West Indies batsman Daren Ganga cuts the ball watched by Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu on the third day of the first Test at the Harare Sports Club yesterday. - Reuters HARARE, Zimbabwe, CMC:
DESPITE HALF-CENTURIES from Wavell Hinds and Daren Ganga, the West Indies faced an uphill battle to avoid the follow-on and, possibly, defeat against Zimbabwe after three days of the opening Test yesterday.
Hinds hit the top score of 79 and Ganga scored 73 as the West Indies batting struggled against disciplined, if not menacing bowling to reach 241 for six, in reply to Zimbabwe's first innings total of 507 for nine declared, when bad light stopped cricket with 22 overs to be bowled. The visitors need a further 67 to avoid the follow-on.
Raymond Price inflicted the most damage with his tidy, but hardly perplexing left-arm spin bowling to capture three wickets for 39 runs from 18 overs. All of the other bowlers gave admirable support, but Blessing Mahwire with two for 60 from 18 overs stood out.
LITTLE SUBSTANCE OR STABILITY
Hinds found the boundary 14 times in his 95-ball innings and Ganga hit the same number of fours in his 141-ball stay. The two shared a 77-run stand for the second wicket, but either side of them there was little substance or stability.
After a freak accident that left a deep indentation on the surface of the pitch and delayed the start by two hours, Hinds and fellow left-hander Chris Gayle helped West Indies to positively push off from their overnight total of 11 without loss.
As the pitch was being rolled before the start of play, a practice ball was hit under the roller and left a deep hole just short of a length to a left-hander at the City End of the ground.
The rehabilitation work seemed to have been expertly completed because the two West Indies opening batsmen batted with enterprise to share 50 for the opening stand before Gayle was adjudged lbw to Heath Streak, the Zimbabwe captain, for 14.
Hinds and Ganga were brought together. Their contrasting styles of batting ensured further solidity at the top of the order. They carried West Indies to 109 for one at lunch with Hinds already past the landmark 50.
The left-hander was in complete control of the Zimbabwe bowling. He was smashing the ball to all parts of the ground at will and looked set for a fifth Test hundred, when he recklessly tried to pull Mahwire through the leg-side and hit a badly-timed shot to the mid-on fielder.
West Indies captain Brian Lara entered and appeared business-like when he played one of his trademark cover-drives off Price to get off the mark. He was gradually growing in confidence and seemed to be catching the form that had eluded him in club cricket in Barbados and the Red Stripe Bowl.
Advancing down the pitch to Price however, he tried to clear the straight boundary and was caught inside the long-on boundary for 29 after adding 52 for the third wicket with Ganga to leave West Indies 179 for three.
WI BATTING WILL CRUMBLE
Most teams believe that once Lara has been removed, the rest of the West Indies batting will crumble. This level of optimism was clearly reflected in the mood of the Zimbabweans and they sought to press home their advantage after Ganga, who completed his half-century, and Sarwan carried the tourists to 205 for three at tea.
After the break, Sarwan and Ganga were dismissed in the space of 10 balls to send tremors through West Indies at 215 for five and, so too, Ridley Jacobs to leave West Indies in a desperate position.
Sarwan was adjudged lbw to Price for nine playing back, instead of forward, to a slightly flatter and faster straight ball, and Ganga was bowled when he inadvertently deflected a delivery from Mahwire into his stumps after it came off the bottom edge, bounced up off the pitch and hit his arm-guard.
In the past, the West Indies plight would have brought out the best from Jacobs. But spin bowling has often been his bugbear and he was finally put out of his misery just before the close when he was caught at silly point off Price for five, a decision to which he showed some objection.
