Vusumuzi Dube
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
WEST Indies opening batters, Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul put up an unbeaten century opening stand on the rain disrupted opening day of the first Test against Zimbabwe at Queens
Sports Club in Bulawayo before play was brought to a premature end.
The two batters scored 55 runs each as Windies finished day one on 112-0 in 51 after winning the toss and opting to bat first. Rain forced players and umpires off the field just before the tea break and play never resumed with 39 overs washed out. Brathwaite got his runs off 138 deliveries while Chanderpaul faced up to 170 balls.
At lunch, the Windies were on 54 runs and came back to add on 58 more in the second session of the match before play was called off. Persistent rains saw day one brought to a close with a session to go.
Covers were removed at some point after nature had taken a break but were immediately put back on while the umpires were conducting a pitch inspection. For the Chevrons, none of the bowlers managed to make a breakthrough in the 51 overs bowled despite some good bowling. Fast bowler Richard Ngarava bowled nine overs giving away 23 runs while in 15 overs, Victor Nyauchi conceded 27 runs.
Debutant Bradley Evans conceded 31 runs in 11 overs. The spinning pair of Wellington Masakadza and Brandon Mavuta gave away 13 and 18 runs in nine and seven runs respectively as the Zimbabwean bowlers tried to make the much needed breakthrough. Play resumes today for the second with an early start to try and recover the overs lost yesterday.
Zimbabwe bowling coach, Steve Kirby said he was pleased with how his charges bowled as a unit in a good five day match surface, keeping their opponents at just two runs an over.
“We kept the pressure on and all credit to the West Indies. I think they batted really nicely, they left the ball really well outside off stump. To keep them to two an over on that surface which is a very good surface for Test match cricket, I am really pleased with the way we went about our business, on a different day we could have about two or three wickets so I am very pleased,” said Kirby.
He added that today will be a big day and they will have to come back strong and keep on piling pressure on their opponents and improving in some areas.
Zimbabwe fielded four debutants, Innocent Kaia, Tanunurwa Makoni, wicketkeeper Tafadzwa Tsiga, pace bowler Evans while Gary Balance, with 23 Test appearances for England also made his debut for the country of his birth.
In other cricket news in the 2022/23 Logan Cup competition, a second first class century from Clive Madande took Tuskers to 294 all out in their first innings against Mega Market Mountaineers at Harare Sports Club. Madande scored 121 runs not out while Nkosana Mpofu fell five runs short of a half century on 45 runs.
At stumps, Mountaineers were on 208-6, trailing by 86 runs. Brian Bennett scored 56 runs while Tony Munyonga fell for a patiently batted 43 runs off 100 deliveries. Ernest Masuku and Hamidullah Qadri took two wickets each for the Bulawayo based side.
In the other match between Southern Rocks and Eagles, the former ended the day batting on 94-2 trailing by 22 runs in the second innings. Rocks scored 114 all out in the first innings while their opponents, Eagles scored 228 all out.
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Online Reporter