Story by Raynald Ngwarati
THE Zimbabwe national women’s cricket team, the Lady Chevrons have taken the lead in the three-match T20 International series against the United States, after winning the series opener by 28 runs at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Texas this Friday, to take a one-nil lead in the series.
The Lady Chevrons kicked off the T20 International series to perfection with 16-year-old Beloved Biza being the heroine for the Lady Chevrons as she produced a beautiful all-round display to steer the visitors to a thrilling victory in the first of three T20 Internationals on foreign soil.
The teenager led from the front with both the bat and ball, scoring crucial runs and bagging crucial wickets to put the Lady Chevrons in a good position to claim the series.
The rising sensation put on a handy 33 runs with the bat, with a strike rate of 97, before playing the destroyer in chief to plague the USA Women as she claimed three scalps for 18 runs.
The Lady Chevrons had found themselves in trouble earlier as a top order collapse left them reeling on 12 runs for the loss of two wickets as openers Kellis Ndlovu and Modester Mupachikwa failed to register much impact with the bat.
Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano then partnered Loreen Tshuma for a 31-run third wicket stand before. The former departed for just 15 runs, leaving the visitors in trouble at 43-three.
Tshuma then stepped up her game, top scoring in the match with 38 runs, before Biza added 33 and Josephine Nkomo contributed an unbeaten run-a-ball 22 to propel the Lady Chevrons to 124 runs.
The defense of that total appeared to be an easy task for the visitors as Adel Zimunhu restricted the USA acceleration with pinpoint bowling while the trio of Biza, Tshuma and Precious Marange capitalised on the pressure to grab wickets as the USA could only manage 96 runs for six in their 20 overs, 28 runs shy of the target.
The victory puts the Lady Chevrons in a comfortable position, with a chance to seal a series victory this Sunday as both teams clash in the second T20I at the same venue.
