Summary Pakistan will face Zimbabwe in the first ODI at the Harare Sports Club today (Thursday).
HARARE (Agencies) - Pakistan will take on hosts Zimbabwe in the first one-day international of the three-match series at the Harare Sports Club today (Thursday). The match will start at 12:30pm (PST).
The tourists have dominated the hosts at every turn this year, so the home side will be playing for pride as much as anything when the two sides take to the field once more.
In May, Zimbabwe became the first team to tour Pakistan in six years and returned home without winning any of their two T20s or three ODIs.
Indeed, they barely provided a challenge for the Men in Green. Particularly poor was their bowling. In the first ODI, they conceded 375 runs and took just three wickets, allowing Pakistan to cruise to victory by 41 runs.
While they have perhaps improved slightly with the ball this time around — they limited Pakistan to 136 in both of their T20s, with Chamu Chibhabha, Tinashe Panyangara and Luke Jongwe each standing out as they took three wickets apiece and bowled a combined 52 dot balls — their performance at the crease is now something of a worry.
In both matches Pakistan batted first to set the 136 total, and on both occasions the Zimbabweans never looked likely to catch them as only two players scored more than 20 runs in each match. Indeed, 11 players didn t even reach double figures.
Against the likes of Imad Wasim, who was especially impressive in the T20s as he bagged five wickets, it s difficult to see Zimbabwe racking up a significant total in the one-day series.
The hosts recent form also indicates a possible mental hurdle they ve yet to overcome.
As well as restricting Pakistan to a realistic target twice and failing to make the chase both times, they also failed to take advantage of strong positions in their recent ODI series with India, in which they lost 3-0.
However, they did just the same in the second match, and this lack of a winning mentality will likely prove decisive in the ODI series too.
Pakistan s batting lineup is hardly in vintage form, but nevertheless they were comfortable victors in both T20s.
If Zimbabwe find themselves in a promising position, nerves will likely creep in and allow the visitors back into the match.
The experience of the tourists will allow them to exploit that to their advantage to take a 1-0 lead in the series and perhaps a whitewash overall. If they can do that, they ll be full of confidence when they take on England in a lengthy series across October and November.
