Abel Ndooka
Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
PERSISTENT rain on day four of the historic Boxing Day Test between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan forced an early finish to proceedings at Queens Sports Club yesterday.
The rain began shortly after lunch and continued to pour, resulting in the match being called off for the day with two sessions still to be played on the penultimate day.
With overcast conditions throughout the day, only two overs were bowled after lunch before the rain began.
Overall, only 31 overs were played on day four.
With a day left to go, the game is most likely ending as a draw.
Afghanistan continued their resolute batting display, finishing the day on 515/3 from 156 overs, trailing Zimbabwe by just 71 runs. They had resumed day four with an overnight score of 425/2 (125 overs) and managed to add 90 runs for the loss of one wicket.
The only wicket that fell during the day saw debutant Newman Nyamhuri break the 364-run partnership between Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi early in the day.
The 18-year-old Nyamhuri had Shah caught at gully by Ben Curran for 234 runs off 424 deliveries, having added just three runs to his overnight score. Shah now holds the record for Afghanistan’s highest individual Test score and is one of only two batters from the country to have scored a double century in the longest format of the game.
The other Afghanistan batter to score a double century in Tests is captain Shahidi, who, at stumps on day four, was closing in on another massive score.
Shahidi ended the day on 179 runs from 367 balls.
He was batting alongside Asfar Zazai, who was also nearing his maiden Test half-century.
The 31-year-old Zazai was on 46 runs from 87 deliveries, with his best red-ball score being an unbeaten 48. Shahidi and Zazai’s fourth-wicket partnership had reached 87 runs by the close of play.
The 515 runs scored by Afghanistan at the end of day four is now their second-highest score in Tests, with their highest being 545/4 (declared) against Zimbabwe in 2021.
Zimbabwe’s debutant, Trevor Gwandu, has conceded 107 runs from 24 overs, including one maiden and one wicket.
The other wicket-taker is Blessing Muzarabani, with figures of 1/52.
Sean Williams and Brandon Mavuta have both conceded 98 runs from 34 and 27 overs, respectively.
Nyamhuri has given away 82 runs in 23 overs, while Brian Bennett has conceded 57 runs from 20 overs.
This game will be followed by Zimbabwe’s inaugural New Year’s Test, scheduled for January 2-6, 2025.
To date, the country has hosted only one Boxing Day Test, when Zimbabwe faced England in 1996 in a drawn match severely affected by rain at Harare Sports Club.
Since then, Zimbabwe’s only other Boxing Day Tests have been played away from home — against New Zealand in Wellington in 2000 and against South Africa in the inaugural pink-ball, day-night, four-day Test in Port Elizabeth in 2017.
Zimbabwe also played Sri Lanka in a Test that started on December 27, 2001, in Colombo.
Zimbabwe has never played a New Year’s Test, either at home or abroad.
Weather permitting, play will resume at 9.30am today for the final day.
leeroy mupariri
Online Reporter
