Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), Dec 26 (IANS) Former captain Sean Williams struck a superb unbeaten century while opener Ben Curran and skipper Craig Ervine scored half-centuries as Zimbabwe reached a commanding 363/4 on the opening day of their first Test against Afghanistan at the Queens Sports Club here on Thursday.
As Zimbabwe played a Boxing Day Test after many years, skipper Ervine won the toss and elected to bat first and his top-order batters made the most of their chances as they helped the team reach a strong position when play was called off early due to bad light.
Williams was the star of the day for the hosts, scoring his fifth century in 16 Tests, and was holding fort with 145 off 161 balls when play ended on Thursday. He had skipper Ervine keeping him company with 56 not out off 94 balls. Both have so far raised 143 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket partnership to put Zimbabwe on course for a big score on a docile pitch on which the Afghanistan bowlers had nothing to gain.
The Afghanistan bowlers also kept bowling loose deliveries while misfields by the fielders didn’t help them either as the Zimbabwe batters dominated the day.
Earlier, Ben Curran and Takudzwanashe Kaitano set the pace for Zimbabwe as they raised 49 runs for the second wicket after Curran and Joylord Gumble (9) had raised 43 runs for the first wicket. Curran scored a near run-a-ball half-century off 54 balls. He was eventually out for 68 before he was cleaned up by AM Ghazanfar, his brilliant knock came off 74 balls and was studded with 11 boundaries.
Kaitano was the next to go for 46, caught by Sediqullah Atal off Zahir Khan after he outside-edged a slog-sweep to slips. His 46 runs came off 115 deliveries and contained four boundaries and a lone six.
Though Dion Myers was out relatively early for 27 runs, caught by Gazanfar off his own bowling, Zimbabwe found their heroes in Sean Williams and Craig Ervine, who put them in the driver’s seat.
Williams reached his fifth century off 115 balls, hitting six fours and three sixes while Ervine completed his half-century off 80 balls (4×5) as he remained unbeaten at close with 56 from 94 balls.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 363/4 in 85 overs (Sean Williams 145 not out, Ben Curran 68, Craig Evans 56 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2-83) against Afghanistan.
–IANS
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