West Indies were in danger of conceding an embarrassing first-innings
lead on home soil to Test irregulars Zimbabwe, playing their first match
in over a year. At 151 for 6 in pursuit of 211, the captain Darren
Sammy arrived and did what he normally does. He attacked. And for once,
he survived long enough. The result was a 69-ball 73 that turned the
game and sent Zimbabwe into defensive mode, like Marlon Samuels' assault
in the morning had done. It also gave West Indies a sizeable lead, the
importance of which was driven home when Zimbabwe lost three quick
wickets towards the close.
Both innings came when Zimbabwe were in a position to exert pressure,
but couldn't, largely due to one bowler consistently leaking runs.
Samuels had targeted Graeme Cremer, not allowing him to settle as he
took 32 off 26 deliveries from the legspinner. Brendan Taylor persisted
with Cremer, over his other specialist spinner Ray Price, and Sammy took
further toll. Forty-seven of Sammy's runs came off the 28 balls he
faced from Cremer. In contrast, Price bowled just 27 deliveries to Sammy
and Samuels combined, and conceded only seven.
All Sammy and Samuels wanted to do was to hit boundaries, which is what
Zimbabwe allowed them, with Cremer serving up long hops and overpitched
deliveries. All the four sixes Sammy hit came against Cremer, as did
most of his fours. When Cremer bowled full, Sammy powered him straight
down the ground. When he dropped it short often, he was pulled over
midwicket. Samuels cut and pulled Cremer despite the bounce in the
pitch, and also stepped out to drive him against the turn through
midwicket. By the time the restrictive Price was given more bowling, the
damage had already been done.
Denesh Ramdin played an important knock, giving solid support to Sammy
during their century partnership for the seventh wicket. Then, after
Sammy chopped Hamilton Masakadza onto his stumps shortly before tea,
Ramdin patiently built the lead further along with Tino Best, who became
Kyle Jarvis' fifth victim to end the innings.
The part-time medium of Masakadza had claimed Samuels as well, off what
proved to be the last ball before lunch. Samuels was in imperious touch
on his comeback from facial injury, but could not resist going for one
more boundary, and edged Masakadza to the wicketkeeper. Till that
moment, Samuels hadn't let West Indies feel any strain after the big
wickets of Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo. He'd come out and gone after
the bowling so clinically that it was Zimbabwe who felt constrained
enough to let Price start with a defensive line outside leg.
Jarvis had given Zimbabwe an early opening when he switched to round the
wicket and had Bravo edging to the wicketkeeper in the ninth over of
the day. At 43 for 3, West Indies should have been made to grind for
their runs. Samuels and Gayle had other ideas.
Samuels hit Cremer out of the attack. Gayle drove the seamers through
extra cover and down the ground, although he was far more watchful
compared to Samuels. He was leaving them outside off stump and defending
solidly. It needed something out of the ordinary to dislodge him, and
the debutant medium-pacer Tendai Chatara provided that. First ball after
the first drinks break, he produced one that reared up at Gayle from
short of a good length, and carried to second slip off the glove.
Samuels was not going to change his approach despite 81 for 4.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul added still more solidity to the batting and the
duo's partnership went past 50 in next to no time. Zimbabwe turned to
Masakadza and Price and the pace of scoring came down with lunch
approaching, before Samuels threw it away after reaching his fifty in 67
balls.
West Indies slipped from 144 for 5 at lunch to 151 for 6 soon after, as
Chanderpaul under-edged an attempted pull off Jarvis to the
wicketkeeper. Two overs later, Cremer was brought back, probably to lure
Sammy to his fall. Only, Sammy wasn't to be lured today.
It was Tino Mawoyo who was lured into chasing a wide, full away-swinging
delivery in the eighth over of Zimbabwe's second innings, only to edge
it to Sammy in the slip cordon. It was the first ball Shannon Gabriel
bowled, after Kemar Roach and Best had been far too short with the new
ball.
Zimbabwe's day, which had begun so promisingly, was to end on a worse
note. Masakadza failed to keep his gloves away from Shane Shillingford's
first ball, a seemingly harmless short delivery that carried to
backward short leg. Vusi Sibanda tried to turn Shillingford to the leg
side, only to offer a tame return catch off the leading edge. After a
day on which they could have taken a morale-boosting lead, Zimbabwe were
now struggling to avoid defeat on day three.