Aaron Finch’s magnificent 172 – the highest individual score in Twenty20 Internationals, besting his own 156 against England – powered Australia to a crushing 100-run win over Zimbabwe in the third match of the triangular series to consolidate their position at the top of the table, with Pakistan below them.
Finch’s blistering knock, featuring 10 sixes and 16 fours, propelled Australia to 229 for 2, and Australia’s bowlers joined forces to restrict the home side to just 129 for 9 in Harare on Tuesday (July 3). Australia have won both games by such huge margins, chances are they will make the finals of the tri-series on net run rate even if they happen to lose both their remaining games.
Finch seemed to be in extraordinary form right from the start of the innings, and D’Arcy Short was happy to just rotate strike and let the big man do the damage.
After playing two overs with relative caution, Finch cut loose in the third over hammering three successive boundaries off John Nyumbu. The openers batted right into the final over when both were dismissed by Blessing Muzarabani.
In stark contrast, Zimbabwe’s batsmen were simply unable to get a flow going through their innings aside from a promising opening partnership. Every time they tried to hit out, they lost wickets as Australia’s bowlers shared the spoils.
Chamu Chibhabha and Solomon Mire, the openers, smashed 42 runs off 21 balls when the former nicked behind off Kane Richardson. Billy Stanlake, who was key to Australia’s big win over Pakistan on Monday, took bit of a beating early on, but had his revenge, removing Mire for 28 off 19 balls.
Once the openers were sent back, Australia made light work of an inexperienced batting order. Tarisai Musakanda and Hamilton Masakadza were outfoxed in quick succession by the left-arm spin of Ashton Agar, while Andrew Tye’s canny pace variations accounted for the scalps of Peter Moor, Elton Chigumbura and Ryan Burl, all of whom perished trying to hit him out of the park.
While Zimbabwe’s batsmen were bogged down by the skill of Australia’s bowlers and the weight of the target, the Australian batsmen had no such troubles.
After launching his assualt in the third over of the innings, Finch was relentless, so much so even though Short looked out of his depth early in the innings, Australia still raced to 75 for 0 at the end of the Powerplay.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers, barring Tendai Chisoro who conceded just 19 in his four overs, were simply not able to make a breakthrough, nor were they able to contain Finch. Finch’s assault got more vicious as the innings progressed, evidenced by the fact that in his last 16 balls he smashed 72 runs, at a strike rate of over 400! That late attack made his first hundred runs look ordinary in comparison, as he had played 50 balls for it.
Short was mostly the passive spectator at the other end, just focusing on handing Finch majority of the strike but struck a few lusty blows in the end himself, finishing with a 42-ball 46 before nicking behind off Muzarabani. Finch was dismissed two balls later when he overbalanced onto his stumps after attempting a fierce cut shot.
