Poor decisions costly

Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
IN the first Test Younis Khan showed how much a man can single-handedly change the course of a game, and the fate of a team, as he powered Pakistan from a position of weakness to one of strength which they converted into a comfortable victory.
On the first day of the second Test at Harare Sports Club yesterday, fate also showed us how the decision of one man can complicate things for an entire team as Zimbabwe struggled, stablised, flourished, collapsed and then limped to 237/8 at stumps.

Opener Tino Mawoyo only faced two balls before umpire Steve Davies brewed a shocker when he sent him packing for a duck, ruling that he had been caught behind, to gift Junaid Khan his first wicket of the day after the hosts won the toss and chose to bat.

Junaid’s delivery pitched outside leg, whizzed across the right hander, brushed his thigh pad and flew straight to the ‘keeper Adnan Akmal.
Junaid appealed, which was normal, and so did his teammates.

But Davies was supposed to have seen that the ball hadn’t kissed any part of the bat and Mawoyo’s response, as he took his walk towards square leg, should have provided the body language that he was 100 percent sure that he hadn’t feathered that ball to the ‘keeper. A team like Zimbabwe starts a Test match against a side like Pakistan, with all its stars and a lot of Test matches under its belt, at a disadvantage given that the gulf in class is evident and when such major decisions go against them, their cause turn to Mission Impossible.

Returning skipper, Brendan Taylor, given a reprieve when he was at 49, battled his way into the game after coming in at a trying time for his side and, once he got his half century, so much was expected from him to provide the anchor role.

But, once again, at a crucial time, fate was against the hosts as Taylor was dismissed for 51 when Davies, in yet another poor call, ruled that he had been trapped by Abdur Rehman by a ball that hit him outside the line.

It’s those little but very big decisions, which have gone against them, which have weighed so heavily against the hosts and one can go back to the first day of the first Test and freeze that moment when, with seven down and 200 looking a remote possibility, Saeed Ajmal was given a reprieve, having scored just two, when he had been trapped plump.

Of course, he went on to score 49 and, as they say, everything changed.
Taylor was brave yesterday, after winning the toss and deciding to bat, which was an adventurous move because, despite the dangers that batting in those morning conditions brought, it gave Zimbabwe the only realistic window they had of winning this Test.
Batting last, against Ajmal, was never going to get them anywhere.

Problem is that Mawoyo went without scoring, when he should never have been given out, and the Zimbabwe selectors got their permutations horribly wrong by somehow dropping Sikander Raza Butt when conventional wisdom should have pointed to the exclusion of Richmond Mutumbami.

Vusi Sibanda played like a good opener, weathering the storm and standing his ground, but when he had done all the hard work, he slipped into his One-Day International mode and the demons that make him such a slave of the pull shot, even when it’s not there to be hit, returned with fatal consequences as he dragged the ball onto his stumps.

Once again, Vusi had been set, once again Vusi had failed.
At least Hamilton Masakadza, who is now a leader in this team, and captain Taylor didn’t fail and their century partnership helped get Zimbabwe out of jail.

Masakadza was the top scorer for Zimbabwe with 75 off 169 that included nine fours and a six and was well supported by Taylor who weighed in with another half century that came off 128 deliveries.

The duo posted 110 runs before Masakadza was caught by Mohammad Hafeez in the slips after, for once yesterday, failing to read Ajamal’s doosra that kissed his bat on its way into the slips.

But Masakadza’s fall triggered the fall of a flurry of wickets but the batsman still felt they were right to bat first.
“It was the right decision given the pitch has already started to show signs of playing up so it will be difficult to bat on getting into day three and four of play so maybe the runs we have scored by close of play are good considering the condition of the pitch.

“There already are signs if we look at the way Elton (Chigumbira) was taken out, the ball kept low and there was nothing he could do about it.

“We would have loved to get about 250 but to some extent I am happy with where we are although I would have wanted us to have two or three more wickets in hand,” said Masakadza.