Tea West Indies 25 for 0 (Brathwaite 13*, Powell 10*) trail Zimbabwe 326 (Masakadza 147, Raza 80, Roach 3-44) by 301 runs
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Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza extended Zimbabwe’s total to 326 but West Indies struck regularly on the second day at Queens Sports Club to keep the match finely balanced. Masakadza, on 101 not out overnight, fell for 147 and Raza picked up the baton with a fighting 80 to keep Zimbabwe afloat. After Zimbabwe were bowled out for 326, West Indies’ openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell chugged steadily through to tea in the afternoon sunshine, putting on 25 without offering more than half a chance.
Masakadza and Raza had threatened to take the game away from West Indies in the morning with a stand that stretched to 90 runs. With Masakadza’s dismissal, however, West Indies forced their way back into the game.
West Indies’ spinners slowed the game down and struck repeatedly with the old ball to peg Zimbabwe back, and after lunch the quicks used the new ball to deal with the tail, as the wickets were shared around.
Despite the bleak weather this morning, the picture looked rather rosy for Zimbabwe when Masakadza and Raza were batting. Masakadza cracked the first ball of the day, from Kemar Roach, through the covers for four. The luck was also with Zimbabwe. Jason Holder found the inside edge of Masakadza’s bat in the 12th over of the morning, but the ball ricocheted past the stumps, and a bat-pad chance against Raza off Roston Chase fell just in front of short leg.
After the early jitters, Zimbabwe progressed with steady accumulation and the drip of runs threatened to become a flood just before drinks, Masakadza collecting four fours in the space of seven deliveries. The batting pair gave the impression that they were forcing the pace ahead of the expected arrival of the new ball, but it never arrived and once West Indies’ slow bowlers took over, scoring became harder against the softening Kookaburra ball.
Holder’s decision not to take the new ball soon paid dividends. Masakadza was the first to go, top-edging a slog sweep off Devendra Bishoo to depart for 147. With his dismissal, the lessons Zimbabwe’s batsmen seemed to have learned after the first Test evaporated and the lower middle order folded meekly. Malcolm Waller went for a golden duck, flashing a drive over the top of an extravagantly flighted ball from Brathwaite, and Regis Chakabva never settled, missing a sweep at a Bishoo legbreak to be bowled for 10.
Only Raza stood firm, going to fifty with a swatted pull for six over midwicket off Bishoo. Picking the right balls to hit and using his feet effectively, he wore the responsibility on his shoulders well and carried Zimbabwe past 300 with a flowing drive through cover point. West Indies took the new ball after lunch, and Gabriel had a driving Raza caught at second slip – the first catch to be taken in the slips off a pace bowler for either team all series.
With debutant Tendai Chisoro swinging gamely at anything pitched up and Graeme Cremer showing some stickability at the other end, Zimbabwe might still have threatened 350, but an overly adventurous run saw Cremer run-out for 11, and in the next over Roach undid Chisoro with a superb slower ball.
The clouds that had engulfed Bulawayo parted at lunch, and West Indies’ openers began their riposte to Zimbabwe’s 326 under bright blue skies. There was a similar clarity to their batting, both men seeing the shine off the new ball ahead of stiffer challenges from Zimbabwe’s spinners. Cremer brought himself on as early as the 10th over, immediately finding the outer half of Powell’s bat, though the edge fell short of slip. Raza, used ahead of left-arm spinner Chisoro, also had a strong lbw shout turned down in his first over.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo