Zimbabwe Select – 385-7 in 50 overs (Craig Ervine 195, Innocent Kaia 92, Ryan Burl 31; Mohammad Ali 2/32, Qasim Akram 2/60, Aamer Jamal 2/89)

Pakistan Shaheens – 353 all out in 49.2 overs (Mubasir Khan 115, Rohail Nazir 87, Kamran Ghulam 56; Sikandar Raza 3/66, Luke Jongwe 2/54, Blessing Muzarabani 2/55)

Zimbabwe Select won by 32 runs 

The greatest feature of a day when 738 runs were scored was a magnificent innings of 195 by Craig Ervine, which set a new national record and propelled the Zimbabwe Select to a 32-run victory over the Pakistan Shaheens in the sixth and final one-day match at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.

The tourists won the toss and followed their usual policy by putting the home side in to bat.

The Zimbabweans had an unfortunate start when Joylord Gumbie, a hero of the fourth match, was this time round out to the second ball of the innings, very well caught high at first slip by Kamran Ghulam off the bowling of Mohammad Ali without a run on the board.

This brought in Ervine to join Innocent Kaia at the wicket, and a wonderful treat for the supporters followed.

They were soon well into their stride, plundering the bowling with their attacking batsmanship, although enjoying a couple of narrow escapes along the way.

Kaia was the first of the two to go on full attack, and at one time his score was well ahead of Ervine’s, but the latter soon began to catch up.

They put on 187 runs for the second wicket in 27 overs, a rate of almost seven an over, before Kaia unfortunately missed a century and was out for 92, scored off 79 balls with three sixes and 10 fours.

He stepped down the pitch to the pace of Ali, and the result was a miscued pull that was caught at midwicket.

Ervine however went from strength to strength, and reached a fine century off only 89 balls.

He enjoyed brief but brisk partnerships with Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams and Wessly Madhevere, who scored 15, 20 and eight respectively while the total soared beyond 300.

Ervine raced past 150 in the company of Ryan Burl, and so well did he bat that it was now a clear possibility that he might achieve the rare feat of scoring a double-century in a one-day match.

With two overs to go he was on 175, and in the next over, from Shahnawaz Dahani, he scored 19 runs, including two sixes and a four, to take his score to 194.

At this point he was equal with the record individual score in any List A match by a Zimbabwean, scored by Charles Coventry in an official ODI against Bangladesh at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo in 2009.

When he got strike in the final over, bowled by Aamer Jamal, he managed only a single instead of the six he needed, and in trying to give him the stroke Burl was caught for 31, scored off only 18 balls.

Then, trying to regain strike, Ervine attempted a single from a wide, but the wicket-keeper’s throw beat him, and he was run out for his wonderful innings of 195.

He returned to the pavilion to a standing ovation, having faced only 148 balls and hit six sixes and 22 fours in creating a new Zimbabwean record.

The innings finally closed at 385 for seven wickets, the best of the bowlers being Ali, who took two for 32 in seven overs before breaking down with an injury.

This gave the Pakistanis an almost impossible target to reach at a rate of nearly eight an over.

They generally rely on their top three batters to give them a big total, but within 10 overs all three had gone.

Imran Butt was out for six and Omair Yousuf for four, both caught off Blessing Muzarabani, and with the score at 50 Haseebullah Khan, who had been batting well, fell to Tanaka Chivanga for 35 off 36 balls.

There was nothing left now but for the tourists to compile whatever runs they could and lose with dignity – or so one might have thought.

However, the real fighting spirit of the Shaheens now came to the fore, and they fought tooth and nail for a highly improbable victory right to the end.

The middle order, who had not been too prominent during the tour before now, rose to the occasion magnificently.

Rohail Nazir and Kamran Ghulam played fine attacking cricket and put on 108 runs for the fourth wicket in less than 17 overs.

After Ghulam went for 56, Mubasir Khan joined Nazir and they added another 98 runs in 12 overs, the score being 256 in the 39th over for only four wickets when Nazir went for 87 – but the required run rate was still over 11 an over at this stage.

Although his partners came and went, Mubasir never gave up, flogging the bowling superbly and reaching a brilliant century.

When the eighth wicket went down at 308, 78 were still needed in the last six overs, but Mubasir could not do it all himself.

He was finally the last man out, caught by Sikandar Raza off the second ball of the final over, bowled by Luke Jongwe, having scored 117 off 77 balls with eight sixes and six fours, a heroic effort.

