The last ODI played by the USA Women's side prior to their status being removed by the ICC will be remembered as much for Zimbabwe batter Loreen Tshuma's maiden ODI century as it will be for half the USA lineup being runout in the chase.

Photo credit: Willow TV

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Loreen Tshuma entered Saturday’s second ODI against the USA Women with 69 runs in 14 innings at an average of 5.75. By the end of the day, her career average and her overall runs tally had both nearly tripled after she almost singlehandedly beat the hosts by making 137 off 149 balls to propel Zimbabwe Women to a lopsided 128-run win at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas. 
 
Tshuma was dropped at slip on 17, but played a clean innings the rest of the way while teaming up with Kelis Ndhlovu and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano for a pair of century partnerships in Zimbabwe’s total of 270 for 3. In reply, USA turned back the clock to the bad old days of chaotic running between the wickets as half the lineup was runout on the way to being eventually bowled out for 142 in reply. 
 
USA won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat as it was the Americans who made the early mark in the field with the first runout of the day in the second over of play. Modester Mupachikwa was on 4 when she flicked a length ball from Maahi Madhavan into midwicket and set off on contact. Chetnaa Prasad charged in to field and fired a direct hit from 10 yards away into the non-striker’s stumps to make it 7 for 1. It would be nearly two hours later before USA would strike again. 
 
However, USA had an opportunity to nip the partnership between Tshuma and Ndhlovu in the bud that they failed to take advantage of. Tshuma had just driven left-arm pacer Jessica Willathgamuwa for four through extra cover to move to 17 off 11 balls and tried to repeat the shot on the very next ball. Willathgamuwa dragged the length back a fraction and induced an edge that flew to Disha Dhingra at knee height at slip. After being in a crouching position at delivery, Dhingra came up before trying to maneuver her body back down into a crouch and got into an awkward off-balance tangle as the ball clanged off her wrists while she was falling backward. 
 
Instead of ending her innings with a total marginally above her career ODI average, the 28-year-old Tshuma rubbed salt into the wound continuously over the next three hours. She moved to a maiden ODI half-century off 57 balls in the 21^st over when pulling Prasad’s offspin behind square leg for a boundary. Likewise, 19-year-old Ndhlovu also brought up her maiden ODI fifty off 65 balls two overs later on a single driven to the cover sweeper. The partnership finally ended at 119 when Ndhlovu came down the track to Ritu Singh’s offspin on 54 and lofted a drive wide of long-on that was excellently taken five yards inside the rope by Willathgamuwa in stride while running to her left to make it 126 for 2.
 
Tshuma continued to power ahead with her captain Mugeri-Tiripano and eventually reached triple figures off 123 balls by coming down the track to Madhavan’s medium pace in the 42^nd over and driving her over extra cover for her 12^th boundary. She then followed it up on the next ball by whipping Madhavan wide of mid-on for another boundary. 
 
Mugeri-Tiripano laced a cut off Madhavan behind point for four to bring up a 54-ball half-century in the 46^thover, the fourth of her ODI career. Tshuma collected her 17^th and final boundary off the last ball of the 48^thwhen she flicked Madhavan off her pads through fine leg to the rope. Tshuma was an over away from ending unbeaten when she fell off the last ball of the 49^th to USA captain Aditi Chudasama, charging a stock offbreak and driving it flat to Singh at long-off for a waist high catch to end a 139-run partnership with Mugeri-Tiripano at 265 for 3. 
 
Zimbabwe collected five runs off the final over as Mugeri-Tiripano ended unbeaten on 61 off 64 balls with six boundaries. Beloved Biza made 2 not out off 3 balls in her short time at the crease. 
 
Singh ended with USA’s best figures and was also their most economical bowler, returning 1 for 38 off nine overs. Chudasama claimed 1 for 49 off 10 including a maiden. Prasad was the only other bowler to complete a full 10, ending with 0 for 47. Willathgamuwa, who had Tshuma dropped off her bowling, was never brought back into the attack after conceding 13 runs off her only over of the day. Madhavan wound up being USA’s most expensive bowler overall, giving away 0 for 53 off eight overs. 
 
USA’s chase started in calamitous fashion as both openers were runout off consecutive balls to start the second over. The first incident happened when Mitali Patwardhan drove right-arm medium pacer Adelle Zimunu to extra cover, where the ball was misfielded but took a ricochet straight to mid-off. Both Patwardhan and Dhingra decided to run before changing their minds mid-pitch. A throw to either end would’ve produced a wicket but Lindokuhle Mabhero opted for the non-striker’s end where her relay was collected by Zimunu for a simple underhand flick into the stumps from a yard away to dismiss Dhingra for 1. Still on strike, Patwardhan then ran herself out on the very next ball when she middled a cut straight to backward point where Nomvelo Sibanda pulled off a tremendous diving stop to deny a boundary, then threw from her knees to wicketkeeper Chiedza Dhururu. Patwardhan had set off on contact and after rightfully being sent back by new batter Chetna Reddy Pagydyala, Patwardhan was three yards short when the bails came off to end her innings for 1 to make it 2 for 2 after eight legal deliveries. 
 
