Late bursts leave Zimbabwe reeling in chase

Kane Williamson (68 not out) and Ross Taylor (67 not out) scored aggressive half centuries as New Zealand declared their second innings on 166 for 2, challenging Zimbabwe to a target of 387 runs to win at the Queen's Sports Club in Bulawayo on Tuesday (August 9).

In reply, Zimbabwe managed to reach Stumps at 58 for 3 on Day Four of the second Test, with nightwatchman Donald Tiripano unbeaten at the crease. Chamu Chibhabha and Mawoyo scored at a steady pace, unlike their stand in the first essay. The partnership was aided by a dropped catch from Martin Guptill when Chibhabha was yet to get off the mark.

However, soon after putting on their second half century-stand of the match, Chibhabha ended up edging a delivery to the slip region and Guptill made amends by grasping the ball with a superb diving effort.

The chase was further derailed as they lost two wickets off the last three balls of the day, with Mawoyo and Sikandar Raza heading back to the pavilion. Trent Boult managed to get the ball to swing late after pitching it full. Mawoyo was trapped in from of the wicket as he shuffled across the crease while looking to play the ball through the leg side.

To make matters worse, Raza, who had a laborious stay at the crease for 16 balls without scoring a run, was done in by a Tim Southee delivery which tailed in off the seam and had the batsman plumb in front of the wicket to leave Zimbabwe reeling in the chase.

After three dull days of cricket - where two, two and six wickets fell respectively - the fourth day provided for a more exciting contest, turning a clash that was heading towards a dull draw into a possibly result-oriented encounter. The leading reasons for it were obvious - a more aggressive approach by both the sides, a partly-bold declaration by New Zealand and more wickets falling.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand had lesser difficulty in destroying the Zimbabwean lower order. Skipper Graeme Cremer, who resumed the innings with centurion Craig Ervine, was trapped leg before wicket by Trent Boult's full length delivery that swung in while the batsman shuffled across the crease.

The start was slow with Cremer and Ervine playing out five maiden overs before the first run of the day was scored. Ervine opened the scoring for the day with a cut cracked through the gap between point and gully for a boundary. However, the duo could only add 14 runs, before Cremer was dismissed.

Donald Tiripano and John Nyumbu hung around for a bit, but couldn't add much to the scoreboard. While the former was unlucky to be given out off a ball that pitched outside the leg stump line, the latter played an ugly pull off Ish Sodhi and ended up skying the ball to Mitchell Santner.

Zimbabwe's resistance didn't last long on the final day as Ervine's fine innings came to an end when he failed to misread Sodhi's googly and in his bid to hit the legspinner out of the park, ended up getting an outside edge which BJ Watling pouched comfortably behind the stumps. With his 146-run knock coming to an end, Zimbabwe's first innings folded up for 362 - 220 runs behind New Zealand's first innings total of 582.

However, having been on the field for close to five sessions, New Zealand decided to not enforce the follow on. The decision made one thing obvious, that the visitors were looking for some quick runs in the second session of play.

And so they did. However, Guptill and Tom Latham departed soon after Lunch, off successive overs. Five balls after Tiripano managed to get the latter to edge the ball to the wicketkeeper, Michael Chinouya bowled short and wide as Guptill slashed at it straight to John Nyumbu at point.

The fall of two wickets in quick succession also pumped up Zimbabwe to change their approach to becoming more aggressive, an approach that had been defensive for most parts of the second innings. The seamers bowled with more pace and got the ball to bounce a bit more off the wicket. With the ball coming slightly faster on to the bat, it allowed Williamson and Taylor to set in faster to the pace of the wicket, and score freely.

They put on an unbeaten 140-run stand for the third wicket, before New Zealand declared their innings soon after Tea.

Given the way Zimbabwe have approached the contest in the match so far, it is highly unlikely that they will attempt to overhaul the remaining 329 runs on the final day, with seven wickets in hand.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 582/4 (Tom Latham 136, Ross Taylor 124*, Kane Williamson 113) & 166/2 (Kane Williamson 68*, Ross Taylor 67*) lead Zimbabwe 362 (Craig Ervine 146, Peter Moor 71; Ish Sodhi 4-60) & 58/3 (Tino Mawoyo 35) by 328 runs.