ZIMBABWE national cricket team all-rounder Wessley Madhevere claimed a sensational hattrick to help the Chevrons clinch a nail-biting one run win over Netherlands in the second of three One Day Internationals at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
He became the third Zimbabwean to take a hattrick in this format after Prosper Utseya, against South Africa and Eddo Brandes against England at the same venue.
With yesterday’s win, Zimbabwe kept the series alive as the two teams go into the decider, tomorrow, tied at one-all.
It seemed Netherlands were coasting to a series win until Madhevere struck to remove Colin Ackerman after inducing a stumping to reduce the tourists to 213 for 4 after 43.1 overs.
He turned the game on its head when he bowled Teja Nidamanuru for a single ball duck, before he also uprooted Paul van Meekeren's middle stump, again for nought.
With those three scalps, momentum swung in Zimbabwe's favour as the home side bid to defend 271.
Not that everything went in Zimbabwe's favour after that as Netherlands exhibited fighting spirit, threatening to snatch it with the last ball where they needed four runs off the bowling of Tendai Chatara.
In the penultimate ball, Chatara, struggling to hit the right areas, had been clobbered for six by Fred Klaasen. There was dead silence as the seamer ran up to deliver his final delivery.
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The crowd had their hands on their heads with the Klaasen blow heading for the boundary, only for Brad Evans to scramble and pick up the ball to set up a run out as the Netherlands batsmen desperately tried to squeeze in three runs.
Sikandar Raza weighed in with a good bowling display to finish with figures of 3 for 39 in nine overs and it looked like Zimbabwe finally had a firm grip on the game.
Before that it was another topsy-turvy innings for Zimbabwe who flew out of the blocks with openers Madhevere (43), named Man of the Match and skipper Craig Ervine (39).
The two combined for 61 for the first wicket before Ervine was bowled by Ackerman.
Gary Ballance did not hang around too long as he was snared for Van Meekeren for 14 runs.
Madhevere fell short of a half ton after facing 50 balls.
It was Sean Williams (77) and Clive Madande (52) who were outstanding for Zimbabwe with their collaboration yielding 100 runs.
Williams was making a return to the national team after a long injury lay off.
He hit 11 boundaries after facing just 73 balls, while Madande, who also hit a half century in the first match, cracked five fours after facing 57 deliveries.
At the tail end Blessing Muzarabani's 17 off 16 balls proved quite valuable considering Netherlands' chase.
Teams
Zimbabwe: Craig Ervine, Wessly Madhevere, Gary Ballance, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Clive Madande, Wellington Masakadza, Bradley Evans, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani
Netherlands: Vikram Singh, Max O'Dowd, Tom Cooper, Musa Ahmad, Colin Ackerman, Scott Edwards, Teja Nidamanuru, Shariz Ahmad, Paul Van Meekeren, Fred Klaasen, Ryan Klein
