Australia beat Zimbabwe by 13 runs - Scorecard Adelaide, Jan 27: Zimbabwe flattered to deceive once again as they suffered a narrow 13-run defeat to Australia in the triangular one-day series cricket match here yesterday. After restricting the world champions to an achievable 279 for seven on a batsman-friendly Adelaide pitch, Zimbabwe put in a brave fight but ran out of steam in the end to be stopped at 266 for eight. A solid 94 by opening batsman Grant Flower laid the platform for the tourists but a middle order collapse on the face of some tidy bowling by the Australians undermined his efforts. Sean Ervine (33) and skipper Heath Streak (28) sustained the hopes with a 69-run fourth wicket partnership before Andy Blignaut (31 no) pushed the Zimbabwe score close to the Australian total. The left-handed Blignaut added 37 runs from 25 balls for the unfinished ninth wicket with Raymond Price but the Africans had suffered some serious damage in the middle which proved too much to repair in the end. The defeat left Zimbabwe without a win with one match to go against India, the third team in the series. India and Australia have already qualified for the best of three finals. Zimbabwe earned one point from the match to improve their tally to three while the Australians extended theirs to 28 at the top of the table. India have 23 points from six matches so far. (Agencies) Published: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 Back to Index