West Indies bowler Corey Collymore (left) is pursued by teammates while celebrating his dismissal of Zimbabwe batsman Tatenda Taibu lbw for one run on the fourth day of the second Test at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday. The West Indies scored a second innings total of 128 runs to leave hosts Zimbabwe 233
runs to win. - Reuters
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, CMC:
THE WEST Indies crushed any hopes Zimbabwe held of a remarkable, come-from-behind win in their hard-fought, second and final Test yesterday, with purposeful bowling.
Dismissed for a modest 128 in their second innings to set opponents, that had batted defiantly on the three previous occasions in the series, the small matter of 233 for victory, West Indies rebounded from their calamitous batting performance to send Zimbabwe crashing to 90 for nine when bad light stopped play 12 overs early.
A total of 18 wickets tumbled on a sensational, penultimate day on a worn Queens Sports Club pitch to leave West Indies on the verge of winning the series after the first Test at Harare ended in a nail-biting draw when West Indies, set 373 to win, were nine wickets down and had to rely on Ridley Jacobs and Fidel Edwards to bat them to safety.
CONSISTENT LINE
Inexplicably, the West Indies bowlers all seemed to have found the consistent line and length around the off-stump that eluded them in the previous three innings of the series and it paid great dividends.
Off-spinner Omari Banks captured three wickets for 35 runs from 15 overs to be the pick of the West Indies bowlers. Corey Collymore with two for 19 from 11 overs and Wavell Hinds (two for 20 from nine overs) gave essential support.
The impatient Zimbabweans, anxious to sniff victory for the first time in a Test against the West Indies and against any side for that matter for more than two years, carelessly surrendered their wickets to give the visitors the ascendancy in the final period of play.
Before the tea break, opening batsman Vusimuzi Sibanda, not surprisinly, was caught at first slip for nought, edging the fourth ball of the innings playing defensively forward to Dillon.
A stand of 32 between opening batsman Trevor Gripper and Mark Vermeulen, a century-maker in the first innings, stalled West Indies for just over an hour. But Hinds had Vermeulen bowled off the inside edge for 24 and Banks had Gripper caught at forward short leg for eight to leave Zimbabwe 33 for three at the break.
After tea, the drama really began to unfold. After a flurry from Stuart Carlisle and Craig Wishart, in particular, the West Indies through Hinds and Banks applied the brakes to the scoring.
As the Zimbabwe batsmen tried to free the shackles, this produced the most decisive period in the match. Six wickets tumbled in the space of 12 overs to see the home team subside to 75 for nine and effectively give up the ghost.
Wishart was caught behind off Hinds for 13 soon after the break and, two overs later, Carlisle was caught behind for nine off Banks playing defensively forward to leave Zimbabwe 56 for five.
MATSIKENYERI'S RUN OUT
Fidel Edwards had been off the field nursing his leg injury for the first 1 1/2 hours of the Zimbabwe innings. He was not available to West Indies captain Brian Lara to bowl, but his throw from cover to 'keeper Ridley Jacobs accounted for the run out of Stuart Matsikenyeri for five.
Two overs later, Andy Blignaut, promoted in the order, was lbw to Banks' arm ball for three and, three overs later, Tatenda Taibu was also plumb lbw to an inswinging delivery from Corey Collymore for one. Zimbabwe were 67 for eight.
Raymond Price had earlier claimed four wickets for 36 runs from 21 overs with his left-arm spin to end the series with 19 wickets and might have expected to be celebrating his team's victory. Instead, he found himself in the thick of things and when Collymore bowled him for four, he and Zimbabwe knew that the end was near.
Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak and Blessing Mahwire, along with the cloudy skies ensured that West Indies would have to wait until the final day to complete victory. But it did not look that way when Price, Streak and Blignaut were busy scything through the visitors' batting.
West Indies resumed their second innings from the overnight position of 13 for one. Outside of Wavell Hinds' top score of 28 and Dillon's 27 not out, there was little substance from rest of the batting.
The biggest stand of the innings was the most crucial, 45 between Dillon and Banks for the eighth wicket either side of tea that helped to push the West Indies lead over the desirable 200-run.
Hinds and vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan added 30 for the fourth wicket, and Jacobs and fellow left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul shared 31 or the sixth wicket to also help beef up the lead.
Blignaut took three for 29 from 14.4 overs and Streak bagged three wickets for 39 runs from 15 overs.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies first innings 481
Zimbabwe first innings 377
West Indies second innings
(Resumed at 13-1)
W. Hinds c Carlisle b Price 28
D. Ganga c Carlisle b Blignaut 8
B. Lara b Streak 1
R. Sarwan c Wishart b Blignaut 9
S. Chanderpaul lbw Streak 15
R. Jacobs c Blignaut b Price 10
O. Banks c Vermeulen b Price 16
M. Dillon not out 27
C. Collymore b Price 0
F. Edwards b Blignaut 0
Extras: (5b, 3lb, 2nb, 4w) 14
TOTAL: 128
Fall: 1-0, 2-17, 3-21, 4-51, 5-51, 6-82, 7-82, 8-127, 9-127.
Bowling: Heath Streak 15-2-39-3 (1w), Andy Blignaut 14.4-6-29-3, Blessing Mahwire 2-0-16-0 (3w, 2nb), Ray Price 21-7-36-4.
Zimbabwe second innings
V. Sibanda c Lara b Dillon 0
T. Gripper c Ganga b Banks 8
M. Vermeulen b Hinds 24
S. Carlisle c Jacobs b Banks 9
C. Wishart c Jacobs b Hinds 13
A. Blignaut lbw Banks 3
S. Matsikenyeri run out 5
T. Taibu lbw Collymore 1
H. Streak not out 19
R. Price b Collymore 4
B. Mahwire not out 4
Extras: 0
TOTAL: (for nine wkts) 90
Fall: 1-0, 2-32, 3-33, 4-54, 5-56, 6-62, 7-63, 8-67, 9-75.
Bowling: Mervyn Dillon 4-0-13-1, Corey Collymore 11-5-19-2, Wavell Hinds 9-2-20-2, Omari Banks 15-2-35-3, Ramnaresh Sarwan 2-1-3-0.
