West Indies claimed the first session of the second and final Test, striking thrice after Zimbabwe had raced away to 42 for 0 following Darren Sammy's decision to bowl on a flat looking pitch. The way Vusi Sibanda began, Zimbabwe had the opportunity to make the most of decent batting conditions, but when you hit a full toss straight to mid-on, conditions cease to matter. The way Hamilton Masakdza was worked over by Shane Shillingford in his opening over, though, the threat of the offspinner must matter even more to Brendan Taylor and his men.
The beginning couldn't have been any more different from how the rest of the session panned out. Early morning rain had forced a 30-minute delayed start, and armed with three specialist quick bowlers, Sammy had hoped to use the moisture in the surface. He must have been horrified with what followed. Kemar Roach and Tino Best were either too short or too full, and Sibanda tore into them with six fours.
Roach was punished for three successive boundaries in the fifth over, a classy front-foot cover drive, an emphatic back-foot punch through point and a hopping upper slash over the slip cordon.
There was no swing or seam in that initial period and the openers defended effort deliveries without any bother. There would have been a few who would have already started to doubt if West Indies had made the correct decision, especially given the expected assistance to spin later on.
All that changed as soon as Shannon Gabriel came on in the ninth over and immediately settled on a good length. There was swing to be had, as Tino Best had shown in the previous over when he finally found that length. Gabriel beat Tino Mawoyo a couple of times with away going deliveries. The last ball of the over nipped in from a good length, Mawoyo shouldered arms, and lost his off stump.
In Gabriel's next over, Zimbabwe went from misjudgment to downright casual. After smacking a low full toss into Shillingford's wrist at square leg, Sibanda went after another such delivery, and drove it to a tumbling Roach at wide mid-on. Yet another promising Sibanda innings had been cut short in the thirties.
The runs now completely dried up for a while. Gabriel's figures read 4-4-0-2 before an inside edge off a nervy Taylor's bat flew to the fine leg boundary.
In the 19th over came on the man who had taken nine wickets in the Barbados Test. Shillingford needed six deliveries to pick up his tenth of the series. The second ball he faced from the offspinner, Masakadza charged out and had a blind heave, only to escape as the skier shot over slip. Undaunted, Masakadza backed away to cut the fifth ball. It spun in so sharply he had to stab it to midwicket. The sixth one was the sucker, a flighted doosra, which Masakadza tried to turn to leg like a normal offbreak, and was bowled.
At 64 for 3, Zimbabwe were staring at another collapse but Taylor, seeming determined to make up for his dismal tour, fought back. He inside-edged, was stuck on the crease initially, but took on Shillingford, sweeping along the ground for a couple of fours, the second one coming after a man had been placed in the deep for the stroke.
Shillingford went on to beat the left-hand Craig Ervine a few times outside off stump, but Zimbabwe managed to get through to lunch without stumbling further.
1st Innings Zimbabwe 175 (Shillingford 5-59, Samuels 3-15) v West Indies
Zimbabwe had lost 13 wickets to spin in Barbados. Roseau was supposed to help the slow bowlers even more, and Zimbabwe were expected to have a tough time. By tea on day one, the West Indies spinners had already pocketed five wickets, four of them in the second session, and Zimbabwe had collapsed after starting at frenetic pace.
Again, just like in Barbados, none of the batsmen fell to unplayable deliveries, although there were several of them jumping and kicking around, rather surprising for a day one surface, especially a non-subcontinent one. Instead, it was plain impatience and inability, a dangerous combination, that led to Zimbabwe falling apart.
1st Innings Zimbabwe 175 (Shillingford 5-59, Samuels 3-15) v West Indies
Zimbabwe had lost 13 wickets to spin in Barbados. Roseau was supposed to help the slow bowlers even more, and Zimbabwe were expected to have a tough time. By tea on day one, the West Indies spinners had already pocketed five wickets, four of them in the second session, and Zimbabwe had collapsed after starting at frenetic pace.
Again, just like in Barbados, none of the batsmen fell to unplayable deliveries, although there were several of them jumping and kicking around, rather surprising for a day one surface, especially a non-subcontinent one. Instead, it was plain impatience and inability, a dangerous combination, that led to Zimbabwe falling apart.
Admittedly, there was generous help for the slow bowlers. The first delivery Shane Shillingford bowled spun in sharply from outside off to hit Brendan Taylor on the flap of the pad outside leg, as early as the 19th over. When so much is happening for the bowler, you don't go about reverse-sweeping them, especially when your concentration might not be at its keenest soon after the lunch break. Which is what Taylor attempted against Shillingford, missed, the ball bouncing into his chin and rolling onto the stumps after brushing his forearm.
