Australia were on the end of a shock loss at the hands of Zimbabwe, crashing to a 23-run defeat in Colombo on Friday.
Brian Bennett’s classy, unbeaten 64 helped Zimbabwe to set a competitive target of 170, and Australia, looking for their second win of the tournament, made a disastrous start to their chase.
The 2021 winners lost four wickets inside five overs, leaving them on 29 for four, and despite spirited efforts from Glenn Maxwell (31) and Matt Renshaw (65) they were never really in the game after such a poor start.
The decision to bowl first after winning the toss will come under scrutiny, although Travis Head, the Australia stand-in captain for the injured Mitchell Marsh, defended his decision.
“We thought it would be a bit tacky at the start and even though we only took two wickets, I thought their score was a bit under par, but we lost early wickets and were under pressure.”
Zimbabwe’s bowlers were led by Blessing Muzarabani, who took four wickets for 17 runs, and he was well supported by seamer Brad Evans, who finished with three for 23.
Musekiwa took an astonishing catch to his right to dismiss Stoinis for just six
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The pair bowled with considerable pace, which proved too much for Australia as they were dismissed for 146 in 19.3 overs. Muzarabani’s figures were the best by a Zimbabwe bowler at a men’s T20 World Cup and the best for Zimbabwe in any T20 against one of the Test-playing nations.
“I am very happy and proud,” Sikandar Raza, the Zimbabwe captain, said. “It is the feeling of a brother whose younger brothers are achieving a lot together. The culture, the environment and unity we’ve created is amazing and to win this is unbelievable.
“We only have 13 able bodies right 1770998055 and I went down with cramp, and [Graeme] Cremer has a bit of a niggle. The boys did so well and deserve to enjoy today, and we’ll take it one game at a time from here.”
Evans claimed three wickets, including those of Head and Green
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Facing Australia in a T20 World Cup for the first time in 19 years, Zimbabwe had earlier reached 47 for no loss in the Powerplay. Head brought spinners Adam Zampa, Matt Kuhnemann and Maxwell into the attack, but they could not stem the flow of runs, even after Marcus Stoinis had Tadiwanashe Marumani caught behind for 35.
That setback barely mattered for Zimbabwe, as Bennett helped to guide them past the 100 mark in the 13th over and brought up his half-century while building a 70-run partnership with Ryan Burl. Australia were left sweating when Stoinis walked off after being hit on his hand while attempting to stop a ferocious shot by Burl, who perished next ball for 35 off the bowling of Cameron Green.
Australia composed themselves and tightened things up through Zampa and Nathan Ellis, but Raza (25 not out) took his team to 169 for two with the first six of the innings off the final ball.
Maxwell is bowled by Burl for 31, one of the few Australia batsmen to make an impact
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Zimbabwe had been forced to play this match without one of their most experienced players in Brendan Taylor, who was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a hamstring injury. Ben Curran, brother of England all-rounder Sam, has been called up as a replacement.
Australia are suffering from a huge injury crisis and at one point earlier in the tournament only had 12 fit players. The hand injury to Stoinis also affected his batting.
Stoinis had a painful moment when hit on the hand while attempting to stop a ferocious shot
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Steve Smith, who, somewhat controversially, had been omitted from the original 15-man squad, has been called up for the rest of the tournament.
Australia cannot now afford another slip-up in their remaining two group games if they are to guarantee progression through to the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
They play Sri Lanka on Monday and then Oman next Friday.