After Brian Lara put West Indies into a dominating position with a breathtaking 191, Zimbabwe recovered from a poor start to reach 173 for 3 at the close of the second day
The Wisden Bulletin by John Ward at Bulawayo13-Nov-2003CloseZimbabwe 173 for 3 (Vermeulen 60*, Wishart 86*) trail WestIndies 481 (Lara 191, Price 5-199) by 308 runs
Scorecard
Brian Lara: record breaker
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In another enthralling day at Bulawayo, Brian Lara dominated the earlyexchanges with a brilliant 191 and passed Sir Vivian Richards as theleading West Indian Test runscorer along the way. But Zimbabwe, led byCraig Wishart, fought back impressively from 31 for 3 to reach 173 for theloss of no more wickets at the close, by which time they were 308 behindWest Indies’ imposing total of 481.Lara dominated the day right from the start, as he raced to a breathtakinghundred. He and Ramnaresh Sarwan began with ease, picking up the singleseasily, until Lara decided enough was enough as he sped through thenineties. Blessing Mahwire pinned him down briefly on 98, beating himoutside off stump and forcing a few hurried strokes. But it only delayedthe inevitable, and Lara soon notched his 22nd Test century off 124 balls.He made it a deliberate policy to score his runs straighter than usual. Heproduced a number of superb drives between mid-on and mid-off, includingone remarkable six off Raymond Price when he made a last-second adjustmentand removed his bottom hand from the bat. Every now and then Lara showedhe was human, his closest escape coming at 136 when he edged a ball lowbetween first and second slip. The records came as well. A majestic drivethrough extra cover off Price took him past the 107 he needed to overtakeRichards as the top West Indian runscorer in Tests.His partners proved more fallible, though. Sarwan scored 65 before abat-pad resulted in a close catch to Mark Vermeulen at silly point offPrice (351 for 4). Shivnarine Chanderpaul was unlucky when Wishart took abrilliant diving catch at slip, and he was given out by umpire RudiKoertzen even though the TV replay showed that the ball only hit the pad(389 for 5).After Ridley Jacobs and Omari Banks fell cheaply, Lara was left with thetail, and he decided to step up the assault. He hit Price for twomagnificent sixes off successive balls, one of them a superb stroke overextra cover, but he was eventually out not long after lunch. Wishart hadbeen placed as a solitary second slip to block Lara’s glide to third man,which he tried again off Andy Blignaut only to edge a low catch (449 for8).The big wicket of Lara caused Zimbabwe to relax a little too much, as theyallowed the last two wickets to add a merry 32 before West Indies were allout for 481. Price finished with 5 for 199, and might have earned a placein the book of obscure records if his last over hadn’t produced his onlymaiden – how many bowlers in Test history have bowled 43 overs without asingle maiden? He bowled well with bounce and lift on a pitch starting tocrumble, and despite the obvious aim of the batsmen to hit him out of theattack.
Fidel Edwards
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Zimbabwe’s openers again made a poor start. First Vusi Sibanda tried toturn a straight one from Edwards to the leg side, and got a leading edgeto provide a simple return catch (5 for 1). Edwards then produced anaccidental beamer which hit Trevor Gripper on the hand as he defended histhroat. He took about five minutes to compose himself afterwards, and thatis the only excuse that can be offered for the awful stroke he played inthe next over. He tried to pull a ball from Merv Dillon that was not shortenough, and dragged it onto his stumps from outside off (10 for 2).To bad cricket, add the bad luck that has also dogged Zimbabwe. StuartCarlisle was comfortable at the crease before he played back to Edwards.The ball came off the inside edge, hit Carlisle’s thigh-pad, dropped tothe ground and then freakishly bounced back onto the stumps (31 for 3).Zimbabwe were in deep trouble, but Wishart and Vermeulen clawed them backon track and batted throughout the evening session. Vermeulen was forcedto use a runner after edging a ball from Dillon painfully into his thigh,a blow which restricted his strokeplay. It was determined batting againstaccurate rather than threatening bowling, with Dillon the most economicalperformer. Banks, in contrast, was rather rusty – but he was bowling forthe first time on the tour. He wasn’t helped by Lara’s numerous bowlingchanges, which prevented the attack from settling down.Wishart grew in stature and confidence, passing his usual danger area whenapproaching his half-century, and he even speeded up towards the close ashe neared three figures. It was quality batting, mentally as well astechnically, and Wishart, on 86 not out, will contemplate overnight thepossibility of his first Test century against a senior team tomorrow,having already scored one against Bangladesh.