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The pressure was all on the West Indies ahead of the 2nd ODI in Guyana today. Zimbabwe played out of their skins to win the T20 and 1st ODI, and with conditions as Providence again set to favour spin the early indications were that the Windies would have another fight on their hands - and with Zimbabwe winning the toss and opting to bat, the visitors had the chance to set the early running. Unlike the first ODI, though, shaky batting and some decent West Indies bowling made life difficult, starting with the loss of Vusi Sibanda (5) in the first over. The third-wicket partnership of Brendan Taylor (47) and Tatenda Taibu (31) eventually got things going, and while the run-rate was never anything to write home about, that pair and later Greg Lamb (23) and Elton Chigumbura (50) were able to push the side on to 206 before the side were bowled out with one ball remaining. Nikita Miller led the West Indies bowling figures with 4/43.

Prosper Utseya had suggested during the previous match that 240-250 was the target score for the Guyana pitch - that call had proved correct then, and that meant that Zimbabwe were 30 or us runs light this time around. While Zimbabwe's spinners can work miracles when the conditions suit them, there are some tasks beyond even them - and when Windies captain Chris Gayle came out swinging during the early overs if his innings it looked that the home side were going to strut home. The spin quartet of Utseya, Ray Price, Graeme Cremer and Greg Lamb were able to turn the screws, though, restricting the West Indies batsmens' ability to play - at one point, a full 30 overs passed without a boundary being scored as the required run-rate crept towards 7/over, a period where Zimbabwe appeared to be in full control of the match. In the 37th over, though, Gayle decided that he'd had enough of playing the waiting game, and with a mighty six, and a four off the following ball, signalled the beginning of the West Indies' fightback. His new-found aggression proved his undoing in the 42nd, as a swing & miss saw Cremer claim his scalp for an impressive 88, but some of his desire had already rubbed off on partner Narsingh Deonarine (65*) who went on to seal the victory with 13 balls to spare. In truth, Gayle and Deonarine were the only two players to show any capability of dealing with Zimbabwe's "death by spin" approach, and Deonarine was helped in the closing overs by some puzzling bowling decisions by Utseya that played into the West Indies' hands, but between the two of them they were enough to be Zimbabwe's undoing.

And so the sides head to St Vincent with the series ties, and Zimbabwe's chances of pulling ahead again most likely resting on the conditions of the St Vincent pitches. But Zimbabwe but up a hell of a fight here (in truth they probablbly should have won), once again signalling that they're no longer with whipping boys of world cricket. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 206 (49.5 overs; Chigumbura 50, Miller 4/43), West Indies 208/6 (47.5 overs; Gayle 88, Price 2/31). West Indies win by 4 wickets.

The first ODI between Zimbabwe and the West Indies took place at Providence Stadium in Guyana today, with Zimbabwe claiming another upset win against a West Indies side that just don't seem to know how to deal with them. Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat on a pitch that some had pegged as a batting track - although it soon became clear that it was behaving similarly to the Trinidad pitch on Sunday. Good news for Zimbabwe, then - and with the side's batsmen finally finding some form, a few determined efforts saw Zimbabwe reach an impressive 254/5 from their 50 overs, with only a 15-minute rain-break spoiling the fun. Vusi Sibanda, whose international form has come in for a lot of criticism of late, remained at the crease for most of the innings, amassing an impressive 95 and surviving a number of unusual happenings - although his eventual dismissal was the most bizarre of all, with Kemar Roach choosing the direct route to bowl him out: directly through his bat, which was broken in the process. Despite Sibanda's high total, though, it was arguably Hamilton Masakadza (41) and Tatenda Taibu (56) that were the impressive performers on the day, playing Sibanda's agressive partners and keeping the score ticking over while Sibanda adopted a much slower approach. Kieran Pollard led the West Indies bowling figures with 2/59.

