Kamran Akmal pushed up to open the innings with Imran Nazir. Christopher Mpofu will open the bowling.
9.27am At the end of the minute the two teams slowly break ranks. Zimbabwe go into a huddle - they will stay out in the middle - while Pakistan walk off. The umpires head to the middle.
9.25am The teams are out in middle. Pakistan, as expected, look very sombre and emotional. A minute's silence is about to start. This will not be easy for anyone ...
9.20am The teams will shortly come out to the middle to observe a minute's silence. The pitch, meanwhile, is brown and bereft of most of the grass. There are a few cracks but nothing that will interfere too much ... it should be a good batting track. "Whoever wins the toss will want to bat first," said Michael Holding. The perils of pre-recorded TV.
"It's a tough time for me," said a clearly emotional Inzamam-ul-Haq. "We will play our very best."
9.05am Zimbabwe have won the toss and stuck Pakistan in to bat.
One change in the Zimbabwe side, Gary Brent in for Anthony Ireland, while Pakistan leave out Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Hafeez and in their place they have brought in Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi. This will be Afridi's first match since he completed his four-match ban.
Pakistan 1 Imran Nazir, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Mohammad Sami, 9 Rao Iftikar, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Danish Kaneria
Zimbabwe 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Friday Kasteni, 3 Chamu Chibhabha, 4 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 5 Brendan Taylor (wk), 6 Sean Williams, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Prosper Utseya (capt), 9 Gary Brent, 10 Chris Mpofu, 11 Tawanda Mupariwa
9.00am Good morning and welcome to coverage of the Group D match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Given all that has happened in the last few days, it will be a subdued and emotional occasion for sure. On the field, while Pakistan are already eliminated, they will want to go out on a winning note for many reasons. Zimbabwe can still qualify if they can raise their game and win this match, but they will still need to win well to boost their Net Run Rate if they are to pip Ireland to the Super Eight stage. | | 0.1 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, no run, full but outside the off stump, pushed firmly to cover | | 0.2 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, no run, full, on off stump, a sniff of awayswing, driven to mid-off | | 0.3 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, no run, short of a length, Akmal goes back and stands on his toes to play an immaculate backward defensive shot | | 0.4 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, no run, short, pushed hard into the covers, Sean Williams dives to his right to claw the ball back as it seemed to have beaten his dive | | 0.5 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, no run, slightly short and kept a little low, Akmal back and pushes into the off side | | 0.6 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, no run, wide, hammered hard but Williams again makes a good stop - it was right at him at cover but he got his body behind that and was on his feet with the ball in a flash | | Good maiden over to start. | | End of over 1 (maiden) - Pakistan 0/0 (RR: 0.00) | Kamran Akmal | | 0* (6b) | | CB Mpofu | | 1-1-0-0 | | Imran Nazir | | 0* (0b) | | | | Tawanda Mupariwa opening up from the other end. He runs in, loses his footing, and pulls out of the delivery ... here he comes again ... | | 1.1 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, full, on off stump, Nazir blocks it firmly up to mid-off | | 1.2 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, 1 run, angled bat to third man, a little outswing and a bit of bounce surprised, but he got over the ball and kept it on the ground | | Two slips in place. | | 1.3 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, 1 run, Akmal off the mark, but not convincingly. He looked to flick through the off side but got a thick edge and the ball bobbled down to long leg | | 1.4 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, Nazir reaches for that, prodding the ball to point | | 1.5 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, punched off the back foot, a quick call of "no" as they realise Williams is the fielder in the covers | | 1.6 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, outside off stump and left alone | | A lovely, sunny day but once again not many punters in the stands. It's early, however ... | | End of over 2 (2 runs) - Pakistan 2/0 (RR: 1.00) | Imran Nazir | | 1* (5b) | | T Mupariwa | | 1-0-2-0 | | Kamran Akmal | | 1* (7b) | | CB Mpofu | | 1-1-0-0 | | | 2.1 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, 2 runs, short, pulled, not timed, a yard to the left of a diving midwicket. Uppish and not controlled. He needed more height on that ... | | 2.2 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, 1 wide, down the leg side and an easy call for the umpire | | 2.2 | Mpofu to Kamran Akmal, 1 run, uppish backfoot drive in the air through gully | | 2.3 | Mpofu to Imran Nazir, no run, solid forward defensive shot back down the pitch | | 2.4 | Mpofu to Imran Nazir, FOUR, textbook cover drive, superbly placed and four all the way ... the batsmen barely bothered running | | 2.5 | Mpofu to Imran Nazir, 2 runs, another drive, but not as well timed, it still finds the gap and they run two as Gary Brent slides and throws | | 2.6 | Mpofu to Imran Nazir, FOUR, this time Mpofu drops it too short - still outside off stump - and the ball is smacked into another gap, four more and not a good over from Mpofu | | End of over 3 (14 runs) - Pakistan 16/0 (RR: 5.33) | Imran Nazir | | 11* (9b 2x4) | | CB Mpofu | | 2-1-14-0 | | Kamran Akmal | | 4* (9b) | | T Mupariwa | | 1-0-2-0 | | | 3.1 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, 1 run, forward, a thick inside edge down to long leg, lots of "oohs" from the fielders | | 3.2 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, full, driven back at Mupariwa who is down well to field the ball at his feet | | 3.3 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, 1 run, forward defensive, another inside edge which squirts to square leg | | 3.4 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, 1 run, seamed in, tip and run into the leg side, a sharp single and both Nazir and Utseya throw themselves full length at the striker's end ... the