Zimbabwe won toss & batted: Brendan Taylor continued to be lucky with the toss on this tour, and decided to bat on a Kensington Oval pitch expected to aid the fast bowlers initially. Taylor hoped his batsmen could get through the first hour unscathed and then build a total.
An injury to Chris Mpofu meant a debut for medium-pacer Tendai Chatara, who would now share the new ball with Kyle Jarvis. It left Zimbabwe's seam attack looking rather thin, with two spinners, Ray Price and Graeme Cremer, in the XI.
West Indies went in with three specialist fast bowlers in Kemar Roach, Tino Best and Shannon Gabriel, whose only Test prior to this game was at Lord's against England in May 2012. Also playing his first Test since that England tour was offspinner Shane Shillingford, preferred over the left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul.
West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 7 Darren Sammy (capt), 8 Shane Shillingford, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Tino Best, 11 Shannon Gabriel
Zimbabwe: 1 Tino Mawoyo, 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt), 5 Craig Ervine, 6 Regis Chakabva (wk), 7 Malcolm Waller, 8 Kyle Jarvis, 9 Raymond Price, 10 Graeme Cremer, 11 Tendai Chatara
Lunch Zimbabwe 91 for 2 (Mawoyo 45*, Taylor 12*, Roach 2-27) v West Indies
For a side playing its first session of Test cricket in over a year, Zimbabwe did not do badly at all, but for West Indies to not have had a couple of wickets would have been gross injustice to searing pace bowling from Kemar Roach and Tino Best.
Lunch Zimbabwe 91 for 2 (Mawoyo 45*, Taylor 12*, Roach 2-27) v West Indies
For a side playing its first session of Test cricket in over a year, Zimbabwe did not do badly at all, but for West Indies to not have had a couple of wickets would have been gross injustice to searing pace bowling from Kemar Roach and Tino Best.
Having decided to bat, Zimbabwe were determined to get through the first hour unscathed. First ball of the match, Roach hit Tino Mawoyo on the chest with a short ball, showing immediately what an examination awaited Zimbabwe. To their credit, the visiting batsmen stuck to their task - to see off the initial burst from the new ball. They took blows, but did not attempt to hit out in retaliation, they were beaten but did not try to reply with loose drives. Tino Mawoyo showed there were runs to be reaped on the Kensington Oval pitch following the self-denial.
For the first ten overs, though, there wasn't much to be done apart from denying oneself and hoping for survival. Roach began with a barrage of short deliveries and soon started mixing his lengths, though he was a touch wide on occasion. Best, as always, held nothing back in terms of effort, and produced a chance as early as his second over, Darren Bravo putting down an outside edge off Vusi Sibanda in the slip cordon.
Sibanda was fortunate that time, but the last ball of Roach's fourth over proved too quick for him, and he had his leg stump uprooted through the gate.
With short deliveries popping up off the glove and length deliveries straightening past the outside edge, it seemed Zimbabwe were not far away from losing many more after Sibanda.
With short deliveries popping up off the glove and length deliveries straightening past the outside edge, it seemed Zimbabwe were not far away from losing many more after Sibanda.
Best was running in so hard he soon appeared to pull something, and sat on his haunches a couple of times during his fifth over. That didn't deter him from smacking Hamilton Masakadza on the back edge of his helmet.
That was to be the last of Best in the session, with the third specialist quick bowler Shannon Gabriel and the captain Darren Sammy taking over. While Gabriel was not lacking in pace in comparison to Best and Roach, he got next to no movement, and also offered width.
Sammy did what he does, settling on a good length outside off stump, but Zimbabwe were disciplined enough not to be tempted. It took Best, returning in the 21st over, to break the growing stand, although Marlon Samuels diving effort at gully deserved as much, if not more credit, for getting rid of Masakadza.
Sammy persisted with himself from the other end after the breakthrough, and it allowed Mawoyo and Brendan Taylor some breathing space. Mawoyo started opening up as lunch approached, driving confidently off the front foot and even slashing Roach over the slip cordon.
With the pitch showing signs of some inconsistent bounce, Zimbabwe will need the line-up to follow Mawoyo's example.
Tea Zimbabwe 162 for 6 (Chakabva 8*, Cremer 2*) v West Indies
For a side playing its first Test in over a year, Zimbabwe began promisingly in the morning against searing pace bowling but completely lost their way after lunch, a solid 100 for 2 turning into a precarious 162 for 6. Having battled hard against the onslaught from Kemar Roach and Tino Best, they came up short against the offspin of Shane Shillingford and even lost a wicket to the first ball from part-timer Marlon Samuels.
Roach and Best bowled with so much intensity they might have run through Zimbabwe by themselves on a luckier day. But, led by the plucky Tino Mawoyo, Zimbabwe took blows, got beaten, edged and stonewalled their way through the first hour before frittering away hard-earned starts.
With the pitch showing signs of some inconsistent bounce, Zimbabwe will need the line-up to follow Mawoyo's example.
Tea Zimbabwe 162 for 6 (Chakabva 8*, Cremer 2*) v West Indies
For a side playing its first Test in over a year, Zimbabwe began promisingly in the morning against searing pace bowling but completely lost their way after lunch, a solid 100 for 2 turning into a precarious 162 for 6. Having battled hard against the onslaught from Kemar Roach and Tino Best, they came up short against the offspin of Shane Shillingford and even lost a wicket to the first ball from part-timer Marlon Samuels.