That left the West Indies need 255 to win - a target that it was thought would prove too much on a low & slow pitch. The start of the Windies innings was delayed by another rain shower, but once play got under way openers Chris Gayle (57) and Adrian Barath (50) set about chasing it down - the pair put on 99 for the first wicket, keeping their side in touch with the required rate, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul continued the good work after Gayle's departure. Barath followed shortly thereafter with the score on 126/2, and from there the momentum began to shift in Zimbabwe's favour, as Chanderpaul was unable to find a steady partner and Zimbabwe continued to take regular wickets. Chanderpaul's efforts were almost enough, though, especially after Zimbabwe's spinners ran out of overs. With 5 overs remaining, West Indies required 52 runs to win, a target that most Zim fans watching thought would be out of reach - but as Price and Utseya came to the end of their spells, Elton Chigumbura and Shingi Masakadza came into the attack - and suddenly things didn't look quite so rosy. Shingi did get the scalp of Chanderpaul (70), but with the Windies needing 15 off the final over, he was the man handed the responsibility of seeing out the match - on his ODI debut - and was smashed for 10 off the first two balls of the over. Left with the Windies needing 4 runs from the final three balls, though, he redeemed himself in dramatic style, taking the wickets of Dwayne Smith (4) and Sulieman Benn (0) with the next two balls - and when Kemar Roach could only manage a single off the final ball, it was all over and Zimbabwe were on their way to their target of a winning the series. As for the Windies, it couldn't get any worse from here - could it? Zimbabwe will be hoping that it can, come the 2nd ODI on Saturday. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 254/5 (50 overs; Sibanda 95, Pollard 2/59), West Indies 252/9 (50 overs; Chanderpaul 70, S Masakadza 3/36). Zimbabwe win by 2 runs.

Well, well, well. Zimbabwe set out for the West Indies with their "mission statement", agreed between the squad members, being that they were aiming to win the ODI series. Until a little earlier this evening, I don't think anyone would have taken them too seriously. Even at the half-way point of the match, when Sky Sports were describing Zimbabwe's batting performance as "incompetent", things were looking grim for the boys in red (now once again sporting the Zimbabwe Bird on their uniforms). This was a match with a record number of ducks in a Twenty20 International (8), and with both the Windies and Zimbabwe posting their lowest scores in this format. And yet, it turned out to be gripping.

Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat, hoping to get the best out of the pitch. It was a decision which made sense, but which captain Prosper Utseya was soon rueing as Zimbabwe's top order collapsed in dramatic style to leave the side apparently dead and buried on 0/3 after three overs, with Sulieman Benn (4/6) doing the early damage. On a wicket on which Utseya later said he was targeting a total of around 140, and on which the TV commentary considered 120 to be par, Zimbabwe looked in real danger of not even reaching 50. Hamilton Masakadza became the rock around which an innings was finally built, though, adding 44 off 67 balls before finally holing out with the score on 74/6. That in turn brought Elton Chigumbura to the crease for a cameo performance than, in hindsight, would prove to be the turning point for the match: living up to his nickname, "Boom Boom" posted 34 from 27 balls, taking Zimbabwe past the 100 mark and finally taking some of the wind out of the West Indies' sails. The side were bowled out for 105 with one ball remaining - some way short of the ideal total, but still within the range that the side could defend.

And defend it they did. Led by the spin attack of a truly fired-up Ray Price (1/18), Prosper Utseya (1/12) and on-form Graeme Cremer (3/11), Zimbabwe were able to keep the brakes firmly on the West Indies batsmen, building pressure on them and eventually forcing the errors that would hand Zimbabwe the match. While Shivnarine Chanderpaul (20) tried to hold things together, the more impetuous players around him were leading a calypso collapse to match Zimbabwe's own, and with only three 4s and one 6 in the innings, the home side were never close to matching the required scoring rate - in the end, it wasn't even close, as the West Indies completed their 20 overs on a meagre 79, 26 short of their target.

Of course, that doesn't mean that everything in the garden is rosy. This was a much-needed win, signalling to the rest of the cricketing world that hey, WE'RE BACK, but the traditional Zimbabwe Collapse™ was still very much in evidence and something that would well lose us matches in the rest of the series. But let the message be clear: don't ignore us, and don't underestimate us. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabwe 105 (19.5 overs; H Masakadza 44, Sammy 5/26), West Indies 79/7 (20 overs; Ramdin 23*, Cremer 3/11). Zimbabwe win by 26 runs.

