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Message: <blockquote data-quote="anuru_1" data-source="post: 7620572" data-attributes="member: 21848">Zimbabwe's fairytale ran into harsh reality in the form of top-quality swing bowling from Nuwan Kulasekara and Dilhara Fernando, and was threatening to come apart by the end of the first quarter of the final. Kulasekara swung it in, Fernando out, and Zimbabwe, put into bat, hardly looked like challenging the norm of chasing sides winning in the tournament. Kulasekara gave four runs in his first four over for the wicket of Hamilton Masakadza, and Zimbabwe were yet to fully recover from that spell. If Fernando's bowling - fuller than his stock length, thus getting outswing - was a bonus, Kulasekara's use of the straighter delivery was as good as his outswingers. When an asphyxiated Masakadza tried to counter the inswing by walking across the stumps, the ball just held its line and took a healthy outside edge. Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe's best batsman in the tournament, struggled against the current, going from 4 off 10 to 19 off 21, but played perhaps his worst shot all series when he looked to steer Fernando despite the presence of gully. Thilan Samaraweera went low to his right to complete the catch, and the openers were gone inside the first 10 overs. The change-up bowlers were just as tight, and by the start of the 17th over Tatenda Taibu and Craig Ervine had scored 16 off 51 deliveries between them. The pressure showed in their going for risky runs: an over after Ervine survived a close one, Taibu ran him out, calling him for a tight single and then sending him back. Then started the recovery. Taibu went on a sweeping spree, of both varieties. He and Greg Lamb ran hard, putting behind them the run-out. One of those stolen singles earned them four overthrows too. In the 24th over, Taibu hit two lovely chipped boundaries over extra cover. From 7 off 24 he had moved to 44 off 58, and the fourth-wicket partnership had added 44 in 8.3 overs.</blockquote>

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