Rather than throw a kettle over a pub, it was Zimbabwe pasted all over the Harare Sports Club.
Aaron Finch bludgeoned his way to within three runs of Chris Gayle’s world-record Twenty20 score and bettered his own chart-topper in Twenty20 internationals as Australia cantered to a second victory in as many days in the triangular series in Harare.
Placing his stamp on the tournament and Australia’s short-form captaincy, Finch blazed 10 sixes in an opening stand of 223 – with a more subdued D’Arcy Short – that lasted until the final over of the visitors’ innings after they were sent in by Zimbabwe. Left with three balls to make the four runs he required to set a new world record score in all T20 matches, Finch was dismissed hit wicket when aiming for one more mighty blow. Still, he walked off having delivered a comfortably match-winning total for his team.
Despite a rapid start, as Billy Stanlake struggled to replicate the rhythm he had achieved against Pakistan the day before, Zimbabwe never truly threatened in the chase. Ashton Agar and Andrew Tye both delivered tight spells for the Australians, on a sluggish surface that was by no means the easiest for batsmen.
Given the heights to which Finch soared, the contrasting fortunes of Short put his innings in context, while evidence remained of Australian frailties against spin bowling via the isolated economy of the slow left-armer Tendai Chisoro, who gave up a mere 19 runs from four overs, six of those from one ball.
Kyle Jarvis had dropped out of the Zimbabwe XI with a broken thumb, with his place taken by Chris Mpofu, while Australia were unchanged. Zimbabwe won the only previous T20 encounter between the two nations, at the inaugural World T20 tournament in Cape Town in 2007.
Walking to the middle with Short, Finch found his range in the third over of the innings by clattering John Nyumbu for a trio of boundaries in as many balls, and the first six of the innings followed over wide long-on from Mpofu’s next over. From there the boundary was reached or cleared with alarming regularity for Zimbabwe’s captain Hamilton Masakadza, who tried hard but was unable to plug the holes in the field.
