Bulawayo: Zimbabwe live to fight another day after an unbroken partnership of 94 between Sikandar Raza and Peter Moor gave them the lead against the West Indies on the fourth day of the second Test at Queens Sports Club.
Sikandar Raza and Moor came together with Zimbabwe reeling on 46/4 in their second innings on Wednesday, still needing 76 runs to make the West Indies bat again.
By the close they had carried the home side to 140 for four to claim an 18-run lead, with Raza adding his second half-century in a match where he has also claimed a five-wicket haul.
After spending 178 overs in the field, when they conceded a record 212-run partnership for the eighth wicket to centurions Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder, Zimbabwe’s punch-drunk top order were easily knocked over as West Indies delivered some heavy blows.
But Raza made an unbeaten 58 and Moor batted out 152 deliveries for his 39 not out to ensure that the two-match series, which the West Indies lead 1-0, will go into a final day.
Zimbabwe’s chances of ending an 11-match losing streak in Tests had looked good when Raza’s maiden five-wicket haul reduced West Indies to 230/7 on the third afternoon at Queens Sports Club. But Dowrich and Holder constructed the West Indies’ highest eighth-wicket partnership in history, guiding the visitors to stumps on 374/7.
Scores
Zimbabwe: 326 & 140/4 in 67 overs (P.J. Moor 39*, Sikandar Raza 58*, Roach 2/10) vs West Indies: 448 in 178.2 overs (K. Powell 90, S. Dowrich 103, J. Holder 110, Sikandar Raza 5/99, Chisoro 3/113).
