[Match Thread] Zimbabwe v New Zealand: 2nd Test

[CrimsonAvenger]

This must have been the finest few hours of Zim cricket for eugene! Craig Ervine and PJ Moor together . It was good while it lasted...

[Jemisi]

really need another partnership now, well played PJ. Not a totally clean knock but played with great intent and attitude

[Jemisi]

120 overs 6 wickets. Hard to ask for more from this lineup

[CrimsonAvenger]

Test player number 99 PJ Moor become only the 13th Zim player to score a 50+ on his test debut. Well done!

That is a amazing stat! 13 out of 99 players to represent Zim have had debut 50+ scores. out of the 99, 51 were front line bowlers. That makes it 13 out of 48 batsmen have debut 50+ scores. more than one in 4! And we say we thrust our guys into the deep end when they are not yet ready for top flight cricket .

This must be the best debut record for all test playing nations?

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Well done Craig Ervine! With a Test century as well as few ODI tons to his name, is Sean now the brother of Craig rather than the other way round?
Happy to see PJ Moor grind out a half century on debut joining a list with illustrious names such as Malcolm Waller and Terry Duffin #moormania
I was wrong about Moor, I didn't think he was ready for Test cricket yet. But he might be Mawoyo-esque in that he rises to the occasion.

I think Mawoyo and Chibhabha deserve a mention too for what has been the most enjoyable day of Zim Test cricket in about 3 years. Mawoyo should just be an automatic selection... he always brings his A game to Test cricket. His strike rate was probably more important than his runs scored given the context of the game. And a well earned half century for Chibhabha.

Big day tomorrow. Zim could draw this match! I don't think Williamson would risk losing to Zim in order to win (would be humiliating after making 580 odd), so we can work back from that. NZ would want to set 350 for Zim to chase on day 5? They'll probably go at 6 an over when they bat. Assuming we can knock off the 77 to avoid the follow on (even though I can't see them enforcing it given they'll fielded for so long) that's at least 25 overs they'll need.

It's an interesting match situation. I think where we don't want to be is chasing about 380 from 4 sessions because enough of a carrot is dangled that we'll lose wickets going for it, and it's too long for us to just survive (think Zim vs Ban in 2011). 3 sessions/90 overs, maybe we could though?

So bottom line, we still need to be batting deep into the second session tomorrow. Ervine needs to stick around (obviously), but probably where this game will be drawn or lost is in how much of a fight the tail put up. If Cremer and Tiripano can add a slow 30 each and get us into the second session tomorrow I reckon we'll hold on. How awesome would a 10 over / 0 run partnership be between Nyumbu and Chinouya? That would totally deflate NZ.

[eugene]

This must have been the finest few hours of Zim cricket for eugene! Craig Ervine and PJ Moor together . It was good while it lasted...

Yes, a great moment indeed. Almost up there with the Flowers batting together.

[saifulsohel05]

Well played.

[tawac]

What do you know Zimbabwe are actually capable of batting for a whole day. Great effort though but its just half the batting we need to push this to day 5.

[SpitfiresKent]

I really enjoyed watching Ervine and Moor bat today, top stuff

[Kriterion_BD]

Phenomenal fightback by Ervine and Moor. Brilliant.

I did not at all think ZIM, even when they had Taylor could pull off a draw, regardless of how flat the pitch was...but ZIM are very close now. Tomorrow's morning session will decide the outcome of the match. If ZIM avert the follow on, they will be favorites to draw. As I said earlier, scoring 400 is the only way to draw. Had ZIM tuk tuked at 1.9 rpo...they'd have been sitting at 225-6 instead of 305. They'd need 160 just to avoid the follow on. Now they only need 77 to avoid the follow on.

If Cremer can score 20 the follow on should be averted. Even if ZIM lose all 4 wickets on the first 4 balls without adding a run, NZ are too worn out to enforce a f/o. So the draw is still on the cards.

It was a top knock after the collapse left ZIM staring at another innings defeat.