All-round Zimbabwe surpass West Indies; O'Dowd special downs Nepal: CWC23 Qualifier - Day 7 wrap

Tournament hosts Zimbabwe were on top of their game in all three disciplines to overcome the West Indies challenge. In the other game, a scintillating 90 off 75 from Max O'Dowd helped Netherlands chase a target of 168 in merely 27.1 overs.

Zimbabwe vs West Indies scorecard

Bolstered by support from the home crowd, Zimbabwe worked their way to a great win over West Indies at Harare.

Zimbabwe struck twice in the first 10 overs to make a comeback after Brandon King and Kyle Mayers had helped their side to an impressive start. After taking Tendai Chatara's third over for 14 runs, West Indies seemed to be in complete control of the first powerplay.

However, Blessing Muzarabani got a breakthrough in his very first over to remove King for 20. Zimbabwe got their second success when left-arm pacer Richard Ngrava got rid of Johnson Charles in the 10th over. They could've had another one off the last ball but the fielder missed a straightforward run out opportunity. The score was 55/2 at the end of first powerplay and it was still anyone's game.

Disciplined bowling from Zimbabwe ensured that the pressure increased on Shai Hope and Mayers, as the duo collected only eight runs between overs 11-14. However, Mayers struck a hat-trick of fours in the 15th over to lift West Indies.

The crucial third wicket stand of 64 from 67 helped West Indies get past 100. It was Wellington Masakadza who gave Craig Ervine's men their next success, when he had Mayers for 56 in the 21st over. Nicholas Pooran came in at no. 5 and continued in his characteristic free-flowing style. He got off the mark with a hat-trick of boundaries.

However, any aspirations of another match-turning Hope-Pooran stand were nipped in the bud by the talismanic Sikandar Raza, who cleaned up Hope in the 24th over. Pooran (34) then struck a patient 41-run partnership with Roston Chase, but his dismissal in the 32nd over again changed the flavour of the game. Muzarabani got Rovman Powell in the very next over to put Zimbabwe on the top.

Having found a way into the West Indies tail, the Zimbabwe bowlers were relentless and kept going for wickets. Chatara made a brilliant comeback after a poor start to finish at 3/52, Raza added two wickets to another exceptional batting performance, while Richard Ngrava starred with wickets of Charles and Pooran.

Earlier, an important 87-run stand between Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl had helped Zimbabwe to a respectable total after West Indies had delivered crucial blows in the first half of their innings.

Neither side gained the upper hand in the first powerplay, as West Indies were without a wicket while Zimbabwe were restricted to under four runs an over. This was the first time in 10 ODIs, that West Indies were without a wicket in the powerplay overs.

While Zimbabwe managed to marginally increase their scoring rate hereafter, West Indies remained sharp on the field and held on to their chances. Joylord Gumbie (26) was lbw to Keemo Paul in the 16th over. Soon after, Wessly Madhevere (2) was caught at mid on off Akeal Hosein.

Zimbabwe would've hoped for the experienced pair of Craig Ervine and Sean Williams to come good in this tough hour. But their troubles compounded when Ervine fell to an ill-timed reverse sweep for 47.

Williams and Sikandar Raza then adopted an aggressive approach against West Indies bowlers. While this yielded quick runs, it also brought about the southpaw's demise. Williams fell for 23 when he tried to swipe a rising Alzarri Joseph delivery over the mid wicket in the 25th over.

Last game's record centurion Raza, then joined hands with Ryan Burl to revive Zimbabwe. The duo survived some close chances, before picking up pace and going for their shots. Their fifth wicket stand added 87 runs off 94 balls, before Burl fell lbw to Hosein for 50. Raza kept scoring at a brisk pace and brought up his half-century with back-to-back boundaries against Jason Holder in the 42nd over.

The all-rounder eventually fell for 68 after pulling a Kyle Mayers delivery to Joseph in the deep. The West Indies bowlers fought back in the final powerplay to pick six wickets, though slack work towards the end helped the final pair to add 25 runs off 15 balls.

Earlier, West Indies won the toss, and decided to bowl first. Both sides went into the game without any changes.

Historically, the Men in Maroon have dominated Zimbabwe in the ODI format, with 36 wins in 49 games but they'll know that the hosts have been in exceptional touch in the tournament.

Netherlands vs Nepal scorecard

After their bowlers had bowled out Nepal for 167, Max O'Dowd & co. ensured that there were no slip-ups in the Dutch batting effort. With this Netherlands have qualified for the Super Six, while Nepal's World Cup qualification hopes have ended.

After scoring merely one run in the first three overs of their chase, Netherlands openers took off. Max O'Dowd and Vikramjit Singh blasted 86 runs off the first 13 overs before the latter fell the Sandeep Lamichhane (2/60). While Vikramjit (30) had three fours and one six to his name, O'Dowd was even more aggressive, striking four fours and sixes during their partnership. He brought up his fifty in merely 30 balls.

This blistering start had already helped the Dutch to 97 in the first 15 overs. Despite losing Wesley Barresi in the 15th over, the batting side looked in complete control of the chase.

Along with Bas de Leede, O'Dowd added 62 for the third wicket to get Dutch near the finishing line. Unfortunately, O'Dowd was bowled by Gulsan Jha in the 27th over and couldn't be around when his side finished the game.

The Nepal innings never got going as the Dutch bowlers struck regularly and restricted the sub-continental side to a sub-par total.

Nepal batters had to contend against a high quality new-ball spell from the Logan van Beek and Ryan Klein. The duo got the ball to jag around and beat the bat on several occasions. Nepal were 23 for the loss of Aasif Sheikh at the end of first powerplay.

This conservative start was followed by a terrible slide as Nepal lost three batters in a space of 21 balls. Two of these wickets were picked by Vikramjit Singh, who consistently troubled the Nepal batters with his uneven bounce. Rohit Paudel and Kushal Malla then tried to stabilise the innings.

This didn't last for long as Malla fell to Aryan Dutt in the 26th over. The ball skied down the ground between the long off and long on region, where despite confusion between Teja Nidamanaru and Max O'Dowd, the catch was successfully taken by the former. Hereafter, Paudel tried to bring some initiative to the Nepal innings, hitting a few boundaries to increase the scoring rate.

But van Beek returned to account for both Paudel and Dipendra Singh Airee, to leave Nepal at 123 for seven. Sandeep Lamichhane (27) threw his bat around for the next few overs to add some quick runs, but the Asian side weren't even able to bat out their allotted overs.

Scott Edwards called it right at the toss, and chose to field. The Dutch were unchanged going into the game, while Nepal also backed the XI which lost the encounter against West Indies.

CWC23 Qualifier standings