Ben Curran batted for the entire innings after opening the innings and remained unbeaten on 111 runs off 135 deliveries with nine fours to his name.
Second ODI hundred for Ben Curran
Curran notched up his second century in 10 ODIs during the second ODI of the three-match series against Bangladesh today at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. For the unversed, he is the brother of England cricketers Sam Curran and Tom Curran and their father, Kevin Curran, played international cricket for Zimbabwe.
Ben Curran helped the hosts recover from early blows that had left Zimbabwe reeling at 32-3 within 10 overs. He adapted to the conditions better than the other batters and didn’t deter despite losing partners at the other end early. He stabilised the innings, adding 34 with Wessly Madhevere and 68 with Sikandar Raza. But when Clive Madande was dismissed in the 37th over, Zimbabwe were in trouble at 148-6.
This is when Curran found an able partner in Brad Evans and the opening batter showed brilliant composure to help his team rebuild. The duo added 99 in 79 balls to take Zimbabwe to a competitive total of 247 runs in their 50 overs.
Curran scored 111, almost half of the runs Zimbabwe posted at the end of their innings. He showcased immense skill and fitness to bat for the entire innings, making sure his team didn’t capitulate to a low score in testing conditions in Harare.
This is already a good start to Curran’s ODI career as he has two centuries and two fifties in 10 matches. He has 469 runs at an average of 58.63 and, interestingly, is yet to hit a six in the format.
Zimbabwe won the series opener, incredibly defending 141 runs and Curran’s effort has certainly given them a shot at a series win with a game to go.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh have begun their chase and Zimbabwe will be eyeing to make more inroads. At the time of writing, the visitors were 108-2 after 23 overs, with their opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim on 57 and Towhid Hridoy on 28.
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