Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza and Craig Ervine helped Zimbabwe clinch an excellent six-wicket victory over India in the first game of the Tri-Nations series in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe won at a gallop with 10 balls and six wickets to spare in the first of two matches between them in a series which also includes Sri Lanka.

All of Zimbabwe’s to 6 batsmen, led by man of the match Brendan Taylor, contributed significantly towards the victory as they overtook a good Indian total of 285-5 to record an impressive 289-4 in reply. The home team performed with skill and a certain amount of confidence, setting about their task of overtaking the Indian effort in both workmanlike and spectacular manner, as varying situations demanded.

Earlier on in the day during India’s innings, Rohit Sharma smacked four sixes in 114 from 119 balls and Ravindra Jadeja added an unbeaten 61 in India’s 285-5. The one blot on Zimbabwe’s day was the bowling performance of new captain Elton Chigumbura, who contrived to give away no fewer than 20 wides in his two overs – something for the Guinness Book of Records if they had such a category! Chigumbura said afterwards he had problems with his technique but he praised his colleagues for their “superb overall performance.”

But Hamilton Masakadza (46) and Taylor (81) gave Zimbabwe an excellent start by putting on 88 for the first wicket. Ervine smashed an unbeaten 67 and captain Elton Chigumbura weighed in with 24 not out as the hosts powered home with 10 balls to spare.

“Hami [Masakadza] and BT [Brendan Taylor] put us on top with their first-wicket partnership,” Chigumbura said. “It was also good to see Craig score a half century on his debut. The guys did well. The main focus now is to be consistent and we are working on that at the moment.”

India captain Suresh Raina praised Zimbabwe but blamed the defeat on his team’s inexperience.
He said: “They batted really well, to be honest. They deserved to win. “Some of the team have never played at this level. However we should have been able to defend 285 runs.

The next match in the series is on Sunday May 30th and sees India take on Sri Lanka at Queens Sports Club, whilst Zimbabwe’s next match is on Tuesday June 1st against Sri Lanka also at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

For Full Match fixtures and how you can watch the games live: Zimbabwe Cricket Tri-Series

Selected Match Statistics:

• Zimbabwe have registered their ninth triumph against India in 50 ODIs (Lost 39 and Tied 2) – winning % 20.00
• Craig Ervine’s unbeaten 67 off 60 balls is the best innings score on debut for Zimbabwe against India in ODIs.
• Ervine’s innings of 67 is the fourth best on debut for Zimbabwe in limited-overs internationals.
• Greg Lamb (27) has recorded his best ever innings in ODIs, bettering the 23 against West Indies at Providence on March 6, 2010.
• Zimbabwe’s convincing six-wicket win is their third in eleven ODIs against India in Zimbabwe.
• Brendan Taylor (81) has recorded the second highest innings by a wicketkeeper for Zimbabwe against India in ODIs. Andy Flower had registered 145 at Colombo RPS on September 14, 2002.

Zimbabwe Cricket Books

Amazon, have a bunch of Zim related cricket books, including "Blood, Sweat And Treason" by Henry Olonga, “A History of the Rhodesia and Zimbabwe National Sides” by Jonty Winch who traces the history of cricket in this country (Zimbabwe) from the first recorded game played in 1890, through two World Wars and a guerilla war, to the comparative peace of post-independence and eventual world recognition in the 1980s when Zimbabwe was able to send a side to England to take part in the I.C.C. Trophy competition which it won.

There is also the Autobiography of another great Zimbabwean cricket coach Duncan Fletcher “Behind the Shades”

USA: Amazon.com

Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.com

At the moment Amazon UK don’t have as wide selection as the US site, but I have ordered books from the US and had them delivered to the UK with no problems.

UK: Amazon.co.uk
Zimbabwe Cricket on Amazon.co.uk

This years Zimfest was bigger and better than ever and turnout was huge, with around 5000 people through the gates. You could even go as far to say that Zimfest is becoming a global phenomenom. The Zimfestlive.com website this year had links to festivals all over the world. “Zimfest UK is the strongest Zimbabwean charity-festival brand in the world,” says Mike Tashaya head of marketing for Zimfest. “So we have made contact with various fledgling teams around the world to make Zimfest a global event. Within the year, we will have similar aspirations, big screen link ups between the festivals on the same day and we’ll start to build a community who share the same values which are: have a good time, do a good thing and feel good!” Zimfest will continue to grow and there are some strong rumours that Zimfest might next year become an all-weekend camping event.

