Making history in Nairobi, Kenya, Zimbabwe set a new world record for the highest score in men’s T20 international cricket, scoring 344-4 against Gambia.
Zimbabwe won the match by 290 runs after bundling out their opponents for 54. The match is part of the African qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup. With their crushing victory, Zimbabwe broke the previous world record of 314-3 set by Nepal against Mongolia last year in Hangzhou, China.
Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza scored a lightning-fast 133 not out from just 43 balls. The athlete reached his century in 33 balls, matching the feat of Namibia’s Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, and scoring the second-fasest century in a T20 international. Sahil Chauhan remains the fastest century-maker in T20 internationals, having scored a hundred in just 27 balls for Estonia against Cyprus.
Zimbabwe’s Tadiwanashe Marumani, Clive Madande, and Brian Bennett all achieved half-centuries in the match against Gambia, scoring 62 off 19 balls, 53 not out off 17 balls, and 50 off 26 balls, respectively. Brandon Mavuta (3-10) and Richard Ngarava (3-13) took three wickets each.
This victory assures Zimbabwe a spot in the final African qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup. Five of the other seven spots have already been filled by Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya.
Gambia, 95th in the world rankings, became the first team in cricket history to lose two T20 internationals by walkover, having been unable to fulfil matches against Rwanda and Seychelles.
A whirlwind unbeaten 30 by Ryan Burl lifted Zimbabwe to a 2-1 Twenty20 series victory over Ireland in Harare on Sunday.
Ireland were put in to bat and made 141-9 with Harry Tector top scoring on 47 as they sought to buck a trend in this series of the side fielding first winning.
Captain Craig Ervine scored 54 to lift Zimbabwe to 116-5 with three overs remaining and Burl effectively finished the match off, hammering two sixes and three fours off 11 deliveries.
Luke Jongwe hit the last ball of the penultimate over for four to take Zimbabwe to 144-6, and a four-wicket triumph.
It was a dramatic end to a series that began with a five-wicket win for Zimbabwe on Thursday, followed by a six-wicket victory for the tourists two days later.
“It’s a great place to be at the moment, winning a series against Ireland with some of your lesser experienced players. It’s very exciting for the future,” said Ervine.
“The guys are confident ahead of the one-day international series (starting on Wednesday. We might get Sikandar Raza and Gary Ballance back.”
Prolific run getter Raza has been playing franchise cricket in Bangladesh while former England batter Ballance missed the last two T20 internationals due to mild concussion.
“It’s exciting, it’s always good to have that winning momentum and we will try hard to keep that up.”
Ireland skipper Andy Balbirnie said: “We came here to win the series, so it’s disappointing that we haven’t.”
After the cheap loss of opener Tadiwanashe Marumani (5), Ervine took charge with a knock that included six fours.
His innings ended when he was caught by Curtis Campher attempting a cover drive off a short-pitched ball from Mark Adair.
Spinner Ben White (2-26) and fast medium pacer Barry McCarthy (2-32) were the most successful Irish bowlers.
Batting at No. 4, Tector rescued the tourists, who had slumped to 19-3 having faced just 23 deliveries.
He put on 70 runs before being separated from Campher, the second highest Irish scorer with 27.
Tector departed next, adding a further six runs before his middle stump was uprooted by off-spinner Wesley Madhevere, the most successful Zimbabwe bowler with two wickets for eight runs.
Mark Adair was the only lower-order Irish batsman to reach double figures with his 14 off 10 balls contributing to a 31-run seventh-wicket stand.
Opener Ross Adair struck a brisk 65 as Ireland levelled a three-match Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe with a six-wicket victory in Harare on Saturday.
Zimbabwe made 144 with captain Craig Ervine top scoring on 42 and Ireland knocked off the runs with two balls to spare, setting up a series decider on Sunday.
Apart from Adair, fellow opener and skipper Andy Balbirnie (33) and Harry Tector (26) made significant contributions.
Adair, the former rugby player turned to cricketer
A former Ulster rugby player, Adair faced 47 deliveries and struck four sixes and two fours at Harare Sports Club.
It was a huge change of fortunes for him as he made only five runs in his international debut on Thursday, with Zimbabwe winning by five wickets.
Adair departed after trying to clear long-on off left-arm quick Richard Ngarava, miscuing his shot and picking out Wessly Madhevere.
“My switch to cricket was purely for fun, then I started scoring runs and took it more seriously,” said Adair, whose younger brother Mark was also part of the winning team.
“I took my time today and it paid off. I knew if I was patient, the boundaries would come. We pat ourselves on the back, and come back again tomorrow.”
