Zimbabwe dismantle the Dutch

The warm-up matches for upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 have been started in United Arab Emirates (UAE) from February 6. Zimbabwe, who are inactive in Test cricket these days, trounced minnows Netherlands by 115 runs in a warm-up match for the World Cup showpiece event on Tuesday at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Batting first, the African side posted a reasonable total of 249 runs for the loss of eight wickets. In reply, the European team were never in the game and bundled out for 134.
Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura won the toss and elected to bat first on a placid Dubai stadium pitch. Brendan Taylor and Charles Coventry came out to open the innings. Coventry was the first man to go. The left-hander was out lbw for 8 runs to Mudassar Bukhari. Regis Chakabva came in at number 3 and looked confident right from the start. Taylor on the other end, was also going strong. The two played with authority and made good use of the power-play in the first 15 overs of the innings. Chakabva was the next man to be dismissed for 29 runs. He was caught by Alexei Kervezee off the bowling of Bradley Kruger. The Chakabva-Taylor partnership gathered 67 runs.
Former captain Tatenda Taibu walked in next and demonstrated his batting skills. Brendon Taylor, who was very much on track for a big knock, lost his temperament and threw away his wicket to Pieter Seelaar at his individual score of 56. Taylor's dismissal triggered a collapse in the middle-order and apart from veteran Taibu, none of the Zimbabwe batsmen were able to stay at the crease.
Middle-order batsman Craig Ervine managed just 10 runs and was caught by Seelaar off the bowling of Bernard Loots. He was followed by skipper Elton Chigumbura, who scored just 11 runs and was dismissed by Loots. Then Taibu fell to Bukhari, who shattered his stumps for 30 runs.
At this stage, Zimbabwe were crawling at 158/7 but Prosper Utseya, another former captain and Graeme Cremer combine to put up an excellent stand of 43 for the 8th wicket. Utseya was out lbw to Loots for 22 but the pair did manage to take the score past 200. Zimbabwe tail-enders provided another valuable stand for the 9th wicket. Cremer (42) and Shingirai Masakadza, younger brother of Test batsman Hamilton, added useful 48 runs for the unbeaten partnership. Zimbabwe ended their innings at 249 for the loss of 8 wickets. Loots and Bukhari claimed three wickets each for Netherlands.
Netherlands failed to make an ideal start as opener Eric Szwarczynski was dismissed for naught off the bowling of Ed Rainsford. Next man de Grooth found it difficult to settle down and managed just 4 runs off 17 balls. De Grooth was dismissed by Chris Mpofu.
Netherlands middle order was not able to handle the accurate line & length of Zimbabwean bowlers. Whenever a partnership started to shape, they lost a wicket. Bas Zuiderent was cleaned up by Chigumbura for 17 runs. Chigumbura again struck and sent Wesley Barresi back to pavilion for 16 runs. Alexei Kervezee, who contributed biggest knock for his team (33), offered any amount of resistance. Kruger and Mudassar Bukhari also tried to resurrect the innings but both were dismissed for 22 and 28 runs respectively and the Netherlands were eventually bowled out for just 134 runs in the 34th over. Chigumbura and Mpofu captured three wickets each for Zimbabwe.