I did not have time to visit this years event, but the organisers kindly sent me some information to publish, so below are a few snippets of some of the best things that I missed this year:

The Music at the Festival
The Zimfest organising committee made the decision to showcase acts bubbling up from obscurity rather than relying on aging stars, who might push the ticket prices up even further and make the festival all about ‘a headliner.’ The gamble paid off in that there were some excellent performances right across the cultural spectrum, which not only allowed everyone to feel welcome, but served to reveal to Zimbabweans how much talent their countrymen have. Rozalla’s ‘Everybody’s Free!’ had people screaming with an abandon not seen at a Zimbabwean musical gathering for years and a savvy marketer could easily re-release the song as an anthem for a positive Zimbabwe of the future)

Football at Zimfest
With support from some of the world’s most famous footballers, the football was a real success at Zimfest. Zimbabwe team captain and Manchester City striker Benjani Mwaruwaru joined in along with former England and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Ian Walker, former West Ham Player Rufus Brevitt and former Watford and AC Milan player Luther Blissett who came as part of the Brand Africa our sponsors for the football tournament. As part of  that sponsorship they also help a raffle where winners won tickets to premiership matches.

Rugby at Zimfest
The sporting events aren’t always the highest profile activities at the festival, but this year there were some great teams and fantastic matches.  The rugby 7s was sponsored by Saracens Rugby Club who gave tickets to Wembly to watch The Saracens play to the winners.

Zimfest Supports Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans
The core of Zimfest is Zimbabwe and in that sense the festival which continues to grow, still continues to support Zimbabwe. and when you say the two words ‘charity’ and ‘Africa’ people immediately get suspicious. But after conversation with the Wezimbabwe and Zimfest teams and you’ll find the type of steadfast vision for the money that simply broaches no suspicion. “We support a range of projects from building schools to teaching kids how to use computers in Zim” says Hilton Mendelsohn of Wezimbabwe “Anyone who wonders where the money goes at Zimfest simply needs to go to our website www.wezimbabwe.org where they will find constant updates as exactly to where the money is going. A group of independently successful individuals runs Wezimbabwe, we are bound by a strict charity charter, and completely transparent. We want people to be proud of what they have achieved with us.” Many people don’t know this but Zimfest itself is a self funding charitable project with it’s goal being community development

Charles Coventry equaled the highest individual one-day international score but could not prevent Zimbabwe losing the series against Bangladesh.

Fourth one-day international, Bulawayo:
Bangladesh 313-8 (47.5 overs) bt Zimbabwe 312-8 (50 overs) by four wickets

Coventry fired an unbeaten 194 from 156 balls to equal the total set by Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar in 1997. Coventry fired 16 fours and seven sixes as he equalled Anwar’s feat with his maiden international ton. But with his Zimbabwe side managing 312-8 from their 50 overs, Bangladesh reached 313-6 with 13 balls to spare. The win gives Bangladesh an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series with one match still to play.

Video Coverage of Coventry’s unbeaten 194 from 156 balls:

>> Read Full Story

BULAWAYO: Zimbabwe defeated Bangladesh by 69 runs in the third One-day International at the Queen’s Sports Club on Friday and Hamilton Masakadza hits a maiden one-day century.

Third one-day international, Bulawayo:
Zimbabwe 323-7 (50 overs) bt Bangladesh 254 (44.2 overs) by 69 runs

Masakadza made 102 and shared a fourth-wicket stand of 142 with Brendan Taylor, who was run out for 94. Elton Chigumbura weighed in with five sixes in his unbeaten 61 off 33 balls as the home side totalled 323-7.

Seamer Tawanda Mupariwa and spinner Ray Price then took three wickets each as as Bangladesh were bowled out for 254.

Despite the defeat, Bangladesh lead the series 2-1.

>> Full Report on BBC News