Winning Start For England In Cape Town
13th September, 2007
England's first Group B match in the ICC Twenty20 World Championships saw a convincing performance with bat and ball. An impressive innings from Kevin Pietersen helped England onto a 50-run victory over Zimbabwe in Cape Town. Pietersen made 79 runs off just 37 balls, and shared a useful fourth wicket partnership with captain Paul Collingwood, making 100 runs from 54 balls. England went on to make 188-9 from their 20 overs.
Zimbabwe came in and made a solid start, reaching 74-0, but then lost five wickets for just another 15 runs. Schofield and Mascarenhas came in with the ball and slowed the Zimbabwean run rate, after Broad's second over went for 14 runs. Zimbabwe never really threatened, and the result puts England in a very promising position to qualify for the next stage, after Zimbabwe produced a shock win over Australia on Wednesday. England have now risen to 5/1 3rd favorites with Betfred to win the tournament.
