That's it from our coverage of the 1st one-day international between Zimbabwe and Australia! Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Dev Rajawat, scorer/analyst Raju Khariya and statistician Aman. Stay tuned for more cricketing action from around the world.
Both sides will return on Friday, September 18 at 1 PM Local Time / 9:30 AM Local Time in the 2nd one-day international at the same venue.
Matt Renshaw, Newman Nyamhuri and Nathan Ellis with special performances in the series opener for their respective sides. Sikandar Raza and Craig Ervine answering their critics with a good fight but it wasn't enough to take the Chevrons home. Australia taking the game by 59 runs.
Mitchell Marsh (Australia Captain): (On winning the match and representing Australia for the 100th time in ODIs) "Yeah, special day. Huge honour to represent Australia 100 times, and it's always really important in a three-match series to start with a win.
(On Australia's batting innings) Yeah, we lost a couple of wickets in that little patch throughout the middle there. I thought the way Alex Carey and Matt Renshaw built that partnership, obviously, Matty Renshaw's innings was fantastic, and it got us to a really, probably just above-par total.
(On Matt Renshaw's maiden ODI hundred) Yeah, look, we believe he's a quality player and has been for a long time. Now he's starting to take his opportunities and really sell himself in this line-up. He's very round the group, bowls really good off-spin, so it's a handy package, and I'm really proud of him. His first ODI 100 for Australia is always really special.
(On Nathan Ellis' first five-wicket haul in ODIs) Yeah, he's a gem. Absolute gem. I believe he's one of the best white-ball bowlers in the world. He can bowl in all phases, wears his heart on his sleeve, and it's a privilege having him outside. So very happy for him. He was pumped to get his first five-wicket.
(On areas for improvement) Oh, there are always areas to improve. We're always just the same, looking for those little 1 percenters that we can keep improving, and hopefully we can do that in the second game.
(On the crowd in Harare) It was great. I remember sitting in those stands out. I used go and sit out there and sing all day. Didn't know what I was singing, but I'd sing. So, great memories. The music was going all day. I don't know how they do it, but it was a great atmosphere."
Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe Captain): [disappointed with the result] "Yeah we are because we felt like we were in the game with that as well. We didn't start really well but the way boys caught their way back into the game was very good. This is a game that just got away from us. We were in with a chance, had we batted a bit better and bowled a bit better.
[on whether discipline would have changed the result] Certainly. It was a good wicket. It was consistently slow but there weren't many demons in there. We had to bowl really disciplined lines and make the play out of it. We just kept dishing out some balls that were easy to put away and they kept finding their boundaries. Had we bowled a bit better, started better as well, it would have been a different story. It is what it is. Hopefully we will learn from it and come back better in the next one.
[on Newman Nyamhuri] Very happy for him. It's nice that he's put his hand up because we suddenly are missing Ngarava as well. As a country as well, we want to put a conscious effort that we keep improving our pool of players as well. He's been a real revelation as well. With time he will get better and he'll pick many more 5-fers but suddenly, first fifer is very special and to do it against Australia is even better. Really happy and really proud of him."
Matt Renshaw (Player of the Match): (On the thought process after losing early wickets) "Just trying to rebuild. Obviously, we lost a few wickets early, but the boys started really well with the score, so I didn't feel like I was under any pressure to score. So it was just Connolly and I trying to build a partnership and chase the target.
(On the conditions) Yeah, they were really nice. Obviously, there's a bit of altitude here, because that's what we're used to, so the lungs were going a little bit. But yeah, the pitch was really nice. It obviously got harder as the innings went on, so I was sort of trying to make the most of that.
(On scoring his maiden ODI hundred) Pretty tired, to be honest, now. It was a big day, but yeah, it was nice. I never thought I'd probably be able to play ODI cricket back in the day, and yeah, ten years between international hundreds is something I certainly wasn't expecting.
(On having an opportunity to build on the performance) Yeah, definitely. I think it's obviously the World Cup here next year. Being able to experience different conditions - I've never been to Africa, really, so it's really nice to sort of embrace the culture as well."
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: MATT RENSHAW
Time for the Post-Match Presentations...
Two players aged 40+ Batting Together in Men's ODIs:
Parbhu Nana & Don Pringle (East Africa) vs England, Birmingham, 1975
Anderson Cummins & George Codrington (Canada) vs Kenya, Mombasa, 2007
Mohammad Nadeem & Aamir Kaleem (Oman) vs UAE, Al Amerat, 2024
Brendan Taylor & Craig Ervine (ZIM) vs AUS, Harare, 2026, Today*
Craig Ervine & Sikandar Raza (ZIM) vs AUS, Harare, 2026, Today*