Zimbabwe only arrived in Trinidad & Tobago a little over a day ago, but they were already in action today in their opening tour match against the University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor's XI. With Brendan Taylor a late arrival due to problems with his visa paperwork and spin trio of Price, Cremer and Utseya left on the sidelines, it was definitely a weakened side that took the field for Zimbabweans, and this was reflected in the result, which as far closer than it may otherwise have been. Zimbabweans won the toss and opted to bat, and it was the usual story of one or two good performances carrying the side - in this case, Tatenda Taibu's impressive 107, with captain for the day Hamilton Masakadza coming a distant second on 38 while the rest of the side failed to fire - while at one point the side looked poised to break 300, with none of the bottom five in the batting lineup reaching double figures it all went a bit sour, and the side were bowled out for 281.

Zim's bowling for this match was heavily biased towards the pacemen, and Chris Mpofu took two wicket early in the UWI innings to give Zim the advantage. The 3rd-wicket partnership of Kraigg Brathwaite (80) and Nekoli Parris (73) threatened to see Zimbabwe's tour off to the worst possible start, though, as the pair made a determined effort to chase down the total that they'd been set. The partnership was broken when Parris departed with the score on 3/175, and from there regular wickets saw the momentum shift back in the Zimbabweans' way. The end was painfully close, though, with 9th man Ruel Brathwaite needing a six off the final ball of the innings to secure the win for his side - only to see the ball go past to the keeper, giving Zimbabweans the win by a meagre 5 runs. Chris Mpofu, Kyle Jarvis and Elton Chigumbura took two wickets apiece, although with Mpofu being rather expensive on the day he may be the one who fails to make the cut for the T20 side on Sunday. Full scorecard below the cut.
Zimbabweans 281 (49.2 overs; Taibu 107, Parris 2/40), UWI VC XI 276/8 (50 overs; Brathwaite 80, Chigumbura 2/27). Zimbabweans win by 5 runs.

Yesterday, Eagles thrashed Mountaineers in the final round of group matches - today, in the Stanbic T20 final, Mountaineers turned the tables and gave Eagles a taste of their own medicine to claim the title after a highly entertaining tournament. Mountaineers won the toss and put Eagles in to bat, and the home side were simply unable to really get going as wickets fell regularly, with no-one able to form a foundation for the innings. Elton Chigumbura's 20 was the best of the bunch, as Eagles were removed for 105 in the 19th over. Greg Smith took 3/11 to lead the bowling figures for Mountaineers. In reply, Mountaineers were never in any trouble - Smith (1) was the only wicket to fall, with the score on 8, after which Hamilton Masakadza (64*) and Tatenda Taibu (37*) knocked off the required runs wit little fuss, reaching the target with 15 balls to spare. Masakadza was subsequently named Player of the Series and Batsman of the Series, with Vipers' Tony Palladino being named Bowler of the Series. Full scorecard below the cut.
Eagles 105 (18.4 overs; Chigumbura 20, Smith 3/11), Mountaineers 106/1 (17.3 overs; H Masakadza 64*, Hondo 1/19). Mountaineers win by 9 wickets.

Essentially settling the tournament's only abandoned match, the 3rd-place playoff was a simple affair for the Desert Vipers, who claimed a 35-run victory over the Bulawayo side in the first of today's matches. Batting first after winning the toss, Vipers amassed a less-than-impressive 126/7 from their 20 overs. Raymond van Schoor (46) and Dwaine Pretorius (36) accounted for most of Vipers' total, with the rest of the side failing to manage significant contributions. Where they were poor, though, Tuskers were woeful, with 8 of their side failing to reach double figures and only Tawanda Mupariwa (31) at 9th putting up significant resistance as the side were bowled out for 91. A disappointing end to the tourney for Tuskers. Full scorecard below the cut.
Vipers 126/7 (20 overs; van Schoor 46, Mpofu 2/26), Tuskers 91 (18.3 overs; Mupariwa 31, Klazinga 2/13). Vipers win by 35 runs.

