Led once again by Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe seemed on their way to securing the top spot in the league table. After Hamilton Masakadza's first failure in the tournament, Taylor got a good helping hand from Chamu Chibhabha, who put behind an ordinary show with the ball and a slow, edgy start.With not much swing available, Thilan Thushara and Dilhara Fernando tried to test the openers with short deliveries. It worked to begin with: Masakadza gloved one down the leg side in the fifth over, and Zimbabwe had scored only 16 in the first six. However, chasing a modest total, they could afford to give the bowlers a few overs and wait for the loose deliveries.
Sure enough, the loose deliveries started arriving. Immediately after Chibhabha top-edged Thushara for four in the seventh over, five wides followed. In the next over, Fernando over-pitched, and was off-driven by Taylor. In the ninth over, Thushara over-pitched on the pads, and Chibhabha flicked him over fine leg for six.
With literally risk-free cricket, Zimbabwe had reached 42 in nine overs. With the introduction of Thissara Perera, though, the batsmen started taking calculated risks. His two overs went for five boundaries, four of them in the air, and with 80 runs on the board after 15 overs, Zimbabwe could afford to consolidate a bit. The next 10 overs yielded an uneventful 40 runs, but Zimbabwe were still ahead of the rate.
