ZIMBABWE made amends with the ball after an early debacle with the bat that saw them being rattled out for 115 runs by West Indies on the first day of the second and final Test match at Queens Sports Club on Sunday.
The visitors close the day on stumps on 133/4, with a lead of 18 runs with six wickets heading into day two on Monday. Kyle Mayers (8) and Roston Chase (5) are on the crease and looking to pile more runs to give their team an excellent chance to wrap the match inside the five days.
Offspinner Wellington Masakadza made an early inroad when he trapped plum West Indian Captain Kraigg Braithwaite on the penultimate ball of the eighth over for seven runs. Masakadza has made Braithwaite his customer, having similarly dismissed him in both innings of the first Test.
On fire, leggy Brandon Mavuta picked two wickets, continuing from where he left off in the drawn first Test. Mavuta had West Indies opener Teganarine Chanderpaul caught by Donald Tiripano for 36 and went on to claim the wicket of Jermaine Blackwood, caught by Victor Nyauchi at midwicket for 22 runs.
But before that, Raymon Reifer, with a half-century, was runout for 53 by debutant Tanaka Chivanga and Tafadzwa Tsiga succumbed to the heat of Mavuta’s bowling.
After holding on to a draw in the first Test match at the same venue last week, Zimbabwe welcomed debutant seamer, Chivanga and all-rounders Milton Shumba and Tiripano.
Taking a back seat was first Test match centurion Garry Ballance owing to a migraine headache, while seamer Richard Ngarava and Brad Evans did not make the cut.
With those few changes, skipper Craig Ervine won the toss, elected to bat and probably felt they should have gone with fielding after losing wickets in a cluster earlier in the day.
Zimbabwe succumbed to a Gudakesh Motie five-for to be bundled out for 115 runs inside 40.5 overs on day one of the second Test at Queens Sports Club on Sunday.
The West Indies slow left-arm spinner, Motie, picked seven wickets for 37 runs in 14.5 overs while pacers Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph claimed two and one scalps, respectively.
After 20.1 overs, the hosts had the quartet of Tanunurwa Makoni (0), Chamu Chibhabha (10), Innocent Kaia (38) and Shumba (3) all back to the pavilion to leave the tea exposed on 64-4. Eventually, Zimbabwe exited the batting show before tea. West Indies took occupation of the crease breaking for tea on 21/1, trailing by 94 runs with Reifer on note and Chanderpaul 14.
The match continues on day two on Monday morning with anticipation of the record crowd that thronged Queens Sports Club on Sunday.
Squads
Zimbabwe- Innocent Kaia, Tanunurwa Makoni, Chamu Chibhabha, Craig Ervine, Mliton Shumba, Tafadzwa Tsiga, Donald Tiripano, Wellington Masakadza, Brandon Mavuta, Victor Nyauchi, Tanaka Chivanga.
West Indies- Kraigg Braithwaite (Captain), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Jermaine Blackwood, Kyle Mayers, Roston Chase, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Shannon Gabriel.