The total was a remarkable 353, scored under tremendous pressure, giving the Zimbabweans victory by 32 runs and enabling the Shaheens to lose with honour.

Raza was the most successful bowler with three wickets for 66, while Muzarabani with two for 55 off his 10 overs was the most economical.

The Zimbabwe Select team therefore won the six-match series with four victories against two defeats.

Pakistan Shaheens – 295-9 in 50 overs (Omair Yousuf 153, Kamran Ghulam 55, Haseebullah Khan 22; Brad Evans 5/62, Wellington Masakadza 2/45, Blessing Muzarabani 1/51)

Zimbabwe Select – 299-3 in 47.3 overs (Craig Ervine 161, Joylord Gumbie 111, Wessly Madhevere 9*; Shahnawaz Dahani 2/60, Aamer Jamal 1/47)

Zimbabwe Select won by seven wickets

There was a magnificent match at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday when brilliant centuries from Craig Ervine and Joylord Gumbie powered the Zimbabwe Select team to a seven-wicket victory over Pakistan Shaheens in their fourth one-day match.

The pair almost set a new Zimbabwean record as they put on 277 for the second wicket.

For the first time in the series the home side won the toss and put the Pakistanis in to bat first.

Muhammad Hurraira (17) and Haseebullah Khan (22) made a fair start, scoring 29 together in seven overs before Blessing Muzarabani bowled out the dangerous Hurraira.

However, that only brought in an even more prolific opponent in Yousuf, and he was to dominate virtually the rest of the innings.

When Abdul Bangalzai followed without scoring, the score was 55 for three in the 14th over and the hosts were on top.

But this started to change, as Kamran Ghulam joined Yousuf and the pair began to turn the match in their favour.

It was more than 25 further overs before the Zimbabweans broke through again, as this stand added 139 for the fourth wicket at almost a run a ball.

Having reached his fifty, Ghulam drove Wellington Masakadza hard and straight for a lofted four, but when he tried it again off the next delivery, the cunning bowler made him sky a catch and he departed for 55 off 79 balls.

Yousuf continued his assault, mastering all the bowlers, while his remaining partners came and went quite cheaply, most of them dismissed while hitting out for quick runs.

His best partnership was 58 for the seventh wicket in only 4.2 overs with Qasim Akram, who made 16.

Akram was caught off Brad Evans in the 49th over, which was a good one for the Zimbabwe Select side, as the new man Aamer Jamal was caught off the second delivery.

After a single was scored, Evans then finally removed Yousuf himself – the batter backed away to give himself room to slash on the off side, but a good straight delivery knocked back his off stump.

Yousuf had scored a magnificent 153 off only 126 deliveries, with four sixes and 14 fours.

The last pair managed to scramble another 11 runs without dismissal before the innings closed at the daunting total of 295 for nine wickets, more than half of which had been scored by one man.

Evans finished with a five-wicket haul that cost him 62 runs, while the most economical bowler was Masakadza who took two for 45 in his 10 overs.

When the Zimbabweans batted they quickly lost Tadiwanashe Marumani, who was caught off Shahnawaz Dahani in the second over after scoring just one boundary.

Gumbie and Ervine then set themselves to build a strong foundation as a launching pad for their very difficult victory bid.

They did a fine job as they kept the score ticking along with quick runs, while taking boundaries off any loose deliveries, and they were still together, on the verge of their fifties, when the hundred went up in the 20th over.

Both were on 49, and Gumbie reached his fifty first off 63 balls, while Ervine followed later in the same over off 65 balls.

Then Ervine decided it was time to hit out, and he began to assault the bowling with good success, leaving Gumbie behind.

In complete command, he raced to his century off 99 balls, and celebrated by hitting Hussain Talat for four fours in an over.

Gumbie now speeded up too and his century came off 112 balls, while Ervine raced on towards 150.

It was just a pity that this magnificent win could not have been achieved in the grand manner, with both batters unbeaten, but just 11 runs short of victory Ervine tried to glance a ball from Aamer Jamal down the leg side and was given out caught at the wicket.

His score was 161, which he made off 144 balls, hitting three sixes and 19 fours.

It was good to see Jamal warmly congratulating Ervine as he walked off, a fine piece of sportsmanship on the field.

The second-wicket partnership was worth 277 runs, which was only two runs short of the Zimbabwean List A partnership record, an unbroken 279 by Andy and Grant Flower for the third wicket for Mashonaland against Midlands at Kwekwe in 2002/03.