underarm misses the stumps but they collide anyway and end up in a heap | | 3.5 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, limp spar at one outside off stump, a poor shot, neither attacking nor defending | | 3.6 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, prodded into the off side | | End of over 4 (3 runs) - Pakistan 19/0 (RR: 4.75) | Imran Nazir | | 12* (13b 2x4) | | T Mupariwa | | 2-0-5-0 | | Kamran Akmal | | 6* (11b) | | CB Mpofu | | 2-1-14-0 | | | Elton Chigumbura replaces the hapless Mpofu, who has bowled only two overs, but the last one was expensive. | | 4.1 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, no run, on the right line, back and blocked | | 4.2 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, (no ball) FOUR, very wide, a slashed drive flies high to the right of first slip and races to the rope. It was a no-ball but he would have played that shot regardless | | 4.2 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, no run, outside off stump, left alone, a hint of inswing but only after the ball was had passed the batsman | | 4.3 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, no run, solid defensive shot, everything right, into the covers | | 4.4 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, no run, wide, a bit more bounce than Akmal expected, and his backfoot swish met thin air | | 4.5 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, no run, good ball, met with another immaculate defensive block | | 4.6 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, 1 run, little more than a firm push to the left of mid-off, but Mpofu had ground to make up and that allowed the run | | End of over 5 (6 runs) - Pakistan 25/0 (RR: 5.00) | Kamran Akmal | | 11* (18b 1x4) | | E Chigumbura | | 1-0-6-0 | | Imran Nazir | | 12* (13b 2x4) | | T Mupariwa | | 2-0-5-0 | | | 5.1 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, no run, left outside the off stump. Biding his time ... | | 5.2 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, no run, decent line, back and blocked | | 5.3 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, FOUR, too full, in the slot, and Akmal punches that to the right of cover, never a chance of anyone catching that | | 5.4 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, 1 wide, overcorrection, sprayed wide down the leg side | | 5.4 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, no run, slower ball, solid block | | 5.5 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, no run, forward, opens the face of the bat and steers it straight to point | | 5.6 | Mupariwa to Kamran Akmal, no run, Akmal back on his stumps, pushes gently to midwicket | | End of over 6 (5 runs) - Pakistan 30/0 (RR: 5.00) | Kamran Akmal | | 15* (24b 2x4) | | T Mupariwa | | 3-0-10-0 | | Imran Nazir | | 12* (13b 2x4) | | E Chigumbura | | 1-0-6-0 | | | 6.1 | Chigumbura to Imran Nazir, 1 run, outside off, pushed with an open face to the man in the deep | | 6.2 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, no run, shortish and it got a bit bigger than Akmal thought, it rapped him on the glove and he headed towards square leg like a man who has shut his hand in the kitchen cupboard | | 6.3 | Chigumbura to Kamran Akmal, OUT, weak backfoot prod, no footwork, he chased it and a thin edge was caught by Taylor, although he did his best to drop it, as he has a number of other balls in the tournament to date. But he clung on, and Zimbabwe have the breakthrough | | Kamran Akmal c Taylor b Chigumbura 15 (26b 2x4 0x6) SR: 57.69 | | Shoaib Malik promoted to No. 3. That was a poor shot by Akmal, schoolboy footwork and he ended up playing the ball well away from his body. | | 6.4 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, same line but Malik not remotely tempted | | 6.5 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, slightly shot, well played into the covers, Malik over it | | 6.6 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, full, driven on the bounce back to the bowler | | End of over 7 (1 run) - Pakistan 31/1 (RR: 4.42) | Shoaib Malik | | 0* (3b) | | E Chigumbura | | 2-0-7-1 | | Imran Nazir | | 13* (14b 2x4) | | T Mupariwa | | 3-0-10-0 | | | One of the slips has gone to gully. | | 7.1 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, confident defensive push to cover | | 7.2 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, tight line, again no room for anything other than a block | | 7.3 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, gentle inswing, Nazir cramped and he can only squeeze the ball into the leg side where Utseya races in to end any thoughts of a run | | 7.4 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, right forward, bat and pad jammed together | | 7.5 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, again enough inswing to cause the batsman to think, and he plays the ball to mid-off | | 7.6 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, firm drive back at the bowler's feet, he drops down, almost diving forward, and stops the ball with a combination of hands, body and legs. Effective but not gainly | | End of over 8 (maiden) - Pakistan 31/1 (RR: 3.87) | Imran Nazir | | 13* (20b 2x4) | | T Mupariwa | | 4-1-10-0 | | Shoaib Malik | | 0* (3b) | | E Chigumbura | | 2-0-7-1 | | | 8.1 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, dainty on drive, one foot in the air as he walks into it, but mid-on fields with ease | | 8.2 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, full on middle stump, flicked drive to mid-on | | 8.3 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, groundhog day ... another flowery drive to mid-on. He is finding the fielder with impressive regularity | | 8.4 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, effort ball - 84mph - wide of off stump and left alone | | 8.5 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, forward, not quite right there, but it did the job | | 8.6 | Chigumbura to Shoaib Malik, no run, that one kept a tad low, Malik jabbed down it well | | End of over 9 (maiden) - Pakistan 31/1 (RR: 3.44) | Shoaib Malik | | 0* (9b) | | E Chigumbura | | 3-1-7-1 | | Imran Nazir | | 13* (20b 2x4) | | T Mupariwa | | 4-1-10-0 | | | 9.1 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, short and wide, Nazir threw the kitchen sink at that and missed | | 9.2 | Mupariwa to Imran Nazir, no run, pushed to cover, Nazir took a step down the track and then thought better of trying for the quick single | |
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