To this moment we really do not know what went through Travis Head’s mind when he won the toss and elected to field. Common wisdom would have it that you bat first by day, and field first by night. The pitch is slow, and will get slower. Why you would want to field in the heat of the day is, verily, a mystery. As if to underline this point Zimbabwe’s openers Marumani and Bennett hopped joyfully into some wayward offerings and raced to 61 in seven and a half overs. Dwarshuis and Maxwell were hammered. Stoinis alone kept his head, removing Marumani caught behind for a thunderous 35. Burl and Bennett pressed on with a degree of circumspection, knowing the pitch was a 150 one, and hoping for more. In dropping a sharp return catch Stoinis injured his hand and had to limp off. Replacing him for the last ball of his over, Green caused a wayward skier from Burl which was safely pouched by Bartlett.
This brought the super-veteran Sikandar Raza to the crease. He wasted no time and whacked a cheerfully brutal unbeaten 25. Brian Bennett’s unbeaten 64 – carrying his bat through the innings – looked sedate, but his job was to rotate the strike and let the hitters plunder the bowling. Set 170 to win, Australia looked up against it from the first over. You would think that the pitch would not have suited Blessing Muzarabani. Yet it was probably tailor-made for the giant Mashona. Batsmen do not expect the ball to fly off a length on these wickets. Because he delivers from a truly enormous height, the ball can fly from anywhere. He was too much for Inglis and David, while Brad Evans chipped in with the wickets of Head and Green. At 4/29 halfway through the fifth over the contest was more or less done.
Glenn Maxwell’s struggles were piteous to behold. He was dropped twice right on the boundary fence. He did his very best to stay in the contest. Yet the truth is probably that his time has come and gone. After a run-a-ball 31 he fell to Burl’s occasional leg-spin. Yet Matt Renshaw was master of the occasion. His stroke selection was peerless, and while he was still there, perhaps Australia might pull off a miracle. This rather depended on Zimbabwe dropping their bundle, and maybe falling apart in the field under pressure. There was no sign of that whatever. The bowlers stuck to their guns, and the fielding was of the highest quality. Munyonga’s outfield catch to dismiss Dwarshuis was one of the best you will ever see. Finally Renshaw departed, for a brilliant 65 from 44, and the end came suddenly. Australia must now win their remaining two games to stay alive. And with Sri Lanka in white-hot form, you would hesitate to put money on it.