Zimbabwe's WC quest off to flyer after Ervine, Williams tons

A century to captain Craig Ervine and a 70-ball hundred from Sean Williams has lifted Zimbabwe to victory in the opening match of the 2023 World Cup Qualifier tournament against Nepal. 

Nepal’s 8-290 proved to be nowhere near enough as the two Zimbabwe veterans enjoyed the home conditions at Harare Sports Club to claim the win by eight wickets. 

Ervine opened the innings and finished unbeaten on 121 from 128 deliveries, continuing his remarkable form in List A cricket after blasting 195 and 161 against Pakistan Shaheens last month.

Williams meanwhile, who came in at 2-127, blasted his hundred from only 70-deliveries, the fastest by a Zimbabwean in ODI cricket, breaking Regis Chakabva’s 73-ball ton last year. 

The pair’s unbeaten 164-run partnership guided Zimbabwe home with 35 balls to spare. 

Earlier, Nepal had been sent in by the hosts and immediately set to work with a 171-run opening stand between Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh.

After Bhurtel was heartbreakingly bowled by Wellington Masakadza for 99, Nepal showed their middle-order depth as well by continuing to tick along the runs. 

They could have finished with more than 300 if not for the efforts of left-armer Richard Ngarava, who after a tough opening spell, stifled the Nepalese charge in the closing overs to finish with 4-43 off nine overs. 

Elsewhere, West Indies knocked off the plucky United States of America by 39 runs to begin their qualification campaign on the right foot. 

The Windies’ total looked on shaky ground at 4-137, but half-centuries to Roston Chase (55 off 55) and Jason Holder (56 off 40) ensured they would set USA 298 to win. 

The US were all but gone at 5-97, but a superb century from Gajanand Singh (101no off 109) ensured the chase was never quite done.