Cricket's biggest upset, Australia's historic defeat by Zimbabwe at home

The Zimbabwean team pulled off a historic victory by defeating a full-strength Australian team at its home ground in one of the biggest upse...

The Zimbabwean team pulled off a historic victory by defeating a full-strength Australian team at its home ground in one of the biggest upsets in cricket history.

In the third ODI of the series played at Townsville, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl first, which proved correct.

Opener David Warner played well from the start but from the other end the players kept returning to the pavilion one by one.

Captain Aaron Finch got out for five runs, Steven Smith one, Alex Carey four, Marcus Stoins and Cameron Green three each, then the Australian team lost half of the team on 72 runs.

These runs were also courtesy of David Warner who had completed his half-century by then.

Glenn Maxwell came in to support Warner at this stage and the duo put on a responsible 57-run partnership, at which point it looked as if the duo would ensure Australia reached a decent total but Ryan Burrell's excellent spell dashed Australia's hopes.

Ryan Burrell dismissed Maxwell, who scored 19 runs, as well as Ashton Igar in the first over, but he and the Zimbabwe team got their biggest breakthrough when he dismissed David Warner, who scored 94 runs, in the next over.

The Zimbabwean spinner bowled out Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood to bowl out Australia for 141 runs.

On behalf of Zimbabwe, Ryan Burrell took five for 10 runs in three overs while Brad Evans took two wickets.

Chasing the target, the Zimbabwean openers laid the foundation for victory by giving the team a 38-run start, but by the time they reached a total of 77, the Zimbabwean team had also lost five players.

On this occasion, captain Regus Chikabwa, while playing the captain's innings, formed a valuable partnership of 38 runs with Tony Moon Yunga, while also adding 22 runs with Ryan Burrell for the seventh wicket.

Zimbabwe chased down the target by seven wickets in the 39th over to clinch a historic victory and make it memorable despite losing the series 1-2, with Chikabwa scoring a gutsy knock of 37 runs.

The win is significant for Zimbabwe as it is their first ODI win against the hosts on Australian soil.

Ryan Burrell was named Man of the Match for taking five wickets along with three catches.