New Zealand crushes Zimbabwe

New Zealand continued their dominant run in the T20 tri-series with a comprehensive 60-run victory over hosts Zimbabwe on Thursday, securing their fourth consecutive win in the league stage. Tim Seifert starred again, smashing his second successive half-century, scoring 75 runs, while Rachin Ravindra contributed an entertaining 63 off 39 balls. New Zealand posted the tournament's highest total of 190-6, confirming their perfect record alongside South Africa, who had already booked their place in Saturday's final.

In a move that paid off handsomely, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner became the first leader in the tournament to elect to bat first on what was described as a tricky wicket. Four changes to the New Zealand side saw leg-spinner Ish Sodhi make a significant impact, delivering a career-best 4-12 in four overs as Zimbabwe was bowled out for 130 in just 18.5 overs. This defeat left Zimbabwe without a win in the tournament after four games.

Zimbabwe's innings started promisingly with opener Dion Myers scoring 22 brisk runs, including four boundaries. However, Sodhi quickly derailed the innings by striking three times inside the batting powerplay. Myers and Clive Madande were clean bowled, while Brian Bennett was caught trying to attack. Off-spinner Michael Bracewell also chipped in with a crucial wicket, dismissing Ryan Burl with a caught-and-bowled.

Despite a resilient 51-run partnership between Tony Munyonga (40 off 30) and Tashinga Musekiwa (21), Sodhi returned in the 14th over to claim his 150th T20 wicket, dismissing Munyonga at long-off. New Zealand's pace attack, led by Matt Henry's 2-34, wrapped up the tail quickly.

Zimbabwe's fielding woes further hampered their chase. They dropped key catches, including one when Ryan Burl let Tim Robinson off the hook early in New Zealand's innings, and another when Tony Munyonga missed Seifert at deep backward square leg. These lapses allowed Seifert and Ravindra to build a strong second-wicket partnership worth 108 runs before Zimbabwe fought back with wickets from Tinotenda Maposa and Richard Ngarava, who finished with impressive figures of 4-34.

Seifert was eventually out caught behind off Ngarava's slower ball, and Bevon Jacobs was spectacularly caught at backward point by Munyonga. Michael Bracewell contributed a quick 26 off 16 balls, helping New Zealand post a challenging total.

Speaking after the match, Santner praised his team's depth, saying, "Different guys stepping up at different times is a good thing, although it can be a selection headache at times. We know we have a massive game in a couple of days' time."

Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza lamented the team's performance, citing dropped catches and slow starts as costly errors. "We keep digging ourselves a hole and when we try to climb out of it, we don't," he said. "The catches we dropped hurt us. As much as we wanted to be upbeat, it took us a bit of time to get into the game. One of the things I will speak to players about is that it is never a dead rubber for Zimbabwe."

With New Zealand and South Africa confirmed for the final, Zimbabwe's focus now turns to rebuilding ahead of future contests in the tri-series.