Balbirnie atoned for a poor showing in the first match with his runs coming off 31 balls in an innings that included a six and three fours.
When Adair departed, Ireland were 119-3 and needed 26 runs from four overs to win. Tector departed with nine still required before George Dockrell hit a six to secure victory.
Leg spinner Ryan Burl was the best of the Zimbabwe bowlers, taking two wickets for 26 runs in his four-over spell.
With former England Test batter Gary Ballance ruled out by concussion and star Sikandar Raza playing franchise cricket in Bangladesh, Ervine assumed the mantle of chief run-getter.
Put in to bat after losing the toss and one wicket down with just six runs on the board, Ervine took charge with his 40-ball innings, which included four fours.
He was undone when attempting a scoop shot off a back-of-a-length delivery from Graham Hume, top-edging it to fine leg where Tector made the catch.
“We worked pretty hard to set a decent platform of 160, 170, 180 runs,” said Ervine. “But Ireland bowled well and made it difficult for us to get boundaries.”
South Africa-born Hume, promoted in place of Barry McCarthy, was the most effective of the Irish bowlers taking three for 17 while Tector took two for 22.
South Africa took control of Group 2 at the T20 World Cup on Sunday with a nervy win over India after Pakistan kept their faint semi-final hopes alive with their first win of the tournament in Australia.Bangladesh got their challenge back on track and moved level on points with India by holding off Zimbabwe in a thriller to leave Group 2 in the balance with five teams separated by three points with two games to play.
David Miller and Aiden Markram both hit half-centuries to lead South Africa to a five-wicket win with two balls to spare after the Proteas’ fast bowlers, led by Lungi Ngidi who took 4-29, restricted India to an under-par 133-9 on a lively Perth pitch.
Miller, who scored 59 not out, and Markram, who made 52, put on 76 after the side’s top order fell cheaply as they made hard work of what looked like a routine chase.
“Fortunately we got the momentum we needed,” said captain Temba Bavuma of his middle-order pair.
“We came into the tournament as non-favourites and we will keep flying under the radar,” he added with his side unbeaten after three matches. “We will keep improving and that’s what we are doing.”
India’s attack made early inroads with left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh striking twice in three balls.
First he removed Quinton de Kock, caught by KL Rahul for one, then two balls later had Rilee Rossouw, who made a century in the previous match against Bangladesh, lbw for nought.
Markram and Miller steadied the innings from 24-3, crawling to 40-3 at the halfway mark.
The pair then went after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was left crestfallen when the normally safe hands of Virat Kohli at deep midwicket dropped a routine chance from Markram when he was on 35.
‘Match-winning partnership’
India dragged the game to the final over where, needing six to win, Miller finished in style with two fours to round off an unbeaten 46-ball innings.
“We expected the pitch to have something in it,” said India captain Rohit Sharma, “which is why you saw that 130 was not an easy chase. I thought we fought well till the end but South Africa played well.
“It was a match-winning partnership from Miller and Markram. But we were not good enough on the field.”
Earlier Ngidi led a fiery pace onslaught after India chose to bat with only Yadav, with a 40-ball 68, standing firm after India slumped to 49-5.
Ngidi was ably supported by fellow fast bowler Wayne Parnell who finished with 3-15 after starting the innings with a T20 rarity — a maiden over.
Pakistan hammered the Netherlands by six wickets in Perth, reaching their target of 92 off just 13.5 overs, but they still lie fifth in Group 2 on two points, three points behind leaders South Africa, two behind India and Bangladesh and one behind Zimbabwe.
Pakistan restricted the Dutch to 91-9 and then cruised to 95-4 with Mohammad Rizwan making 49.
Pakistan need to win their remaining matches against South Africa on Thursday and Bangladesh in a week’s time, and need other results to go their way, to have any chance of securing a semi-final place.
“Very happy. Performed very well in the bowling and in the batting,” said Pakistan captain Babar Azam. “A win always gives you confidence.”
Man of the match Shadab Khan took 3-22 as Pakistan dominated a Dutch side who are now out of the semi-final running after a third straight defeat.
“I have bowled against a few of their players in county cricket, so I know how they play,” said Shadab.
Last-ball drama
Earlier in Brisbane, Bangladesh secured a dramatic last-ball win over Zimbabwe, aided by opener Najmul Shanto’s maiden half-century and Taskin Ahmed’s three wickets.
Shanto’s 71 helped steer Bangladesh to 150-7 in a match that went to the wire with Zimbabwe needing 16 off a last over that turned into an incredible finale.
