The first wicket fell in the seventh over, when Asad Shafiq slipped and was run out – but by then the total was already 74.  Mohammad Hafeez once again was Zimbabwe ’s main destroyer, making 71 off 48 balls (6 fours, 3 sixes) before being caught on the midwicket boundary, a stroke Pakistan probably thought was safe after three difficult chances had gone down in the deep.  Zimbabwe ’s fielding was again found wanting.

Pakistan looked on course for a score of 200, but Zimbabwe did slow the rate with two more wickets.  Sohail Tanvir came in to score 17 off five balls in the final over, from Mpofu, and the final total was 198 for four wickets.  The Zimbabwe bowlers and fielders were shaken by such superb batting; Chamu Chibhabha, with one wicket for 17 runs off three overs, did as well as anybody and would probably have been a better choice than Mpofu for the final over.

Zimbabwe from the start had a mammoth task and had no alternative but to slog and the the scoreboard ticking.  The Pakistanis knew where and how to bowl, and they did so skilfully, helped by some brilliant catching in the outfield.  Their troubles began in the second over when, as a sign of things to come, Vusi Sibanda miscued a drive and Misbah-ul-Haq raced back from mid-off to take the first of several excellent catches by his team. 

Chibhabha batted well for a while to make 26 off 28 balls, but it was Charles Coventry, restored to the team for this format of the game, who alone caused the bowlers some consternation.  He hammered 30 off 13 balls, including four fours and a six, before inevitably skying a catch in the end, like so many of his team-mates, who had no alternative.

When Taibu was run out by a poor call from Price, it was only a matter of time, and in the end Zimbabwe subsided for 113, with almost five overs in hand.  Almost inevitably, Hafeez was in the forefront of the bowling, and he took four wickets for 10 runs – and was again named Player of the Match.