High-scoring Zimbabwe, Afghanistan Test ends in draw

Sharjah: Craig Ervine (206) smashed the maiden unbeaten double century of his career as the first Test between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium ended in a draw with a slew of records broken in the run fest on Tuesday.

Ervine led Zimbabwe’s reply from the front and became the third oldest player in the 149 -year old history of Test matches to score a double ton at the age of 41 years and 82 days.

The first two batsmen are South Africa’s EAB Rowan, who hit 236 against England in 1951 and England’s Jack Hobbs, who scored 211 against South Africa in 1929. But in the 21st century, Ervine holds the record for being the oldest player to score a double ton.

He reached the 200-run mark with a boundary in 275 balls with the help of 23 fours and two hits over the fence.

Ervine also reached the milestone of 2000-runs in Test cricket. This is also the third highest total by a Zimbabwean batsman in a Test match.

He was facilitated by the flat and dry pitch which offered no help whatsoever for spinners and pacers alike. Ervine exploited the benign conditions and executed his plans diligently.

Ervine was ably supported by Wessly Madhevere, who also smashed a quick-fire maiden ton of his career. Ervine and Madhevere added 210 runs for the fifth wicket as Zimbabwe posted 523/5 in their second innings. Madhevere brought up his century off 108 balls. His innings featured three sixes and two fours. The match was called off an hour earlier with the consent of both the teams after Ervine completed his 200 and Madhevere reached his century with no results in sight.

A total of more than 1500 runs were scored in three innings for the loss of 25 wickets across five days. That is more than 500 runs per innings.

Seven centuries and four fifties were scored by both the teams combined. A total of 21 sixes and 144 fours were hit by both the teams combined. Zia-ur-Rehman became the most expensive bowler of Afghanistan in Test matches as he conceded 175 runs.

After Zimbabwe lost the wicket of captain Brian Bennet, Ervine played watchfully and shared a 140-run stand for the fourth wicket with Antum Naqvi to guide Zimbabwe to safety. With three full sessions to go and six wickets in hand, the danger of losing the match was still looming large. A batting collapse would have forced a result. But Ervine kept his cool and played it ball by ball, over by over and session by session to steer Zimbabwe out of the danger zone.

Ervine scored the fifth century of his career and he also became the second oldest player in the 21st century to do so at the age of 41 years and 70 days after Pakistan’s captain Misbah ul Haq, who achieved the feat against England in 2016 at the age of 42 years and 70 days at the Lord’s.

Ervine broke the record of his team-mate Brendon Taylor who also became the second oldest player to score a Test century in the same match in the first innings at the age of 40 years 242 days.

Earlier, resuming from the overnight score of 164/3, Zimbabwe lost their fourth wicket within the first hour of the play. After adding just eight nine runs to his overnight score, captain Brian Bennet (58) fell victim to pacer Mohammed Saleem. He completed his fifty in 89 balls before getting out.

Bennet was beaten by the swing of the ball. Bennet tried to play it down the leg side on the back foot.

The ball hit his inner pad and deflected on the leg stumps. The ball went on to hit the fielder Rahmanullah on the face in the slip and he had to leave the field to get the first aid.