Two wickets fell, a big six was hit before the teams walked off thinking the match was over, only to be called back on the field.
Bangladesh believed they had won when Blessing Muzarabani, needing five to win, was stumped off the last ball.
A review showed wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan had taken the ball in front of the stumps, which is illegal, and therefore a no-ball.
The teams had to return to the field for a free hit with four needed to win, but Muzarabani missed again leaving Zimbabwe short on 147-8.
Women’s Cricket is growing day by day and various tournaments are being organised by ICC to promote women’s cricket. The tournament are held as qualification stage for world cup or other tournaments. Currently one of those tournaments being organised are the GCC Women’s T20 Championship.
The tournament started on 20 March 2022 and will continue till 26 March 2022. 8 matches have been played till now in this eighth edition of the tournament. Wonder happened in 7th match between Bahrain Women’s Team and Saudi Arabia Women’s Team.
Bahrain Womens vs Saudi Arabia Women’s Match summary
The 7th match of the tournament was played between Bahrain Women’s Team and Saudi Arabia Women’s Team. Saudi Arabia Women’s Team led by C Sewsunker won the toss and elected to field first. This might have turned as a bad decision for them as Bahrain Women’s Team led by TI Gajanayake set a massive target of 319 runs for 1 wicket. HMD Rasangika scored 161 runs in just 66 which includes 32 boundaries.
Saudi Arabia on the other hand were expected to give a strong fightback but they failed miserably. Saudi Arabia Women’s Team only managed to score 49 runs with their 8 wickets falling down. None of the batsman was able to score double digit run and that was a very disappointing part for them. Bahrain fully dominated the game in all the area and won the match.
This has grabbed everyone’s attention as this has become the highest T20 Total in the world. Rasangika became the first women to score 150+ runs in a T20 Match. Many records were broken in this game like they won the match by 269 runs which is the second highest margin and 50 boundaries were hit in the match which is the Highest right now. They also broke the record of Average runs per wicket(318/1) which earlier was 285/1.
The Bahraini team dominated the game in every aspect and have registered their name in record books. It will be a very proud moment for both player and the board and the country as well.
Clive Madande struck a four off the final ball of a rain-interrupted one-day international thriller in Harare on Wednesday to give Zimbabwe a three-wicket victory over Ireland.
The home side needed 13 runs from their last over under the DLS system to win and, boosted by a six from Ryan Burl, reduced the target to four runs with one Graham Hume delivery left.
By scooping the ball over deep midwicket, wicketkeeper Madande joined Burl (59) and Sikandar Raza (43) as stars of a brave fightback by Zimbabwe after Ireland posted 288-4 in 50 overs.
Zimbabwe scored 214-7 in reply as a three-match ODI series began, following a 2-1 win by the hosts in a three-match Twenty20 series.
Burl was run out seeking a second run off the second ball of the final over and Raza was caught earlier having miscued an attempted shot over long on.
Remarks about Madande
“I am ecstatic about Madande,” said Burl. “When batting with him, I kept telling him to be the guy that is going to be there until the end, and win it for your country.
“As to my good form, there is no secret,” he said of a knock that included two sixes and six fours. “I’m just concentrating on putting my head down and doing the right things.”
Harare-born former England Test batsman Gary Ballance contributed 23 to the Zimbabwe total before being caught at short third man attempting a pull shot off a back-of-a-length ball.
Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie struck 121 before retiring hurt.
Zimbabwe won the toss, opted to field and, initially, the decision paid off as openers Paul Stirling (13) and Stephen Doheny (3) were dismissed with 25 runs on the board.
The match then underwent a dramatic change as Balbirnie and Harry Tector (101 not out) put on 212 for the third wicket — 16 runs short of the Irish record.
Balbirnie faced 137 balls and hit three sixes and 13 fours before top-edging a Brad Evans beamer into the grill of his helmet, forcing him to quit.
The captain was able to walk off the field and an Irish official, who requested anonymity, said the centurion “was not seriously injured and would be okay”.
“We attach no blame to him (Evans). It was not a deliberate act — just a ball that was not ideally delivered. These things happen in cricket.”
Tector reached his century with two runs from a cover drive off the fourth ball of the final over. His total included one six and eight fours off 109 deliveries.
“Hey, what have we got to do to win a game,” said Tector. “It was a fantastic game. Sikandar and Ryan — the way they played took the game away from us.”
Fast medium pacer Victor Nyauchi was the most successful of the Zimbabwe bowlers, taking two wickets for 65 runs.
The ODI series continues on Saturday and concludes on Monday.
