Zimbabwe 237 for 8 (Masakadza 75, Taylor 51, Junaid 3-55) v Pakistan
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Zimbabwe allowed Pakistan to claw back into the match in the third
session of the second Test in Harare after keeping the bowlers at bay
for two-thirds of the day. The hosts had survived a treacherous morning
session with only the loss of their openers before half-centuries from
their senior batsmen, Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor, took them to 165 for 3 at tea. However, five wickets in the final session undermined the earlier good work.
Junaid Khan provided the first of the five breakthroughs when he had
Malcolm Waller caught behind soon after tea, but it was Abdur Rehman who
made the crucial dismissal when he trapped Taylor lbw while on the
sweep. Taylor, who had been dropped at mid-off by Rahat Ali in Rehman's
previous over, was a touch unlucky though as the ball hit him marginally
outside the line of off stump.
But there wasn't much resistance from Elton Chigumbura and Richmond
Mutumbami, the last of the recognised batsmen, and Zimbabwe's innings
was caught in the downward spiral. Tinashe Panyangara and Prosper Utseya
scored useful runs against the resurgent bowling and survived long
enough to ensure the team will come out to bat on the second morning.
The pitch, which was thought to be under-prepared, mostly stayed true on
the first day. The final score could be much less than what seemed
possible at one stage, but with the nature of the pitch still unknown,
it could be a good first-innings total.
For Zimbabwe though, apart from Masakadza and Taylor, none of the
batsmen were able to apply themselves against Pakistan's tenacious
bowling. Masakadza and Taylor had come together at the dismissal of Vusi
Sibanda with the score on 31, but added 110 to settle the nerves after
initial jitters. The century partnership between the two was a story of
two halves: the first dominated by Masakadza and the second by Taylor.
In the initial phase, Masakadza looked to score freely while Taylor
soaked up the deliveries. He stayed back against the spinners, but was
quick to pounce on anything tossed up, preferring to hit over the
infield. One such shot took him to his first half-century against
Pakistan. Two overs later, he punched a quicker one to the cover
boundary to bring up the fifty of the partnership, with Taylor scoring
only 7.
In the next half though, Taylor assumed the role of the aggressor,
announcing his intentions with aerial boundaries off Saeed Ajmal and
Rehman. The run-rate hovered around 2.5, but when the opportunities
came, Taylor made sure he was ready. He reverse-swept an Ajmal doosra,
then creamed a full delivery from Rahat Ali to the cover boundary. When
the partnership reached 100, Taylor had taken over the scoring, with 32
runs in the second fifty.
The free-scoring came after the batsmen had warded off the threat from
Pakistan's seamers in the first session when the ball was darting
around. Zimbabwe lost their first wicket off the second delivery of the
day and only two runs were scored in the first 40 minutes.
The first over, bowled by Junaid, was almost unplayable and accounted
for the wicket of Tino Mawoyo as the batsman was squared up by one that
cut across him. The umpire was convinced the ball had taken the edge
after the Pakistan team went up in a loud appeal. Replays showed that
the ball might have hit the thigh pad along the way and not the bat, but
Mawoyo, who has had a poor run of scores opening in Tests, had to go.
Rahat started in the same vein from the other end and with plenty of
movement on offer, kept the batsmen guessing, as ball after ball, the
batsmen played and missed. He bowled a slightly fuller length and a
wider line than Junaid, and induced as many errors, but earned the
wicket of Sibanda with a short one. He came back to pick another wicket
towards the end of the day with the new ball.
Devashish Fuloria is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Devashish Fuloria
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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