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Zimbabwe clinch their only second Super League win

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BY FIRDOSE MOONDA

Zimbabwe have claimed their first outright ODI win in their last 15 matches dating back to April 2019, and have gained 10 crucial points on the World Cup Super League.

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Half-centuries Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza took them to a competitive total in the first ODI in Belfast, and required Ireland to pull off their highest successful chase against them before a strangling bowling effort sealed Zimbabwe’s win.

Blessing Muzarabani, Wellington Masakadza and Sean Williams took seven wickets for 41 runs in the last ten overs, as Ireland went from a challenging but doable position of needing 81 runs in the last 12 overs to eventually falling 38 short.

Muzarabani, who used the short ball to good effect, was the pick of the bowlers with his third haul of four wickets or more in his 25-match ODI career.

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In the end, Ireland were left lamenting their slow start, which saw the required run rate pop above six as early as the 19th over.

They were 79 for 1 at that stage, having lost Paul Stirling leg before against Masakadza after he was the major contributor to a 64-run opening stand with William Porterfield.

Still, the pair gave Ireland a solid foundation to build their chase.

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Andy Balbirnie did not last too long either, and was bowled by Wesley Madhevere, whose offbreak snuck through the Irish captain’s bat-pad gap.

Ireland were 109 for 2 at the halfway stage and needed to up the ante.

They had the personnel – an anchor in Porterfield, who reached 50 off 78 balls, and an aggressor in Harry Tector – and seemed to have a plan.

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Porterfield took on short balls from Richard Ngarava, and used his feet and the sweep shot well against the spinners.

The pair put on 71 for the third wicket before Porterfield pulled a short delivery from Luke Jongwe to fine leg, where Dion Myers juggled the ball, which dropped out of his hands and onto his shoulder on first attempt, before catching it.

In Tector and George Dockrell, Ireland had two energetic run-scorers at the crease, and they both showed some intent.

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But Ervine had kept plenty of overs in hand for Muzarabani and Masakadza, and they turned out to be his trump cards.

Muzarabani took a wicket with the third ball of his second spell when Dockrell chased a wide delivery and edged behind, a dismissal that was confirmed on review.

In his next over, Muzarabani had Simi Singh caught at cover off a leading edge, with Ireland starting to wobble.

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Their required run rate had reached eight, but Tector was still on hand.

He brought up 50 off 53 balls but was out three balls later, edging an attempted slog sweep off Sean Williams to Muzarabani at short third man.

Williams also had Andy McBrine caught behind, before Muzarabani and Masakadza finished it off.

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Ireland were bowled out inside 49 overs to give Zimbabwe a comfortable win.

Though Zimbabwe may have been relatively pleased with their batting effort, they could have been eyeing a total closer to 300, after reaching 85 for 1 in the first 14 overs.

Brendan Taylor was well set on 49 off 44 balls after starting his innings slowly, and had put on 71 with Ervine, but the former captain played a reckless shot to the first ball of spin in the innings when he swept Simi to deep square leg to put the breaks on a strong start.

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After Taylor’s dismissal, Simi and McBrine bowled in tandem for 16 overs and gave away just 39 runs.

In that time, Myers was dismissed when he top-edged McBrine to Lorcan Tucker, while Williams battled to get to 20 off 45 balls, with only 14 scoring shots.

Zimbabwe immediately found reprieve when the spin duo had bowled out, and so Josh Little, who had had a hapless afternoon and finished with figures of 1 for 78 from nine overs, returned.

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While all of Ireland’s seamers were guilty of bowling too full, Little was the worst offender.

He enjoyed some reward when he bowled Williams with a cutter, though that only brought Zimbabwe’s most aggressive batter, Raza, to the crease.

By that point, Ervine had reached fifty and was ready to accelerate, as the pair put on 32 runs in 29 balls to get Zimbabwe back on track for 250-plus.

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Ervine played one big shot too many when he hit Dockrell straight to cover, but Raza first combined with Madhevere and then Jongwe to help Zimbabwe post 83 runs in the 8.4 overs after Ervine was dismissed.

Raza finished unbeaten on 59 off 44 balls, his 18th ODI half-century.

Despite the win, Zimbabwe remain in last position on the World Cup Super League points table, with the same number of points as Netherlands – on 20.

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However, they have the opportunity to gain ground in the rest of the series. –crickinfo

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Jamaica reigns supreme as South Africa and Botswana athletes fall short in dramatic 100m showdown

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BY TIMES LIVE

Jamaica returned to the top of the 100m podium at the world championships in Tokyo on Sunday, but South Africa — even with two dogs in the fight — missed out yet again.

Gift Leotlela finished fifth in 9.95 sec and veteran Akani Simbine ended seventh in 10.04 while Oblique Seville clocked a 9.77 personal best to become the first Jamaican to win the global 100m crown in 10 years after Usain Bolt at Beijing 2015.

His countryman, Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson, was second in 9.82 and brash American Noah Lyles, the Olympic and defending champion, third in 9.89.

The final featured two Jamaicans, two Americans and two South Africans, but it was the two traditional powerhouses that dominated the podium.

Looked at another way, the final had four men from the Americas against four Africans, and with Kenny Bednarek ending fourth, it was the men from the Americas who took the first four spots.

Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, the Olympic 200m champion and the 100m silver medallist from Budapest 2023, was disqualified for a false start. Nigerian Kayinsola Ajayi was sixth in 10.00.

Yet, had Leotlela repeated the 9.87 he ran in the heats on Saturday he would have taken third. Still, the 27-year-old, who has struggled with injuries for much of the past four years, can be happy with three consecutive sub-10 runs at the showpiece.

But Simbine, who took the 60m bronze at the world indoor championships in March, looked as if he had mistimed his season.

