Twitter Reactions: Australia almost conceded the game to Zimbabwe

Australia defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets in the final league game of the ongoing tri-series. Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head prospered for the first time in four matches and steered their side home in a nervy chase of 152 runs. Soloman Mire was once again the hero for Zimbabwe with the bat but his spirited innings went in vain again for the second successive game.

Zimbabwe lost Cephas Zhuwao off the very first delivery of the innings after opting to bat first. But Soloman Mire was left unfazed with it and continued playing his shots. The wickets of Hamilton Masakadza and Tarisai Musakanda left the team reeling at 44/3 in the powerplay. Peter Moor then played his first significant knock of the series and stitched a partnership of 68 runs with Mire and steadied the ship for his team.

They took calculated risks and kept the scoreboard moving. However, when they decided to open their arms with 7 wickets in hand going into the last five overs, Moor was dismissed by Jhye Richardson. Meanwhile, Mire notched up yet another half-century and took the team’s total close to 150. But the wickets at the other end arrested the run-flow as the home side ended up posting a fighting total of 151 runs for the loss of 9 wickets after 20 overs.

Nervy chase

Australia dropped D’Arcy Short finally and promoted Alex Carey to open the innings. But the move failed as both the openers, Carey and Aaron Finch, were back in the hut by the fifth over thanks to tight bowling from Blessing Muzarabani and Wellington Masakadza. Maxwell and Head came together and resurrected the innings. The former was instrumental in his approach as he played some exquisite shots during his stay in the middle. While Head decided to get himself in and played the second fiddle perfectly.

Both added 103 runs for the third wicket and Australia were sailing towards the victory. Maxwell too smashed his first half-century in so many days marking his return to form in the format. He was dismissed on 56 off just 38 balls in the 17th over by Muzarabani which opened the doors for the hosts. Nic Maddinson was sent back in the next over even as Head lost his cool in the penultimate over to gift away his wicket.

Head’s wicket made things interesting as the game went down to the wire. Ashton Agar and Marcus Stoinis got together and brought the equation down to 7 runs off the final over. The duo, however, kept their nerves to clinch the thriller with one ball to spare.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the course of the game:

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