Chevrons, West Indies in second Test meet

Fungai Muderere
AFTER surviving a late onslaught at the hands of visitors West Indies on Wednesday to escape with a draw, Zimbabwe senior men’s cricket team, will on Sunday engage the same opponents in the second Test cricket match at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club.

Zimbabwe will miss some of their biggest players, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarabani due to various reasons.

Their regular skipper Sean Williams is yet to recover from a finger injury and in his absence, Craig Ervine will lead the team.

They will once again be ably supported by Gary Ballance who has played his first Test in five years after last playing for England way back in 2017.

Before this second test match, Tafadzwa Tsiga, Joylord Gumbie, Kudzai Maunze and Tanunurwa Makoni are the four uncapped players in the Zimbabwe squad. Chamu Chibhabha earned a Test recall after six years.

On the other hand, West Indies have the services of seasoned Shannon Gabriel who last played a Test match back in November 2021 after which he sustained a hamstring injury. The speedster earned a recall to the Test team. Jomel Warrican and Gudakesh Motie were also included.

Gabriel came into the squad in place of Jayden Seales, who is undergoing rehabilitation following knee surgery. West Indies will be coached by interim coach Andre Coley after Phil Simmons stepped down after the tour of Australia.

Despite an aggressive push to bowl out hosts Zimbabwe on Wednesday, the final day of their first Test, West Indies had to settle for a draw after the home team closed day five on 134-6 in pursuit of 271 for victory.

Spinner  Motie led the effort with four wickets for 50 runs in 24 overs, and Roston Chase picked up two for nine in 12 overs, but it was not enough to crumble the Zimbabwean batting line-up in a match where both teams had confident showings with the bat.

Chibhabha top-scored with 31 off 60 deliveries while Innocent Kaia and Tafadzwa Tsiga both made 24 runs.

Earlier, Raymon Reifer and Jermaine Blackwood each scored 50s as the West Indies declared their second innings on 203-5 on Wednesday’s final day.

It was a day when Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite who scored tons in the West Indies’s first innings of 447-6 declared, created another record of being the first opening pair to bat on all five days of a Test match.

Resuming from their overnight score of 21-0 with the West Indies captain on 11 and Chanderpaul on 10. The pair would add another 11 runs before Brad Evans broke the partnership when he bowled Chanderpaul for 15.

Brathwaite was trapped leg before wicket (lbw) by Wellington Masakadza for 25 which brought Reifer and Blackwood together. They mounted a stand of 107 that was broken when Masakadza picked up his second wicket when he dismissed Reifer caught and bowled for 58.

He picked up his fourth wicket of the match when he had Blackwood caught behind for 57 to end with figures of 3-71.

Evans picked up his second wicket when he had Roston Chase caught behind for 14 after which Kyle Mayers and Joshua Da Silva added another 23 runs before the declaration came.
Scores: West Indies 447-6 (dec) and 203-5 (dec) vs Zimbabwe 379-9 (dec) and 134-6.