Summary Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by 7 wickets Tuesday, its first ODI win over Pakistanis in 15 years.
HARARE (AP) - Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by seven wickets Tuesday for its first one-day international win in a bilateral series over the Pakistanis in 15 years.
Zimbabwe had lost its last three ODI series against Pakistan 3-0, 5-0 and 5-0 before half-centuries by openers Hamilton Maskadza and Vusi Sibanda and 43 not out by captain Brendan Taylor led the lowly-ranked African team to a rare win at Harare Sports Club.
Sean Williams made an unbeaten 39 and won the game with a six over long-on as Zimbabwe overhauled Pakistan s modest 244-7 with 10 balls to spare.
Zimbabwe finished on 246-3 and also secured only its fourth ODI win since late 2011.
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq s 83 not out and Mohammad Hafeez s 70 earlier were in vain for the tourists.
Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez made half-centuries to lift a tentative Pakistan to 244-7 in the first one-day international on Tuesday, giving Zimbabwe a chance at its first ODI win in a bilateral series against the Pakistanis in 15 years.
Misbah and Hafeez gave the tourists some impetus in their 99-run partnership for the third wicket but Zimbabwe kept Pakistan largely in check in the series-opener on a Harare Sports Club pitch which is generally a good batting strip.
Misbah made 83 not out from 85 deliveries with three fours and two sixes on his return to lead the team after sitting out Pakistan s 2-0 win in the Twenty20 series. Hafeez hit 70 from 71 balls with six fours and three sixes.
Other than that, there was little else from Pakistan s batsmen as the openers struggled to score and the middle and lower order were removed cheaply.
Seamers Tendai Chatara and Brian Vitori took two wickets each for Zimbabwe, which was whitewashed 3-0, 5-0 and 5-0 in its last three ODI series against Pakistan and last won a match against Pakistan in a bilateral series in 1998.
Danger man Ahmed Shehzad was stumped off Prosper Utseya for 24 after making 70 and 98 in the two T20 games. Opening partner Nasir Jamshed was one of Chatara s (2-32) wickets as Pakistan struggled to 80-2 off the first 20 overs.
Hafeez and his skipper hit back with their partnership in the middle overs, and Hafeez survived when one of his sixes was helped over the boundary rope by Tinashe Panyangara at long-off, who just missed the tough chance.
After Hafeez was out to Chatara, wickets fell regularly with Umar Amin (1), big-hitting Shahid Afridi (11), Haris Sohail (2) and Sarfraz Ahmed (7) all prevented from doing any damage. Misbah collected some quick runs at the end, including a towering six over mid-on.