Chudasama was USA’s third runout victim in the ninth over when she swept Ndhlovu to square leg where Runyararo Pasipanodya fumbled the initial fielding effort to entice the USA captain into attempting a single. But Padydyala wasn’t interested and sent the USA captain back as Pasipanodya recovered to relay to Dhururu just ahead of Chudasama’s desperate dive back to the striker’s end, culminating in another wicket for 9 as USA fell to 24 for 3.
 
Four balls later, Pagydyala became the first wicket to fall to a bowler as a full and wide delivery from medium pacer Tendai Makusha was sliced to backward point where Sibanda pulled off a superb catch above her head while tumbling backward to dismiss the teenage left-hander for 11 at 25 for 4 in the 10^th. Two overs later, Zimunu speared in a yorker to clean up Singh for 6 as USA slipped to 38 for 5 after 12. 
 
Willathgamuwa and Pooja Ganesh helped USA save face with a 52-run sixth-wicket partnership. But what looked like a promising recovery ended in familiar fashion as Willathgamuwa was runout for 18 in the 26^th over to make it 90 for 6. Ganesh was on strike and punched a full delivery from Mabhero firmly to cover. Both USA batters set off on contact as Ndhlovu’s throw to Dhururu at the striker’s end beat Willathgamuwa by a foot. 
 
Ganesh was one shot away from a maiden ODI half-century when she fell for 45, top-edging an attempted sweep against Ndhlovu’s left-arm spin that sailed to Sibanda at backward point for a sliding catch to make it 123 for 7. Kodali, who survived a runout chance on 10 in the same over in which Ganesh was dismissed, then succeeded in running herself out for 20 in the 41^st over when she set off on contact after driving Sibanda straight to Zimunu at mid-off, who fielded and rifled a throw into the non-striker’s stumps with Kodali four yards short to make it 139 for 8. 
 
The match was over less than two overs later as the USA tail folded quickly. Madhavan was bowled for 1 by Pasipanodya for the 17-year-old’s maiden ODI wicket when Prasad played back to a good length offbreak that kept low. Prasad became the final wicket for 6 four balls later to start the 43^rd when she drove Sibanda low to extra cover where Mugeri-Tiripano pulled off a sharp diving catch to her right. 
 
Pasipanodya officially had Zimbabwe’s best figures on the day, returning 1 for 11 off three. Ndhlovu was Zimbabwe’s most economical, taking 1 for 16 off eight overs including a maiden. The new-ball pair of Sibanda and Zimunu returned 1 for 22 off 7.1 overs and 1 for 17 off five overs respectively. Makusha was Zimbabwe’s most expensive bowler on the day, returning 1 for 33 off seven overs. 
 
The match will be USA Women’s last ODI indefinitely after the ICC announced that their temporary ODI status, which had been in place since May 2022, had been discontinued by the ICC following the Women’s ICC rankings update effective from May 12. Despite being given the status from May 2022, USA Cricket did not organize any ODIs for the USA Women’s team until April 2024 when they played a pair of matches in Dubai against Scotland and Papua New Guinea ahead of that year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi. USA then played a further seven ODIs, all against Zimbabwe which occurred on a five-match tour in October 2024 and then the final two matches that just concluded in Texas. 
 
Aside from USA’s own poor results in the ODIs, they won just three of nine matches, their T20I ranking was also a significant factor in the ICC stripping USA of ODI status. An ICC press release declared that the UAE Women’s team would replace USA on the ODI rankings table based on the UAE’s current ranking of 16^th on the Women’s T20I table, which makes them the fifth highest ranked Associate behind Thailand, Scotland, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands. 
 
A major factor in those rankings was USA and UAE’s respective performances at the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi. UAE defeated Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, both currently ranked 14^thand 15^th on the Women’s T20I table, to finish in the top two of their group and advance to the semifinals. USA lost a heartbreaker to Uganda, currently ranked 17^th, and were generally uncompetitive in their remaining three fixtures to lose all of their group matches. USA’s current Women’s T20I ranking is 24^th in the world, behind Uganda, Namibia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Nepal, Hong Kong and Italy. According to sources, the loss of Women’s ODI status will result in USA Cricket losing out on approximately $500,000 in targeted women’s cricket annual funding from the ICC.