Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett scored a patient half-century against Australia in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 clash at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on February 13. Bennett’s unbeaten 64 is the highest T20I score for Zimbabwe against Australia. He broke Solomon Mire's record which was created in July 2018. In a tri-series clash, Mire scored 63 runs from 52 balls in Harare.
Bennett is only the third Zimbabwe batter to score a T20I fifty against Australia. The first was scored in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. Brendan Taylor scored an unbeaten 45-ball 60 in the successful run chase in Cape Town. Taylor was part of the current squad as well but was ruled out due to an injury sustained in the game against Oman.
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Bennett's unbeaten 64 is also the second-highest score in Zimbabwe-Australia T20I clashes. The top spot belongs to former captain Aaron Finch who scored 172 runs in 76 balls. It is still the highest individual score in T20I history.
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Bennett carries his bat, Zimbabwe post challenging total
Earlier, Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani got Zimbabwe off to a good start. Bennett scored at under run-a-ball but Marumani found boundaries as Zimbabwe were 47 for no loss after powerplay overs. The opening partnership was broken by Marcus Stoinis by dismissing Marumani for a 21-ball 35 in the eighth over. They put on 61 runs, the highest opening stand for Zimbabwe in T20 World Cups since 2007.
In the 13th over, Zimbabwe got over the 100-run mark. Two overs later, Bennett got to his 11th T20I fifty from 43 balls, third joint-most for Zimbabwe. After Stoinis got injured, Cameron Green got the wicket of Ryan Burl who scored 35 runs from 30 balls. Bennett found just one boundary in the slog overs. Skipper Sikandar Raza finished the innings with a six. Zimbabwe posted 169/2, the lowest score in a completed first innings after losing just two wickets.
“I think before we came here, we kind of identified that there wasn't really going to be maybe a 200 wicket. We were always looking to score about 170. So that's a box ticked for us. To be honest, we kind of said to each other in the middle that we've got to park our egos, focus for those balls from the top end where there was so much wind to the big boundary. So we just said, let's park our egos and try maybe go after the quicks downwind,” Burl told the broadcasters in the innings break.
Bennett has scored 112 runs from two innings at a strike rate of 121.73 and yet to be dismissed. Currently, he is the fourth-highest run-scorer in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026.