After 29 completed matches without defeat, Zimbabwe's unbeaten record in the men's World Cup Qualifier has come to an end at the hands of the West Indies today in Harare.

Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer won the toss and chose to bat first at the Harare Sports Club, and his team soon found themselves in trouble, with Cephas Zhuwao and Hamilton Masakadza both out cheaply early on. Meanwhile, Solomon Mire was hit in the head by a Kemar Roach bouncer, leaving Zimbabwe 30-2 with Mire retired hurt.

The fightback was led by Brendan Taylor, who scored 138 from 124 balls in front of an exuberant home crowd, who took the opportunity to dish out some stick to Keemo Paul, who famously performed a mankad during the 2016 Under-19 World Cup to help eliminate Zimbabwe.

Towards the end of his innings, he was rejoined by Solomon Mire, who managed to take his score to 45 from 33 balls, the second highest of the Zimbabwe innings. Their final total was 289, losing their last wicket from the final ball of their 50 overs. Jason Holder was the pick of the West Indian bowlers with 4-35, whilst Kemar Roach took 3-55.

The West Indies lost Chris Gayle for 17 early in their reply, but otherwise looked to be cruising towards the target. Even Lewis and Shai Hope put on 72 for the second wicket before Lewis was dismissed by Sikandar Raza, whilst Hope and Marlon Samuels put on 135 for the third wicket before Samuels was dismissed for 86, the top score for the West Indies.

Samuels dismissal though sparked a flurry of wickets as the visitors lost four wickets for 20 runs in two overs to go from 245-2 to 265-6. Ashley Nurse then hit his first delivery for four to ease the pressure though. The Zimbabwe bowlers kept at it, but Nurse and Ruvman Powell held firm, taking singles when they could.

With 11 needed from the last two overs, it could still have gone either way, but Powell took two from the first ball of the penultimate over before smashing the next one for six over long on. It was elementary then, and the winning runs came from a leg bye from the final ball of the 49th over, for the West Indies' fifth highest successful run chase in ODIs.

The West Indies now set up a winner takes all clash with Scotland on Wednesday, with the winners certain of a place in the 2019 World Cup. Zimbabwe will play the UAE on Thursday, just needing a win there to secure their place. The UAE will first play Afghanistan tomorrow.