henry in the ninth over of the innings, went the other way, conceding two fours in his first over before finding a nagging spot on which to land his away-seamers. In his second over, Elliott sneaked one into Ervine to bowl him through the gate, and in his fourth over, he jagged one away from Elton Chigumbura to have him caught at slip.

 

There was spin too, and plenty of it. Evidence of this was seen in the second over itself, when Williamson gave Nathan McCullum one of the new balls, but he took the offspinner out of the attack after that one over and waited till the end of the first powerplay to bring spin back on. Sodhi struck in his second over, Regis Chakabva stuck on the crease and playing across the line to hand him his first ODI wicket.

 

Sodhi struck again in the 18th over with a gorgeously flighted legbreak that drew Chibhabha forward, dipped, turned past his outside edge, and left him overbalanced with his back foot out of his crease. At that point, Zimbabwe were 68 for 5 and sinking without a trace.

 

Walking in at that point, Raza showed positive intent from the start, using his feet to the spinners and pulling the quicks whenever they pitched short. But his partnership with Williams was built mostly through the medium of singles - there were 37 of them in their partnership of 60. It also ended in the pursuit of a single; Raza tucked Williamson into the on side, towards mid-on, called Williams out of his crease, and sent him back when he realised Martin Guptill had sprinted from short midwicket and dived to intercept the ball. By the time Williams could get back, the prone Guptill had hit the stumps direct with a backhand flick.

 

Zimbabwe's innings looked liked it would fold at any moment, as Sodhi struck in the 36th over to have Graeme Cremer caught at second slip. Raza continued to counter-punch, lofting McCullum for a straight six, paddling Sodhi to the fine leg boundary, and lifting McClenaghan inside-out over mid-off. Panyangara kept things simple at his end, taking no risks and giving Raza the strike when he could, and slowly grew in confidence, enough to smack Henry straight back over his head when he bowled a slower one right in his slot.

 

By the time he was run out while trying to sneak a second run off the last ball of the innings, Panyangara had made 33. It was as much as he had scored in his last eight ODI innings put together.

(espncricinfo)