From the next ball he faced, Gumbie flicked Dahani down towards third man, only to be brilliantly caught by Jamal there – his 111 took 124 balls and included 10 fours.

With five overs left, Wessly Madhevere and Milton Shumba played carefully before Madhevere top-edged an attempted big hit over the keeper’s head for four to win the match with 2.3 overs to spare.

Dahani was the best of the Pakistani bowlers, taking two wickets for 60 runs.

The Zimbabweans now take an unbeatable three-one lead in the six-match series.

Zimbabwe Select – 278 all out in 50 overs (Sean Williams 78, Wessly Madhevere 41, Tadiwanashe Marumani 29; Shahnawaz Dahani 4/43, Aamer Jamal 3/60, Kamran Ghulam 1/25)

Pakistan Shaheens – 263-8 in 46.5 overs (Qasim Akram 57*, Haseebullah Khan 49, Mubasir Khan 30; Tendai Chatara 4/53, Wellington Masakadza 2/44, Victor Nyauchi 1/52)

Pakistan Shaheens won by five runs (Duckworth-Lewis method)

A fine 78 by Sean Williams and four wickets by Tendai Chatara were not enough to bring the Zimbabwe Select team victory in the third one-day match against Pakistan Shaheens at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

There should have been a thrilling finish to this game, but it was ruined for the spectators when the players had to be taken off the field for bad light with 3.1 overs still to go, and the Duckworth-Lewis calculations awarded the match to the tourists by five runs.

Despite their bad experiences in the first two matches of this series, Pakistan Shaheens again decided to field on winning the toss for the third time.

The Zimbabweans lost their first wicket to the seventh ball of the match, as Joylord Gumbie, coming into the team as they rotated their squad, was out lbw to Shahnawaz Dahani for one.

There followed two good partnerships of more than 50 runs each, as Tadiwanashe Marumani added 56 for the second wicket with Wessly Madhevere before being out for 29.

Madhevere continued to make 41 in a stand with Craig Ervine that put on 53 and took the score to 110 for three after 25 overs.

At the start of the next over, however, Ervine was out for 25, and with Ryan Burl making only nine, the Zimbabweans were at a crossroads in their innings with a score of 137 for five in the 29th over.

Fortunately, they took the correct path after that as Williams, again batting with great aggression, was joined by Clive Madande and they added 65 in less than 10 overs.

Madande went for a valuable 22 off 27 balls, while Williams went on to reach 78 off only 59 balls before being bowled by Dahani in the 44th over.

Wellington Masakadza was then his partner, who went on to make 18, while the next man in was Faraz Akram, another beneficiary of squad rotation, who batted very well at the death to score 19 not out off 17 balls.

The innings closed for 278 all out with the last possible delivery, as Tanaka Chivanga was caught in the deep off Aamer Jamal.

Dahani was the best of the Pakistani bowlers with four wickets for 42, while Jamal again took wickets at a price, with three for 60 in his 10 overs.

The tourists kept faith in their left-handed opening batter Saim Ayub despite two failures, and this time he showed more of his true form, making 47 in fine style with Muhammad Hurraira for the first wicket before he skyed an attempted hook and was caught and bowled by Tendai Chatara for 28.

Four balls and no runs later, Chatara took another catch, this one at backward square leg as Hurraira (19) flicked the ball straight to him off Victor Nyauchi’s bowling.

Then followed a good partnership for the third wicket between Haseebullah Khan and Omair Yousuf, who put on 60 together, scoring 49 and 29 respectively, before Masakadza dismissed them both with catches to the wicket-keeper Madande.

Then Chatara chipped in with two more wickets, and at 164 for six wickets in the 32nd over the Pakistanis appeared to be almost down and out.

However, Qasim Akram, batting at number eight, then played a superb attacking innings that changed the whole situation.

Mubasir Khan played a fine innings as his partner to score 30 off 32 balls, and the pair added 67 runs in just over eight overs, before Khan went at 236 for seven.

Jamal did not last long, and Qasim had only two tail-enders to keep him company as, in theory, they needed another 33 runs in the last seven overs.

Qasim reached his fifty and was still there, with Mohammad Ali as his partner, when the umpires decided that the light was too bad for play to continue and called for Duckworth-Lewis.

At the point of abandonment the tourists needed another 16 runs in just 3.1 overs with only two wickets left, but Duckworth-Lewis decided in favour of them.