The second match of the day was also the final match of the group stage, pitting Desert Vipers - already out of the running - against Midwest Rhinos who, depending on whether you believed CricInfo's tournament table or SuperSport's, may still have been in with a shout. Vipers were at the crease first, as posted a decent 141/7 from their 20 overs - a score higher than it seemed they would get, after the side's top order failed to fire. It was the eventual arrival of #7 Chrisit Viljoen that finally put some urgency into the innings - he added 41 off 21 balls before losing his wicket on the final ball of the innings. Taurai Muzarabani took 2/24 to lead the bowling for Rhinos. In reply, early efforts by Rikki Wessels (32 off 15 balls) and Darren Stevens (33 off 25) saw Rhinos appear to be on course for victory, but the lower order unfortunately went to pieces under the Vipers' attack and the side limped its way to a disappointing 132/9 at the close. Louis Klazinga took 3/41, in the process almost certainly ensuring his side a place in the 3rd/4th place playoff. Full scorecard below the cut.
Vipers 141/7 (20 overs; Viljoen 41, Muzarabani 2/24), Rhinos 132/9 (20 overs; Stevens 33, Klazinga 3/41). Vipers win by 9 runs.

In what could well be a prelude of tomorrow's final, Mountaineers and Mashonaland Eagles met in the first of today's matches in the Stanbic T20, and if the result was anything to go by, the trophy can be handed to Eagles already. Batting first after being put in to bat, Eagles only managed to score 141/9 from their 20 overs, with Greb Lamb's 40 being the only real innings of note as Greg Smith took an impressive 5/27 for Mountaineers to keep Eagles in check. If Eagles were poor, though, Mountaineers were some way below woeful - only Hamilton Masakadza (16) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (10) reach double figures as their side was skittled out for 59 inside 12 overs. Ray Price was the man who did the damage, surpassing Greg Smith's efforts with a haul of 5/12 from just 17 balls bowled. Now, what happens next depends on which version of the tournament table you're looking at. If CricInfo and Cricket Archive's table is correct, then Rhinos are still in with a shout of reaching the final if they beat Vipers this afternoon; SuperSport have been using a different table in their broadcasts, and if that's correct then it's already settled that Eagles will meet Mountaineers again tomorrow afternoon. We'll have to wait and see who's correct. Full scorecard for this match below the cut.
Eagles 141/9 (20 overs; Lamb 40, Smith 5/27), Mountaineers 59 (11.5 overs; H Masakadza 16, Price 5/12). Eagles win by 82 runs.

Only one match today in the Stanbic T20, and while both Matabeleland Tuskers and Desert Vipers had outside chances of reaching the final (dependent on results elsewhere), those chances were taken from them by rain late in the day. Vipers at least got to complete their innings, after winning the toss and opting to bat, and posted 147/4. Raymond van Schoor got the side off to a decent start with 44, while Dwaine Pretorius ended the innings on 48 not-out, but support from others was lacking and the total wasn't as good as it could have been. Not that it mattered - Tuskers only got 17 balls under their belts before the rain drew a line under the day's play, and that was the end of that. Full scorecard below the cut.
Vipers 147/4 (20 overs; Pretorius 48*, Higgins 1/7, Williams 1/7), Tuskers 23/1 (4.1/20 overs; Coventry 15*, Klazinga 0/6). No result - match abandoned (rain).

The second match of the day pitted Southern Rocks against Midwest Rhinos. Rocks have been unlucky in this tourney, with two close losses leaving them stranded at the bottom of the table, while Rhinos have just paid the price for inconsistency. It was Rhinos who finally got the run of the good fortune today, though. Rhinos won the toss and opted to field, and suffered a run of early wickets that saw them reduced to 64/4 during the 9th over as the top order failed to find form. The pairing of Alester Maregwede (48) and Craig Ervine (62) changed the tone of the Rocks' innings, though - the pair remained at the crease for the remainder of the innings, putting on 113 from 69 balls to leave Rocks on 177/4 at the close, a score that they seemed to have a good chance of defending. Throughout the tourney, though, Rocks' main weakness has been an unthreatening bowling attack, and that was what eventually cost them today. After scoring the early scalp of Vusi Sibanda (4), there was little else to cheer about for Rocks as, led by Rikki Wessels who carried his bat for the innings with an unbeaten 86, Rhinos chased down the target with a healthy 10 balls to spare. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 177/4 (20 overs; C Ervine 62*, Stevens 1/25), Rhinos 179/3 (18.2 overs; Wessels 86*, Ireland 1/28). Rhinos win by 7 wickets.