Highlights
- Australia won the match by 8 wickets
- Aaron Finch led Australia now win the series by 2-0
- Australia will now play New Zealand next
AUS vs ZIM: The Australian team have done what was certain and was asked of them. After facing a heavy defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the ODI series earlier this year, Australia has turned up and won an ODI series against Zimbabwe in their backyard. The Aaron Finch-led Australian team came into this match with a 1-0 lead and the job for them was pretty clear and cutout, to register a victory and win the 3-match ODI series by 2-0. The Aussies faced a major setback ahead of this particular match as they lost Mitchell Marsh to a "minor ankle soreness". Marsh has been ruled out of the New Zealand series too and might make a comeback when the Aussies travel to India next month.
Aaron Finch won the toss and intending to win the series, invited the visitors to bat first. Zimbabwe openers Innocent Kaia and Tadiwanashe Marumani started the proceedings for their team but their stay was shortened by Mitchell Starc who sent them packing for 6 runs combined. Zimbabwe's number 3 Wesley Madhevere too couldn't make any kind of valuable contribution and departed on 0. As Sean Williams walked in, Finch was quick to introduce leg-spinner Adam Zampa. Williams was extremely watchful and played an innings of 29 from 45 deliveries. The visitors had their hopes pinned on Sikandar Raza, their one-man army, but even he couldn't handle Hazlewood's quality and departed for 17 off 37 deliveries. Apart from Williams, no other Zimbabwe batsman could score more than 20 runs and they bundled out on 96 runs.
The score was not at all a problem for Australia as they were looking to chase it down by a margin of 10 wickets. Australian skipper Aaron Finch could not put an end to his bad run and he departed for 1. Left-handed batsman David Warner scored only 13 and fell prey to Richard Ngarava. Australia's number 3 Steven Smith who is trying to keep his place in the white-ball side scored a gritty 47* off 41 deliveries and was joined by Alex Carey who scored 26* off 33 deliveries. Australia won the match by 8 wickets and clinched the series by 2-0.
Zimbabwe XI: Innocent Kaia, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wesley Madhevere, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva(w/c), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Luke Jongwe, Brad Evans, Richard Ngarava
Australia XI: Aaron Finch(c), David Warner, Steven Smith, Alex Carey(w), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
