Zimbabwe seamers lead Afghanistan rout inside two days

Zimbabwe’s seamers helped their side to a 10-wicket victory over Afghanistan inside two days in the first test at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

After skipper Sean Williams scored 105 to help Zimbabwe to 250 all out, a 119-run lead in the first innings.

Regis Chakabva also got in among the runs, scoring 44.

Amir Hamza took best figures of six wickets for 75 runs and Zahir Khan 2 for 81.

Zimbabwe ripped through the Afghanistan top-order quickly, reducing them to 21 for the loss of five wickets inside 11 overs.

Ibrahim Zadran then held the innings together even as those around him fell to Victor Nyauchi and Blessing Muzarabani with Donald Tiripano clearing up the last three wickets.

One of those was Ibrahim whose bulwark resulted in Afghanistan forcing Zimbabwe to bat again. He nicked a delivery that was just wide to keeper Chakabva for 76. Only Asgar Afghan with 14 and Hamza with 21 got into double figures.

Tiripano took three wickets for 23, Nyauchi three for 30 and Muzarabani two for 14 as Afghanistan were bowled out for 135.

That meant Zimbabwe needed just 17 runs to pick up the win.

Kevin Kasuza and Prince Masvaure got to the target in just 3.2 overs.

Player of the match, Williams, said:

It was a fantastic team performance. I was really happy with my seam bowlers. Obviously it was a difficult wicket to bat on, but these challenges come in Test cricket. If we take them head on, we’ll succeed. Test cricket can swing in a couple of games. In this game, the senior players came to the party, which is what I want. The younger guys will learn from it. (Partnership with Raza) He took the role of being more aggressive than I did. I had to deal with a bit more spin than him. I was just happy to see the senior players stand up.”

The next match is starts 10 March 2021.