Raza and Moor keep Zimbabwe afloat

Peter Moor and Sikandar Raza battled hard to keep Zimbabwe alive, but only just, on the fourth day of the second and final Test against Windies at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Wednesday (November 1), taking their side to 140 for 4 at close of play, 18 runs in front.

Moor and Raza, both half-centurions in Zimbabwe’s first-innings effort of 326, came together at 46 for 4 in the second innings and stitched together an unbroken stand of 94 to keep the rampaging Windies bowlers at bay.

Moor had scored 52 in the first innings while Raza had hit 80, the latter following up his good show with the bat with a maiden Test match five-for in the Windies first innings.

Raza’s haul of 5 for 99 had left Windies, who lead the series 1-0, at 230 for 7 and in danger of conceding a fist-innings lead, but centuries from Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder helped the team get to 448 for a crucial 122-run advantage.

Zimbabwe, which has lost its last 11 Test matches, would have fancied its chances midway through the third day after Raza had bamboozled the Windies batsmen, but a 212-run stand between Dowrich and Holder – a record for the eighth wicket for Windies – changed the script completely.

Dowrich’s 103, scored off 232 balls with 10 fours and a six, was his first three-figure score in Test cricket, while Holder scored his second century, a 198-ball 110 with nine fours and two sixes. The Windies captain was lucky too, surviving a close lbw shout when on 11 and then being let off by Regis Chakabva, the wicket-keeper, off Graeme Cremer, the Zimbabwe captain, when on 78.

Once the two were dismissed, Dowrich first and then Holder, both by Tendai Chisoro, the debutant left-arm spinner, the innings got over quickly.

When Zimbabwe began its second innings, much later than it would have expected when Windies was seven down, Kemar Roach hit paydirt straightaway. Roach first had Hamilton Masakadza, who had scored 147 in the first innings, bowled for five, and then sent back Solomon Mire lbw for a duck.

That left Zimbabwe at 8 for 2 by lunch, and after the break, Shannon Gabriel accounted for Brendan Taylor first and Devendra Bishoo sent back Craig Ervine soon after to leave Zimbabwe gasping for breath.

But Raza’s unbeaten 58, scored off 137 balls with five fours and a six, and Moor’s 152-ball 39 not out with two boundaries ensured that the match went into the final day with Zimbabwe hoping for at least a draw.