Roach and Best bowled with so much intensity they might have run through Zimbabwe by themselves on a luckier day. But, led by the plucky Tino Mawoyo, Zimbabwe took blows, got beaten, edged and stonewalled their way through the first hour before frittering away hard-earned starts.
Mawoyo started the downfall soon after lunch when he lunged forward to defend a Shillingford offbreak that spun and bounced to take the inside edge onto pad and lob to short leg. Brendan Taylor tried to turn a Shannon Gabriel delivery with the angle to leg but it moved away late and flattened his off stump.
Minutes before tea, Craig Ervine pushed forward to a straight Samuels delivery and left a fatally big gap between bat and pad.
Zimbabwe had fared much better against a much sterner examination in the first session. First ball of the match, Roach hit Mawoyo on the chest with a short ball, showing immediately what awaited Zimbabwe. However, Mawoyo showed there were runs to be reaped on the Kensington Oval pitch following self-denial.
Zimbabwe had fared much better against a much sterner examination in the first session. First ball of the match, Roach hit Mawoyo on the chest with a short ball, showing immediately what awaited Zimbabwe. However, Mawoyo showed there were runs to be reaped on the Kensington Oval pitch following self-denial.
For the first ten overs, though, there wasn't much to be done apart from denying oneself, playing with soft hands and hoping for survival. There was movement in the air, but most of it only gave the wicketkeeper a rough time. There was some seam movement, but it was sheer, raw pace and testing lines and lengths that bothered Zimbabwe. Roach began with a barrage of short deliveries and soon started mixing his lengths, though he was a touch wide on occasion. Best, as always, held nothing back in terms of effort, and produced a chance as early as his second over, Darren Bravo putting down an outside edge off Vusi Sibanda in the slip cordon.
Sibanda was fortunate that time, but the last ball of Roach's fourth over proved too quick for him, and he had his leg stump uprooted through the gate. With short deliveries popping up off the glove and length deliveries straightening past the outside edge, it seemed Zimbabwe were not far away from losing many more after Sibanda.
Best was running in so hard he soon appeared to pull something, and sat on his haunches a couple of times during his fifth over. That didn't deter him from smacking Hamilton Masakadza on the back edge of his helmet.
That was to be the last of Best in the session, with the third specialist quick bowler Gabriel and the captain Darren Sammy taking over. While Gabriel was not lacking in pace in comparison to Best and Roach, he got next to no movement, and also offered width.
Sammy did what he does, settling on a good length outside off stump, but Zimbabwe were disciplined enough not to be tempted. It took Best, returning in the 21st over, to break the growing second-wicket stand, although Samuels' diving effort at gully deserved as much, if not more credit, for getting rid of Masakadza.
Sammy persisted with himself from the other end after the breakthrough, and it allowed Mawoyo and Taylor some breathing space. Mawoyo started opening up as lunch approached, driving confidently off the front foot and even slashing Roach over the slip cordon.
Shillingford found bounce right away, and in his second over after lunch, took out Mawoyo. Gabriel hadn't been able to get the new ball to do much, but started getting some reverse as it got older, and surprised Taylor in the first over of his second spell.
Malcolm Waller never looked comfortable and was beaten repeatedly by Gabriel before being given leg-before trying to paddle Shillingford. On referral, replays suggested an underedge had hit the pad and the keeper's pad to pop up to leg slip, but in the absence of Hot Spot, the lbw decision was upheld with the ball tracker showing leg stump would have taken a hit.
Zimbabwe should have lost another one just before tea, had Best not dropped a skier at mid-off after Regis Chakabva heaved at Shillingford.
Zimbabwe 211 (Mawoyo 50, Samuels 4-13) v West Indies
Chakabva and Cremer hung around for a while, before Samuels ran through the lower order.
West Indies 18 for 2 (Jarvis 2-9) trail Zimbabwe 211 (Mawoyo 50, Samuels 4-13) by 193 runs
Chakabva and Cremer hung around for a while, before Samuels ran through the lower order to take his best figures in international cricket. Zimbabwe had two specialist spinners in their XI, and Samuels' and Shillingford's showing would have given them hope of containing West Indies.
Zimbabwe 211 (Mawoyo 50, Samuels 4-13) v West Indies
Chakabva and Cremer hung around for a while, before Samuels ran through the lower order.
West Indies 18 for 2 (Jarvis 2-9) trail Zimbabwe 211 (Mawoyo 50, Samuels 4-13) by 193 runs
Chakabva and Cremer hung around for a while, before Samuels ran through the lower order to take his best figures in international cricket. Zimbabwe had two specialist spinners in their XI, and Samuels' and Shillingford's showing would have given them hope of containing West Indies.
It was the pace and swing of Kyle Jarvis, though, that gave them a couple of early wickets. West Indies had 11 overs to get through.
Chris Gayle and Kieran Powell had nearly got through seven of them without any alarms before Jarvis moved one in to catch Powell in front of leg, and the batsman had to walk back after a failed review.
That was to have been the last ball of the over, but Jarvis was allowed to bowl a seventh, and trapped nightwatchman Roach plumb in front with a full, away-swinging delivery. After not making Gayle and Powell play much, Jarvis had suddenly found the right line. Zimbabwe would want more of that on day two.
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