Australia vs Zimbabwe, 1st ODI at Townsville, AUS v ZIM, Aug 28 2022 - Match Result

4:36pm And so, another 'what-if' performance from Zimbabwe ends. What if they had scored 40-50 more? What if that batting collapse had not happened? What if they could have held onto the chance of Warner earlier? Well, they have another opportunity to correct these as the two sides meet on Wednesday. Do join us back for action then. For today, on behalf of Vairavan and Himanshu, I, S Sudarshanan, bid you goodbye. Ciao!

Cameron Green, player of the match for his maiden ODI five-for: "We had awesome footage to look at in the last couple of days and that helped. Training, we realised that the wicket was up and down and nipping. So we had to nip it back of a length and stick to our strengths. It was just me and Marnus who trained yesterday."

Regis Chakabva, Zimbabwe captain: "The wicket was tricky early on and boys did well to soak up pressure and score. With the ball we started a bit on the low and came back strongly. We need to put up a score and it would be okay. Bit of rest and we will regroup on Tuesday."

Aaron Finch, Australia captain: "The conditions dried out and it spun a lot more towards the end of the game. You watch a lot of footage, watch a few actions just to read on what to expect. I thought we did that well. Our bowlers executed their plans well. When we saw there was something on the wicket, Marsh was the one to go to with the movement. And Green followed Marsh and Josh. [Starch and Green] Starc has been one of the best of all times. I feel that he has played a lot more than 100 and has a great impact on the ground. Green, baby-faced, 21-year-old, comes in and hasn't got the wickets that he deserved at times but it happens."

Roy: "I think Australia is way too all rounder heavy considering they didn't even use Stoinis with the ball. I think there's room for Marnus in place for Stoinis and I will also replace Finch with in form Head as an opener and give captaincy to either Cummins or Carey for this format."

Nehaal: "Maxwell came in at 155/5 with Smith on 41* and Aus needing 46 to win. The game ended with Smith stuck on 48*!"

4:23pm Strong win from Australia, hastened thanks to Maxwell's 9-ball 32 not out. He was told about his role, batting lower down and just going hard to finish games and that's what he did today, even as Australia were precariously placed after losing a few quick wickets in the middle. But the chase was headlined by Warner's half-century and Smith's perfect supporting role of an unbeaten 48. Of course, all of this was thanks to Green's maiden five-for which helped trigger a Zimbabwe collapse where they lost 6 for 15 to be skittled out.

ZImbabwe's outing was not all without challenge. Madhevere stroked his ODI best of 72 and then the spinners also kept them in the chase but it was not be.

Umanga: "Zimbabwe need at least 250 to challenge Australia in the next matches with the pitches spinning and wickets getting slow they can cause an upset here if they bat sensibly."

Ngarava is back now.

16 runs needed for Australia to go 1-0 up. How many more balls will they consume? Luke Jongwe to have a go for the first time today.

Final drinks interval then. A matter of time.

Deep square leg in place now. Deep midwicket quite vacant.

Afeef: "If only Zimbabwe had 30-40 runs more to work with"

Rohan: "Zimbabwe showing it yet again that they deserve more bilateral series against the top sides."