Mumbai: It was wonderful day for New Zealand’s cricket team! They really showed off their batting skills during the second day of the Test match against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
Conway, Ravindra, and Nicholls each scored over 150 runs, which is pretty rare. Only two other teams in Test cricket history have ever had three players score that high in one innings. Because of their killer first innings, New Zealand was way ahead with a lead of 476 runs. Zimbabwe were all out in their second inning for a measly 117, and New Zealand won easily on Saturday by 359 runs.
The New Zealand batters totally overpowered Zimbabwe’s bowlers on a decent batting pitch in Bulawayo, ending Friday with a score of 601 for 3. Conway, who hadn’t scored a century in 16 matches, really held the innings together with 153 runs. Ravindra (165 not out) and Nicholls (150 not out) helped New Zealand reach their highest score ever against Zimbabwe. It’s also the first time the team has ever had three batsmen score 150+ in an inning, putting them in the record books with England (in 1938 against Australia) and India (in 1986 against Sri Lanka).
New Zealand started the day at 174 for 1, already ahead of Zimbabwe’s first-innings score of 125 by 49 runs. Conway and Jacob Duffy handled things at first, but Zimbabwe’s bowlers weren’t very consistent. Conway, who made his fifth Test century, took advantage of some easy balls. He was eventually caught out by Muzarabani, but Ravindra and Nicholls were ready to take over.
Ravindra played confidently and quickly got to 150, hitting many boundaries. Nicholls started slow but then started hitting hard against Zimbabwe’s slow bowlers, scoring 96 runs off them. Their unbroken partnership of 256 runs left Zimbabwe’s bowlers exhausted.
Zimbabwe didn’t do well in the first innings, getting bowled out for just 125 on Day 1. Henry took five wickets, and Foulkes took four in his debut. Tsiga attempted to fight back with a score of 33, but New Zealand’s formidable bowling attack proved too formidable. In their second essay Zimbabwe fared even worse. Foulkes took five wickets. New Zealand won the two-match series 2-0.