CUTTACK; India: Australia beat Zimbabwe by 70 runs in the World Cup here on Friday but their semifinal fate remained in the hands of India who play New Zealand in the last group a match in Nagpur on Saturday.
The calculators came out after Australia, put in by Zimbabwe on a well-grassed pitch at the palm-fringed cuttack ground, made 266 for five from their 50 overs. The total raised Australia’s run rate from their six matches to 5.19 and so India needed to beat New Zealand scoring at 5.26 an over to finish top of Group A.
Winning the section will be the difference between staying in India for the Bombay semifinal next Thursday,
or going to Lahore as the section runners up to play Pakistan the previous day. India, in particular, are hoping their next assignment will be in Bombay.
Setting off in pursuit of Australia’s total, Zimbabwe suffered a cruel blow ‘when opener Andy Waller was struck between the eyes by a rising ball from Bruce Reid,
Waller departed with a nasty horizontal cut across the bridge of his nose, bravely returning later, but the rest of the Zimbabwean batting was understandably apprehensive. That ~ they reached 196 for six from their 50 overs was largely due to some friendly deliveries from part time bowlers at the end of their innings.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 6, 1987
