Early loss of wickets led to downfall: Patel

Ahmedabad, Oct 5 (UNI) Zimbabwe beat a fighting GCA President's XI by 30 runs in a practice match played at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera here today.

Chasing a victory target of 237, GCA were all out for 206 (48.2 overs).

A valiant knock of 53 by A A Bilakhia, that included eight fours, helped the homeside make a match of it with good support coming from B D Thaker, N K Patel and V Solanki, who managed to score 21 with a flourish that included a six.

Earlier, the GCA President's XI won the toss and elected to field. The locals were led by Parthiv Patel with the stumper back to the side after playing in the Challenger series.

On the outcome of the match, Patel said that losing early wickets turned out to be costly, leading to the defeat. It was a good experience for his team playing against an international side, he added.

Zimbabwean coach Kevin Curran said the Motera pitch was favouring swing bowlers which restricted his side from scoring more runs.

Overall, the performance was to his liking and now the time is to concentrate on the forthcoming matches, he added.

Following is the scoreboard: Zimbabwe innings R T Duffin c Parthiv b Parmar 47 S Matsikenyeri c Bhavik b Trivedi 19 C J Chibhabha c Parthiv b Tandel 5 H Masakadza lbw b NK Patel 52 B R M Taylor lbw b Solanki 10 E Chigumbura c Trivedi b Parmar 2 H P Rinke n.o. 41 Mupariwa c Modi b Solanki 17 A J Ireland n.o. 1 Extras : (lbyes 4, w 33, nb 5) 42 Total (7 wickets; 50 overs ) 236 Fall of wickets : 1-42, 2-65, 3-139, 4-165, 5-167,6-173, 7-230 Bowling Trivedi 10-1-30-1 Tandel 6-0-39-1 Mazumdar 5-0-42-0 AA Bilakhia 3-0-21-0 Solanki 10-0-35-2 Parmar 10-0-33-2 NK Patel 6-1-32-1 Gujarat President's XI N D Modi c Taylor b Ireland 6 A A Bilakhia b Kamungozi 53 N K Patel c Taylor b Chigumbura 27 B D Thaker c Masakadza b Matsikenyeri 37 A Y Brahmabhatt c Taylor b Matsikenyeri 11 V Solanki c Masakadza b Matsikenyeri 21 S K Trivedi c Chibhabha b Matsikenyeri 3 N Parmar not out 14 K Tandel b Rinke 13 H A Majmudar run out (Taylor) 9 Extras : (w 10, nb 2) 12 Total (all out; 48.2 overs) 206 Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-85, 3-86, 4-107, 5-130, 6-155, 7-157, 8-172, 9-191 and 10-206.

Bowling analysis: E C Rainsford 9.2-1-36-0 A J Ireland 4-0-10-1 T Mupariwa 4-0-22-0 E Chigumbura 6-0-30-2 CJ Chibhabha 3-0-17-0 T Kamungozi 10-0-34-1 S Matsikenyeri 9-0-45-4 HP Rinke 3-0-12-1 UNI