Harare, July 18 (IANS) New Zealand sealed a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Friday.

After Matt Henry’s three-wicket haul, alongside a scalp each for Adam Milne, Rachin Ravindra, Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner, restricted the hosts to 120/7, Devon Conway produced a man of the match performance by scoring an unbeaten 59 off 40 deliveries to seal the victory in the ongoing T20I Tri-Series between Zimbabwe, New Zealand and South Africa.

Wessly Madhevere (36) and Brian Bennett (21) steered through the opening overs before the latter fell to Henry in the final over of the powerplay.

Wicket-keeper batter Clive Madande’s (8) time at the crease was cut short by Ravindra. Madhvere continued to steadily build his innings and scored 36 off 32 deliveries, which included four boundaries, before he was castled over by Milne. Santner dismissed his counterpart Sikander Raza (12) before Henry claimed the wickets of

Tony Munyonga (13) and Tashinga Musekiwa (4) to restrict the hosts to 120/7.

In their chase of 121, Conway was given a lifeline when he was dropped in the first over of the second innings when he played a loose shot off Richard Ngarava’s back of a length delivery and was dropped by Blessing Muzarabani. If the catch was taken, Zimbabwe could have built further pressure as Tim Seifert (3) fell to Muzarabani.

Rachin Ravindra (30) and Conway began to take the game away from the hosts which included the former smacking Trevor Gwandu for three consecutive boundaries in the fifth over.

The left-handed all-rounder was ultimately undone by the short ball ploy. Tinotenda Maposa’s short ball, outside off, saw Rachin guide it towards third man where Muzarabani made no mistake this time around and took a fine catch while diving in front.

Conway went on to reach his half-century in 34 deliveries and alongside Daryll Mitchell (26) went on to chase down the target in 13.5 overs with 37 balls remaining.

Brief Score: Zim: 120/7 ( Wessly Madhevere 36, Brian Bennett 21; Matt Henry 3-26) lost to NZ 122/2 (Devon Conway 59*, Rachin Ravindra 30; Blessing Muzarabani 1-27) by eight wickets and 37 balls to spare.

–IANS

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