West Indies 219 (Hope 90*, Powell 56, Cremer 4/64, Williams 3/20) and 369-8(Chase 91*, Braithwaite 86, Cremer 3/111, Jarvis 2/66, Williams 2/90) lead Zimbabwe 159 (Masakadza 42, Ervine 39, Bishoo 5/79, Roach 2/22, Holder 2/25) by 429 runs

FLUENT centuries by West Indie batsmen, Roston Chase and Kraigg Brathwaite left Zimbabwe with a massive task of chasing down what would be a world record score to win the first cricket Test at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

Chase, who came in to bat at number five, struck eight fours and one six to end the day on 91 off 127 balls, nine short of a fourth Test hundred while opener Brathwaite scored 86 in West Indies’ second innings score of 369 for eight in 122.3 overs, a lead of 429 runs over Zimbabwe with two wickets in hand. There was also a notable contribution from Devendra Bishoo who contributed 44 in a 92 run partnership with Chase while Shai Hope also scoring 44.

Seeing that the highest score to win a Test is the 418 for seven made by West Indies to beat Australia by three wickets in May 2003 in Antigua, the best Zimbabwe can possibly get is a draw. Pace bowler, Kyle Jarvis, who picked up two wickets, feels that they have to produce something incredible for the home team to get a positive result.

“Obviously the pressure of batting in the last innings is gonna be tough so it will take something really special to bat out maybe five sessions which is probably what I think they gonna give us.

Everyone knows it’s gonna be tough but you can’t go out there be negative about it and hand the game over, we have to play as well as we possibly can, you never know cricket is a funny game, if they bat another session, bat out five sessions I think best case we can get a draw out of it, scoring 450 is quite unrealistic,’’ Jarvis said.

West Indies resumed from their overnight score of 88 for one, Brathwaite and Kyle Hope the two batsmen in the middle. Jarvis struck in the 11th over of the morning, getting Kyle Hope leg before wicket for 43.

Skipper Graeme Cremer, with the first ball of his 13th over could have had Brathwaite on 60, Hamilton Masakadza diving to his right at first slip could not execute the catch. Brathwaite could have been out again when he was on 66, once more off Cremer’s bowling, wicket-keeper Regis Chakabva failing to hold onto an outside edge.

It took 14 overs after lunch for Zimbabwe to find another breakthrough, off-spinner Sikandar Raza struck with the second ball of his 11th over, Brathwaite trapped leg before wicket.

Zimbabwe took the second new ball in the 82nd over with Jarvis using it to good effect, Shai Hope out leg before wicket. Jermaine Blackwood, for the second time in the match, got himself stumped, left-arm spinner Sean Williams with the wicket, Chakabva alert behind the stumps to dislodge the bails before the batsman had his foot behind the line.

Williams had his second wicket, Shane Dowrich caught at first slip by Masakadza, to reduce the West Indies to 244 for six. Jason Holder upped the run rate with two fours and one six for a 23 ball 24 but fell to his opposite number Cremer who had him caught by Christopher at point.

Chase and Bishoo further stretched West Indies’ lead with some lusty blows in a fruitful eight-wicket stand. Cremer nailed Bishoo in the last over of the day, the left-hander trying to reach his maiden Test half-century in style only for Williams to produce a stunning catch in the deep.

The match goes into day four on Tuesday morning, with all pointing to West Indies declaration when Chase reaches his ton, which will give the tourists two days to bowl out the home side.

@Mdawini_29