Renshaw, Ellis shine as Australia floors Zimbabwe to take 1-0 lead

Batting first, Australia managed to score 294/8, led by Renshaw’s century (109 off 94 balls) and a half-century from Cooper Connolly (51 off 46 balls). | Photo Credit: AP

A maiden ODI century by Matt Renshaw and Nathan Ellis’ five-wicket haul powered Australia to a 59-run win over Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.

With the win, the Mitchell Marsh-led side took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series, with the second ODI scheduled to take place on Friday at the same venue.

Batting first, Australia managed to score 294/8, led by Renshaw’s century (109 off 94 balls) and a half-century from Cooper Connolly (51 off 46 balls).

AS IT HAPPENED

For the host, Newham Nyamhuri impressed with a five-wicket haul (5/62), while Brad Evans chipped in with two wickets (2/51).

In the chase, Zimbabwe was rocked early as it lost opener Ben Curran for a duck. The Sikandar Raza led-side lost three more wickets in relatively quick succession, with Ellis contributing for two of the victims.

Then, Zimbabwe staged a brief resistance as Craig Ervine (59 off 60 balls) and Raza (57 off 76 balls) albeit well below the asking rate.

Once Ervine and Raza fell, the Australian bowling unit dismissed the rest of the batting lineup without wasting much time to secure a comfortable victory.

Renshaw, who scored his first international ton in ten years, was adjudged the player of the match.

“I just tried to rebuild the innings. We lost a few wickets (after) the boys started really well,” the opener said after the match.

“I did not feel under any scoring pressure. It was really nice. Pitch was nice. Ten years between international hundreds was not something I was expecting.”