He went on the indoor circuit early in the year in a bid to improve his start, which meant sacrificing an important training block that he subsequently switched to June and July.

The 31-year-old was on fire before the break, but since returning he never looked sharp.

He’s competed in seven major 100m finals — three Olympics and four world championships — and never reached a podium. Having previously finished fourth or fifth, this was also his worst finish in a final.

In the semifinals earlier, just like it happened at the Olympics on the same track four years ago, Simbine had to wait to find out if he had won a spot in the final after finishing third in the first heat in 9.96.

Only the first two of the three heats advanced automatically, with the two fastest losers going through.

Leotlela ended third in the final semifinal in 9.97.

But still, two South Africans in the final should augur well for the 4x100m relay next weekend.

The only other South African in a medal race on the day, Adriaan Wildschutt, didn’t have the kick at the tail end of a slow 10,000m, crossing the line in 28 min 59.47 sec to finish 10th to match his position at last year’s Paris Olympics.

Frenchman Jimmy Gressier won a sprint finish in 28:55.77, ahead of Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha (28:55.83) and Andreas Almgren of Sweden (29:56.02).

Earlier, Zakithi Nene, the fastest man over 400m in the world this year with his 43.76 from May, won his heat in 44.34 to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal.

But American Jacory Patterson, No 2 on the list, threw down the gauntlet by jogging over the final metres of his heat to clock the fastest time of the heats, 43.90.

Khaleb McRae, the second of three American qualifiers, was second quickest in the heats in 44.25.

Then came Nene, and behind him lurk other dangermen, like Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori (44.36) and Rusheen McDonald of Jamaica (44.38), who limped off the track.

Countryman Lythe Pillay delivered a solid performance to advance to the semifinals with a 44.73 season’s best, finishing second in his heat behind Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago, fourth at last year’s Olympics.

But with the US getting four men into the next round and Botswana and Britain three, the South African 4x400m team will have their work cut out next weekend to make the relay podium.

Miranda Coetzee and Shirley Nekhubui failed to advance beyond the women’s 400m heats and Brian Raats was unable to clear the bar in the qualifying round of the men’s high jump.

SOURCE| TIMES LIVE

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Econet unveils new home and business data packages

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI 

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has launched new ‘Smart-Suite’ Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) data packages consisting of six plans tailored to address the data needs of different customers – from the ‘SmartLite’ plan, offering 50GB of data (best for light users) and retailing for $30, to ‘SmartPro’, offering 800GB of data (ideal for established SMEs) and retailing at $170.

In between are ‘SmartPlus’, offering 75GB at $40 (targeting families); ‘SmartMax’, offering 100GB at $50 (ideal for bigger homes and freelancers); ‘SmartFlex’, offering 200GB at $70 (tailored for flexible scaling and small offices) and ‘SmartUltra’, offering 400GB at $99 (suitable for heavy, multi-users and SMEs).

Introducing the SmartSuite packages on multiple media channels, Econet said the new data packages will be easy to upgrade and will offer flexible plans “that grow with your needs”.

To ensure optimized and stable performance within a customer’s premise and network coverage area, the new packages will be geo-locked to a customer’s location, and accessible using a 4G or 5G CPE (customer premises equipment) router.

Geo-locking – a term used to describe the restriction of access to a product or service to a specific geographical location – ensures customers get the best possible usage experience while enabling service providers like telcos and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to ringfence critical resources such as bandwidth, making certain they are utilized by the intended users.

Econet said the SmartSuite packages will be available through its Econet Shops across the country where the company enjoys the largest network coverage, adding that CPE routers will also be available for sale in its shops – starting from US$48 per unit. The company noted though that customers will be free to use their existing CPEs, or to purchase CPEs anywhere elsewhere, as long as they were compatible with Econet’s SmartSuite product specifications.

Econet, which is the largest mobile network operator in Zimbabwe, enjoys the widest 4G (LTE) network coverage in the country. With 300 5G base stations deployed in the country’s major cities and towns, it is by far the market leader in 5G technology in Zimbabwe.

The launch of the new SmartSuite packages follows a notice to customers of the former SmartBiz packages from Econet a month ago, notifying them that it would soon launch new data packages offering more choice and flexibility, and tailored to different customer needs.

Customers registered to the old SmartBiz service and who already have a CPE, can simply dial *143, choose a package of their choice and credit their new SmartSuite package. New subscribers to the SmartSuite packages will however need to buy a new SmartSuite SIM from an Econet Shop, as well as a CPE, for them to be able to connect to the new packages. If they own a CPE that meets Econet’s specifications, they will be able to use it for their SmartSuite package.

Along with the new SmartSuite data packages, Econet continues to offer its all its customers the choice of a wide range of mobile data products, accessible ‘on the go’ throughout the country via the customer’s mobile device or smartphone.

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In the community

Population Services Zimbabwe to offer free family planning services in Nkayi

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 BY WANDILE TSHUMA 

Population Services Zimbabwe (PSZ) is set to provide free family planning services in Nkayi District from next week

The initiative which will run from 15-18, aims to enhance access to comprehensive reproductive health care and empower individuals and couples to make informed choices regarding family planning.

The outreach will kick off on Monday, September 15, at the Sivalo Rural Health Centre (RHC) and its outreach site. This will be followed by activities at various locations each day:

Tuesday, September 16:
Jabulisa at 9:00 AM
Ngabayide at 2:00 PM
Wednesday, September 17:
Sebhumane at 9:00 AM
Nesigwe RHC at 10:00 AM
Thursday, September 18:
Mateme RHC at 9:00 AM
Sembeule at 10:00 AM

The services offered during this campaign include:

Loop insertion and removal
Implant insertion and removal
Depo Provera injections
Secure and control pills
Emergency contraceptive pills
Counselling on reproductive health issues

 

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