16-year-old Beloved Biza showed up her teenage competitors on the opposite side of the field with a Player of the Match performance that included 33 runs off the bat before taking 3 for 18 in the field as Zimbabwe Women routed USA. 

Photo credit: Willow TV

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Teenage allrounder Beloved Biza made Zimbabwe’s first match on American soil a memorable one as she followed up her first innings score of 33 by taking 3 for 18 in four overs of offspin to help the tourists to a 28-run win over USA Women in the opening T20I on Friday at Grand Prairie Stadium. Biza teamed with Josephine Nkomo for a crucial 51-run fifth-wicket partnership in the first innings to propel Zimbabwe to a total of 124 for 7 before her bowling helped restrict USA to 96 for 6 in reply. 
 
USA won the toss and chose to field first at a venue where the USA Women have never played before despite officially being the home side for the contest. Former Saurashtra player Bhakti Shastri was given a debut cap along with 16-year-old northern California bowler Maahi Madhavan as USA juggled their lineup around in the absence of Anika Kolan, who is out indefinitely with a leg injury (USA Cricket has not provided any information regarding the severity of her injury nor a scheduled rehabilitation timeline) sustained in Argentina at the ICC Americas Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Regional Final, as well as the unavailability of the England-based pair of Tara Norris and Ella Claridge. 
 
USA got off to a solid start in the field behind pace bowler Geetika Kodali, who struck with the third ball of play when Kelis Ndhlovu drove a full delivery to Ritu Singh at mid-off for a duck. Modester Mupachikwa then made it 12 for 2 in the fourth over when she went onto the back foot to cut a length delivery from stand-in captain Aditi Chudasama only to smash her own stumps while hitting the ball to cover resulting in a rare hit wicket dismissal for 3.
 
Zimbabwe captain Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano pushed away from her body and feathered an edge behind off Isani Vaghela’s medium pace for 15 to make it 43 for 3 after eight overs. Loreen Tshuma rode her luck in the 11^thover off Ritu Singh, taking advantage of a misfield at cover off the third ball of the over to record her fifth four before a costly misjudgement on the final ball of the over made by Vaghela at long-on resulted in the fielder charging in only for a lofted drive to two feet over the rope for six. Tshuma finally fell in the 12^th for a top score of 38, pushing away from her body at a stock legbreak from Saanvi Immadi to edge behind for a second catch on the day to Pooja Ganesh to make it 66 for 4. 
 
Nkomo joined Biza and the pair capitalized on poor field settings and loose bowling to continue turning the match in Zimbabwe’s favor by adding 51 across the next 51 across the next 41 legal deliveries. The match was still relatively even in the 16^th over with the score 85 for 4 before Zimbabwe rolled off 39 runs off the last 26 legal deliveries to take momentum into the innings break. It started with the final two balls of the 16^th from Immadi to Nkomo when the USA leggie strayed down the leg side on back-to-back balls, both of which were swept through fine leg for four. 
 
Biza then laced a back foot square drive behind point off Kodali two balls into the 17^th to kickstart an 11-run frame. Vaghela was unlucky to start the 18^th with an edged drive by Biza that split wicketkeeper Ganesh and short third to go for another boundary. But when USA opted not to push short third back to the rope, Biza seized on width three balls later to intentionally open the face and use Vaghela’s pace to guide another boundary between the keeper and short third in Zimbabwe’s second straight 11-run over to take the score to 115 for 4 with two overs left. 
 
Biza brought up the half-century partnership off the first ball of the 19^th with a two clipped off Kodali before Kodali struck back two balls later, getting Biza to slice a thick edge to backward point that was brilliantly caught by Shastri diving left. Kodali made it a double-wicket over three balls later when she yorked Natasha Mtomba for 2 to make it 119 for 6 with one over left. Chiedza Dhururu was runout without facing a ball in the final over when Nkomo drove to cover where Chetna Reddy Pagydyala fielded and fired a direct hit into the striker’s end stumps to deny a single. Adelle Zimunu hit a three off her first ball before two more singles were collected by her and Nkomo to take Zimbabwe to their final total as Nkomo ended unbeaten on 22 off 22. 
 
Kodali led USA in the field with 3 for 25 off her four overs. Chudasama claimed 1 for 17 off her four overs after taking the new ball with her offspin. Vaghela returned 1 for 27 off four overs while Immadi claimed 1 for 20 off her four. Madhavan bowled just a single over on debut, conceding eight runs off two boundaries to Tshuma after coming on for Kodali at first change in the fifth. Ritu Singh was USA’s most expensive bowler, giving away 0 for 27 off three until she was forced out of the attack following Tshuma’s six to end the 11^th. 
 
USA’s chase lacked the required aggression from the start as they racked up 23 dot balls in the Powerplay during which they advanced to 30 for 0. The struggle was further highlighted in the eighth over during which Disha Dhingra played out a maiden to Zimunu’s medium pace in which she put bat on ball to all six deliveries and was dropped twice on 15, at backward point and cover, off consecutive deliveries. Dhingra’s innings finally came to an end in the following over for 16 when she lofted a drive off Precious Marange’s offspin to Zimuni at long-off 10 yards inside the rope to make it 40 for 1 in nine. 
 
Pagydyala made 25 off 30 before she became Biza’s first wicket in the 11^th, miscuing a flick straight to Nkomo at midwicket in the ring to make it 50 for 2. Vaghela went next for 2 off 7 balls in the 13^th, slog sweeping Biza to Mtomba who pulled off a sensational diving catch coming forward from the rope at deep midwicket to make it 55 for 3. Gargi Bhogle became the second left-hander out caught at midwicket in the ring to start the 14^thwhen she yanked a half-tracker from Biza straight to Mugeri-Tiripano for 4. Shastri’s first ball in international cricket wound up resulting in a runout when she tapped to cover and Ritu responded for a suicide single only to see Mugeri-Tiripano’s relay from 10 yards out beat her to the stumps by two yards. It concluded a sequence of three wickets in five balls as USA slipped to 56 for 5. Biza then completed her haul at the start of the following over as Shastri’s attempted reverse sweep resulted in a bottom edge dragged onto the stumps for 1 to make it 60 for 6. 
 
With USA needing 65 off 35 balls, there was no chance of climbing back into the contest. But Ganesh showed promise with two rare boundaries for USA by sweeping Tshuma for a boundary two balls into the 16^th before starting the 17^th against Biza by coming down the track and elegantly driving her wide of long-on for another four. And yet, it only reduced the equation to 51 off 23 required. Ganesh and Chudasama added another 22 runs the rest of the way, capped off by Chudasama’s lone boundary off the final ball of play, slapped through cover with no sweeper in place, to create the final margin. Ganesh ended unbeaten on 21 off 20 balls, the only USA player with a strike rate above 100, while Chudasama’s last-ball boundary meant she finished with a run-a-ball 17. 
 
Aside from Biza’s figures, Marange claimed 1 for 22 off her four while Tshuma ended with 1 for 25 off four. The 20-year-old medium pacer Zimuni returned the most economical figures of the match from either side, giving away just eight runs off four overs including the maiden with two dropped chances to Dhingra. 
 
Both teams have a rest day on Saturday before the series resumes in Texas on Sunday morning.