West Indies captain Brian Lara (centre) poses with teammates Fidel Edwards (left) and Jerome Taylor (right) and the Clive Lloyd trophy after beating hosts Zimbabwe by 128 runs to win the second test of the two test series at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, yesterday. - Reuters File Photos BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, CMC:
THE WEST Indies completed a 128-run triumph over Zimbabwe in the second and final cricket Test yesterday to take the two-Test series 1-0. The visitors needed only 35 minutes on the fifth and final day at the Queens Sports Club to bowl out Zim-babwe for 104 in their second in-nings, after the hosts were set 233 for victory and crashed to 90 for nine the previous evening.
The opening Test at Harare had 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.
For several reasons, the second Test would be memorable to West Indies captain Brian Lara.
It was his first victory in an overseas Test as West Indies captain and he scored his 22nd Test hundred, a stroke-filled 191, that won him the Man-of-the-Match award and made him the leading scorer for West Indies in Tests with 8,625, surpassing Sir Vivian Richards' aggregate.
"It was a good workout for us going into the series against South Africa," Lara said in the post-match interview.
"A lot of people will say that Zimbabwe are one of the minnows of world cricket, but I thought they played 10 days of Test cricket against us and were very determined."
Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak, whose undefeated 33 was the top score, and batting bunny Blessing Mahwire survived seven overs before Mahwire was bowled by Dillon for four to formalise the result.
"It's disappointing to lose like this, especially after having bowled very well to get ourselves back into the match," Streak said.
"They bowled superbly and Brian Lara's innings set it up for them. But we are looking forward to a competitive one-day international series."
The first one-day international of five between the two teams, starts on Saturday at Bulawayo.
