GROS-ISLET, St. Lucia, CMC Prosper Utseya bowled Zimbabwe to another impressive warm-up victory ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup, when they stunned World T20 champions Pakistan by 12 runs yesterday.
Utseya collected four wickets for 15 runs from four overs, as Pakistan, chasing 144 for victory from their 20 overs, were bowled out for 131 in 20 overs at the Beausejour Cricket Ground.
The Zimbabweans, who played a series of limited-overs match against the senior West Indies side last month, and just concluded a brief series against West Indies-A, have now installed themselves as the form side.
They are also now one of the teams to watch in the T20 World Cup, after they also edged Australia by one run in their first warm-up match.
The Pakistanis slumped to 33 for three in the sixth over, but the Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, steadied the innings with a stand of 34 before they were dismissed within five balls of each other to leave Pakistan 67 for five.
Fawad Alam made 32 and Misbah-ul-Haq scored 21 in a stand of 51 for the sixth wicket before the Pakistanis lost their last five wickets for 13 runs in the space of the last 15 balls.
Earlier, Zimbabwe had a slow start to their innings, but Elton Chigumbura lifted them with a brisk knock of 49 not out off 34 balls. His knock included three fours and three sixes.
Opener Hamilton Masakadza hit a useful 33 with other valuable knocks coming from Charles Coventry (30) and Brendon Taylor (20).
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was the most successful bowler with four for 24 from four overs of leg spin.
Zimbabwe have been drawn in Group-B with 2009 runners-up Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
