Zim A stage fightback against Durham

OVER 30 overs were lost due to a combination of drizzles in the morning and bad light as Zimbabwe A and Durham County ended the first day of their second threeday match with the scales evenly balanced at Takashinga Cricket Club yesterday.

After winning the toss and electing to field Zimbabwe A skipper Ainsley Ndlovu opted to send the visitors in to bat after which the English County side declared on 193 for eight.

English skipper Scott Borthwick topscored for the visitors with his second half-century of the series and shared two crucial partnerships that threatened to take the game away from the hosts.

The first was a 39-run opening stand with fellow opener Michael Jones off 95 balls. While 39 runs might seem like a below-par stand between the two, the partnership was the definition of patience and misery and seemed to frustrate the Zimbabwean bowlers for much of the morning session.

Tendai Chatara would break the partnership in the 15th over when he had Jones caught by Brian Bennet for 24 runs off 50 balls.

Borthwick was then joined by Collin Ackerman, the architect of Zimbabwe’s demise during the first match last week, and the two tried to pick up the pace a little with a 27-run second-wicket partnership off 38 balls.

The fall of Ackerman’s wicket then turned the tide in Zimbabwe’s favour as Victor Nyauchi and his skipper Ndlovu accounted for seven of the wickets that followed.

Nyauchi was the pick of the Zimbabwean bowlers as he took four wickets for 43 runs, including two crucial scalps in one over (22).

The 31-year-old Zimbabwean quick had Ackerman caught behind by wicketkeeper Tadiwanashe Marumani for 21 runs off 27 balls before removing Ras de Leede for a duck a few balls later.

He also accounted for Borthwick’s wicket which he had caught behind Marumani later in the innings.

The English skipper’s resistance ended on 65 runs off 114 balls and featured eight boundaries.

Ndlovu also put in a captain’s shift for Zimbabwe as he took three wickets for 30 runs from his 14 overs.

Rains permitting, play should resume this morning with the first innings likely to paint a clearer picture Zimbabwe A goes in to bat for their first innings.

Ndlovu and his men are likely to have ended the first day the happier of the two camps as the eight wickets during the first day was a much improved performance from the first match.