Sean Williams fights solo as Chevrons follow on

Brandon Moyo, Zimpapers Sports Hub 

HOMETOWN hero Sean Williams was once again the pick of the Zimbabwean batters, as he put in a brilliant solo batting show in the Chevrons’ first innings with the bat against South Africa on day two, at Queens Sports Club. 

Williams, who was battling a fever from last hour of day one and did not field the morning session came in to put a brilliant batting show. 

Williams reportedly got out of bed to bat and played a courageous display with the bat.

The veteran was left stranded on a masterful 83 runs not out off just 55 balls as Zimbabwe were bowled out for a paltry 170 runs, trailing by 456 runs. 

He scored 49 percent of Zimbabwe’s overall total in the second innings. It was his seventh Test half century. 

At stumps at the end of the day, Zimbabwe’s top order managed to see out the remaining overs, finishing on 51/1. 

It was a relief for the hosts as Takudzwanashe Kaitano was dropped in the first ball he faced in the follow on. 

Zimbabwe are trailing by 405 runs. 

“It’s about being positive, looking to score. As we have seen, the wicket is still playing really good, there are still runs out there. There are no demons in the wicket, there are a lot of runs that are yet to be scored on that surface. If you bat for a much longer extended period of time you will get the rewards for it. We had a few soft dismissals in the first innings and hopefully it’s something we can rectify in the second innings,” said Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine. 

He added that Williams has not yet fully recovered. 

South Africa’s captain Wiaan Mulder, touched on the decision to declare while he was nearing Brian Lara’s long standing record. 

“The first point of it all was to get the main thing, which was to win the Test match. I felt like we were on a good position to do that, I didn’t have to bat any longer. Also, respecting the game is really important…Brian Lara to keep his record, he’s one of the greatest to ever play the game. He deserves that; and we are still in a great position to win the game,” said Mulder. 

Day two started with South Africa batting on 465/4. 

The record breaking captain Mulder was in the middle with Dewald Brevis. 

Mulder was on 264 at the resumption of play and ended the innings on a record 367 runs off 334 deliveries as the Proteas declared their innings at lunch. 

Mulder now holds the highest Test score by a South African batter, surpassing Hashim Amla’s 311 not out and also has the highest score by a batter on their first innings as a captain. 

Kaitano and Dion Myers opened the batting for the Chevrons and the former fell without troubling the scorers. 

He was caught behind for a golden duck with the first ball of the innings. The wicket brought Nick Welch into the middle. 

In the second over, Zimbabwe lost another wicket with Myers caught behind for one run after facing six deliveries.

The next victim was Welch, caught for 10 runs, leaving Zimbabwe struggling on 15/3. 

There was a 36 run fourth wicket partnership between Craig Ervine and Wessly Madhevere before the skipper departed for 17 runs off 30 balls, leaving the Chevrons on 51/4.

Zimbabwe could only add five more runs to the board before Madhevere fell for 25 runs in the 19th over. 

Tafadzwa Tsiga fell for 12 runs in the 24th over with Zimbabwe now on 82/6. 

The home side went to the tea break on 88/6 trailing by 538 runs with Williams on 18 runs from 12 balls and Wellington Masakadza on two runs from nine deliveries. 

Masakadza was caught after tea for three runs in the 31st over and two overs later, Williams brought up his 50 off 32 balls. 

In that same over, Kundai Matigimu was bowled for a seven ball duck with Zimbabwe on 121/8. In the 37th over, Blessing Muzarabani departed for five runs off 14 deliveries. 

The last wicket to fall was Tanaka Chivanga on 10 runs at the end of the 43rd over. 

This left Williams on 83 runs not out, a brilliantly batted half century. 

Prenelan Subrayen was the pick of the Proteas bowlers with figures of 4/42 in 10 overs while Codi Yusuf and Mulder picked up two scalps apiece. Corbin Bosch and Senuran Muthusamy took one wicket each. 

After South Africa enforced the follow-on, Zimbabwe had a 31-run opening wicket partnership. Myers was bowled for 11 runs off 28 balls towards the end of the day’s play. 

At stumps, Kaitano was on 34 runs off 51 deliveries, batting with Welch on six runs off 17 balls. 

Play resumes at 10am for day three.