Qasim finished with a brilliant 57 not out off 40 balls, with a six and seven fours.

Zimbabwe Select – 234 all out in 45.3 overs (Ryan Burl 69, Clive Madande 34, Wellington Masakadza 25; Aamer Jamal 4/35, Mir Hamza 3/37, Shahnawaz Dahani 2/42)

Pakistan Shaheens – 210 all out in 47 overs (Mubasir Khan 49, Haseebullah Khan 45, Kamran Ghulam 42; Tendai Chatara 5/37, Wellington Masakadza 4/32, Blessing Muzarabani 1/36)

Zimbabwe Select won by 24 runs 

Tendai Chatara, with a five-wicket haul, and Wellington Masakadza, with four scalps to his name, ripped through the Pakistan Shaheens line-up to help the Zimbabwe Select team to a 24-run victory in the first one-day match at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.

The tourists had won the toss on a warm sunny morning and put the home side in to bat.

Innocent Kaia and Tadiwanashe Marumani opened the batting to the bowling of Mir Hamza and Shahnawaz Dahani.

It took only four balls for Hamza to claim the first wicket, as Marumani was caught for one with the total four.

In the sixth over, Kaia was caught off Dahani for nine with a score of only 17 on the board.

The trouble intensified as Aamer Jamal came on to bowl as he soon bowled Craig Ervine for 10 and in his next over had Wessly Madhevere lbw for 14.

Briefly, Sean Williams looked ready to take command and carry the attack to the opposition, and in a moment of brilliance he hit three fours and a six off successive deliveries.

But he quickly fizzled out, bowled by Jamal in the next over for 20 off nine balls, leaving the Zimbabweans in serious trouble at 64 for five.

However, there followed a superb fighting partnership between Ryan Burl and Clive Madande, with Burl doing most of the scoring while the team’s wicketkeeper played an invaluable supporting role.

This gallant sixth-wicket pair put on 90 runs in 16 overs and made the Zimbabweans competitive again, before Madande was caught at the wicket off the left-arm spinner Mehran Mumtaz for 34, scored off 55 balls.

The score was then 154 for six in the 30th over.

Masakadza took over Madande’s role of steady support, while Burl continued to play well until he was caught off Hamza for 69.

He scored his runs off 68 balls, with two sixes and six fours, and the Zimbabweans were now on 193 for seven in the 37th over.

There was a useful partnership between Masakadza and Brad Evans, who added 25 in six overs, before Masakadza went for 25, soon followed by Chatara.

Evans was the last man out at 234, having scored 19 off 24 balls.

The innings was completed in the 46th over – not a particularly impressive score, but certainly higher than had looked likely when the top order failed.

Jamal was the best of the bowlers, taking four wickets for 35 – three bowled and one lbw.

When the Shaheens began their reply, their top three were quickly blown away in Chatara’s superb opening burst.

In his second over, Chatara trapped Saim Ayub lbw for eight with the score at 10.

His next over saw Imran Butt caught by Madhevere for six, and in the fourth the prolific Muhammad Hurraira was caught at the wicket by Madande for three – the tourists were now reeling at 29 for three.

Kamran Ghulam and Hussain Talat tried to repair the damage, with the latter hitting an aggressive 29 off 25 balls.

He hit Masakadza for a superb six, but the bowler cunningly tossed the next ball a little higher and Talat skyed it for Kaia to hold the catch and break the dangerous partnership.

When Masakadza also dismissed Kamran Ghulam for 42, the score was 106 for five in the 24th over and the Zimbabweans held the advantage.

Then followed a fighting partnership of 60 in 15 overs for the sixth wicket between the wicket-keeper Haseebullah Khan and Mubasir Khan.

The balance was swinging back to the tourists when Masakadza did the trick again, holding a return catch to remove Haseebullah for 45.

Mubasir stayed longer, and as long as he was at the crease the Shaheens were in with a chance.

The match was right in the balance at 206 for seven in the 46th over when Blessing Muzarabani finally took a wicket by bowling out Mubasir for 49.

All that was left now was for Chatara, returning for his final spell, to dismiss the last two batter with successive deliveries in the 47th over and complete a richly deserved five-wicket haul.

His final figures were five for 37 in nine overs, while Masakadza also did an admirable and vital job with four wickets for 32.

The Zimbabweans therefore go one up in the six-match series, which continues on Friday at Harare Sports Club.