WI vs ZIM: West Indies in management on rain-shortened 1st day towards Zimbabwe

Captain Kraigg Brathwaite and fellow opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul each scored half centuries because the West Indies reached 112-0 earlier than rain washed out play after lunch on day one of many first Test towards Zimbabwe on Saturday.

Zimbabwe’s bowlers lacked penetration on a flat pitch on the Queens Sports Club however was in a position to maintain the Windies batters in test with calm and composed bowling.

The West Indies openers, who each completed the day undefeated on 55, seemed snug on the crease and pounced on the unhealthy ball when the Zimbabwe bowlers fluffed their strains.

“The pitch looked good for batting, but obviously we knew rain would be a factor,” Brathwaite stated. “Today is history, today is gone, we have to come back tomorrow and start setting the foundation again.”

Zimbabwe fielded 5 debutants, together with former England batter Gary Ballance, who accomplished his worldwide swap through the African workforce’s white-ball sequence with Ireland in January.

“We kept the pressure on, but credit to the West Indies, I thought they batted nicely,” stated Steve Kirby, Zimbabwe’s bowling coach. “It was a very good surface for Test cricket. On a different day, we could have had two, three wickets. It was just a good day of old-fashioned Test cricket.”

Zimbabwe is lacking frontline bowler Blessing Muzarabani although long-term harm in addition to in-form batting all-rounders Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl, who’re enjoying Twenty20 franchise cricket in Dubai and Bangladesh, respectively.

“We are always going to lose players to white-ball cricket,” Kirby stated. “But there is still a huge appetite for Test cricket. Test cricket is a privilege. It’s a very emotional time for them (the debutants) and they will remember it for the rest of their lives.”

Both video games of the two-match sequence will probably be in Bulawayo.

Ballance, returning to his nation of start, had represented England in 24 Tests most not too long ago in 2017.

Zimbabwe is captained by Craig Ervine with common Test skipper Sean Williams out with harm.

The West Indies misplaced 2-0 in Australia in its final sequence in December and interim coach Andre Coley is in control of the workforce for the primary time.

Zimbabwe hasn’t performed Test cricket in 18 months since dropping a one-off match at dwelling to Bangladesh.