You could argue it was an unfortunate dismissal to continue a horror tour for the Zimbabwe captain. But when Taylor was sweeping as well as he did in conventional fashion, reversing the stroke wasn't exactly judicious shot selection.
You could argue it was an unfortunate dismissal to continue a horror tour for the Zimbabwe captain. But when Taylor was sweeping as well as he did in conventional fashion, reversing the stroke wasn't exactly judicious shot selection.
Malcolm Waller did worse than his captain, having a slog at Shillingford in the penultimate over before tea to hole out to deep midwicket.
Sean Williams battled in his debut Test, defending resolutely, playing late, keeping them down with soft hands and shaking his head in helplessness when beaten by the regular rippers. Craig Ervine fought as well, but both batsmen ended up falling to the offspin of Marlon Samuels, who, with seven wickets in two innings this series, might take offence to being labelled a part-timer.
There was absolutely no resistance from the tail, and when Tendai Chatara shouldered arms and crouched in the path of a Shillingford delivery on middle stump, the offspinner had successive five-fors, after his 6 for 51 in the second innings in Barbados.
There was absolutely no resistance from the tail, and when Tendai Chatara shouldered arms and crouched in the path of a Shillingford delivery on middle stump, the offspinner had successive five-fors, after his 6 for 51 in the second innings in Barbados.
Zimbabwe lost their last six wickets for 34 after going into lunch at 92 for 3. They had raced away to 42 for 0 following Darren Sammy's decision to bowl on what had appeared then to be a flat pitch. The way Vusi Sibanda began, even the West Indies attack appeared flat.
The beginning couldn't have been any more different from how the rest of the innings panned out.
Early morning rain had forced a 30-minute delayed start, and armed with three specialist quick bowlers, Sammy had hoped to use the moisture in the surface. He must have been horrified at what followed. Kemar Roach and Tino Best were either too short or too full, and Sibanda tore into them with six fours.
There was no swing or seam in that initial period and the openers defended effort deliveries without any bother. There would have been a few who would have already started to doubt if West Indies had made the correct decision.
All that changed as soon as Shannon Gabriel came on in the ninth over and immediately settled on a good length. There was swing to be had, as Tino Best had shown in the previous over when he finally found that length. Gabriel beat Tino Mawoyo a couple of times with away going deliveries. The last ball of the over nipped in from a good length, Mawoyo shouldered arms, and lost his off stump.
In Gabriel's next over, Zimbabwe went from misjudgment to downright casual. Sibanda drove a full toss straight to a tumbling Roach at wide mid-on. Yet another promising Sibanda innings had been cut short in the thirties. Gabriel's figures read 4-4-0-2.
Shillingford needed six deliveries to strike. The second ball he faced from Shillingford, Masakadza charged out and had a blind heave, only to escape as the skier shot over slip. The sixth one was a flighted doosra, which Masakadza tried to turn to leg like a normal offbreak, and was bowled. The working over was a harbinger of the impending collapse.
West Indies 114 for 2 (Gayle 61*) trail Zimbabwe 175 (Shillingford 5-59, Samuels 3-15) by 61 runs
Kieran Powell did a Sibanda when West Indies came out to bat, playing an aggressive cameo before falling to an inswinging Kyle Jarvis delivery again. In his next over, Jarvis handed Darren Bravo his first duck in Tests when he had the batsman flailing a wide delivery through to the keeper.
West Indies 114 for 2 (Gayle 61*) trail Zimbabwe 175 (Shillingford 5-59, Samuels 3-15) by 61 runs
Kieran Powell did a Sibanda when West Indies came out to bat, playing an aggressive cameo before falling to an inswinging Kyle Jarvis delivery again. In his next over, Jarvis handed Darren Bravo his first duck in Tests when he had the batsman flailing a wide delivery through to the keeper.
Gayle and Marlon Samuels dug in at 35 for 2. Gayle had little fluency for a long time as he jabbed half-forward to keep out length deliveries from the quicks. Nevertheless, he kept lashing the odd boundary down the ground or through the covers, and towards the end, started to look a lot more comfortable.
The Zimbabwe spinners made little impression, although Prosper Utseya got only three overs. Samuels had gone after Graeme Cremer in Barbados, and stepped out to loft the legspinner for a straight six in his opening over. Both Cremer and Utseya did send down a few testing deliveries, but were too inconsistent to pose a threat.
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