Madhevere, bowlers help Zimbabwe crush Namibia

Zimbabwe bounced back strongly after an indifferent performance in the second T20I, easing past Namibia by eight wickets. In a game that was nearly a reversal of the previous one, Namibia batted first and found themselves reined in by Zimbabwe's bowlers throughout. Tendai Chatara and Sikandar Raza took six wickets between them to restrict Namibia to 128, and an unbeaten 61-ball 73 from Wessley Madhevere saw the hosts blast their way through that target with nearly three overs to spare.

Namibia opted to bat first despite the crushing win they enjoyed while chasing on Thursday, and quickly ran into problems. Chatara set the tempo by dismissing both openers inside four overs, and despite stuttering cameos through the middle order, regular wickets plagued the Namibian cause. Chatara returned to remove David Wiese before he was really able to get going, while Madhevere trapped top scorer Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton in front. No visiting batter was able to cross 30, and when Sikandar Raza came into the attack, what little scoring momentum they had also dried up. Just 32 runs were scored over the last six overs, with Raza registering figures of 4-0-16-3.

There was little drama in the chase, with Madhevere and Innocent Kaia getting Zimbabwe off to a strong start. When Bernard Scholtz dismissed Kaia, Zimbabwe were on 61 in less than nine overs, and even when Craig Ervine shortly after, it made little difference to Zimbabwe's momentum. Madhevere continued in the same vein, smashing eight fours and a six, and Regis Chakabva's undefeated 19-ball 24 helped carry Zimbabwe over the line with 17 balls to spare.

Zimbabwe now lead the five match series 2-1, with two matches to go.