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Bongani Ndlovu Sports Correspondent
Zimbabwe 55 for 0 (Chibhabha 31*, Mawoyo 20*) trail New Zealand 582 for 4 dec. (Latham 136, Taylor 124*, Williamson 113, Guptill 87, Watling 83*) by 527 runsTHREE centuries and two half centuries from New Zealand batsmen confounded Zimbabwe’s woes as the Kiwis posted a commanding first-innings declared total of 582 for 4 at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday.

The New Zealand top order comprising of Tom Latham (136), Captain Kane Williamson (113) and Ross Taylor (124) was ruthless as they led the onslaught with the help of Martin Guptil (87) and BJ Watling (83).

It was a day for breaking records as Taylor replaced Martin Crowe as third on the list of New Zealand’s test run scorers with Williamson also making history by becoming the first New Zealander to score a century against each of the nine test playing nations.

A silver lining for Zimbabwe is after they were sent into bat after tea and did not lose wickets with Tino Mawoyo (20) and Chamu Chibhabha (31) seeing out the new ball at stumps.

In the previous test match the Zimbabwean top order capitulated like a deck of cards posting paltry scores of 36 for four and 17 for four last week after they were before 10 overs.

After almost two days on the field, Chibhabha and Mawoyo were patient with the bat as they took time to score runs as they tried to build their partnership to lay a solid foundation for the middle order.

It was a hard day in the office for Zimbabwe as the bowling attack of Donald Tiripano, Michael Chinouya, Sean Williams and captain Graeme Cremer took one wicket each after bowling 150 overs.

With the type of batting being displayed by Zimbabwe coupled by the wicket, the hosts might have the slimmest of chances to draw the match, barring a collapse, that is.

“After the last test we were pretty disappointed as a batting unity and we sat down and talked about the areas we wanted to improve on. So today was more of executing those plans and make sure we improve,” said Chibhabha after the match.

He said he and Mawoyo will stay at the crease as much as possible. “The most important thing is to bat for as long as you can. There’s still a lot of time in this test match. They’re trying to bounce us and if that doesn’t work they’ll pitch it up and the ball will reverse,” said Chibhabha.

Taylor said although he scored a century it was tough batting on a flat wicket. “I think it’s (wicket) a lot slower than the first test and you had to give yourself 20 to 30 balls. If you get through that period you can give yourself a chance to score runs. It was nice to score and help put ourselves in a good position,” said Taylor.

Looking forward to today Taylor said it would be difficult to take 10 wickets as day three at Queens is a good batting pitch.

“Zimbabwe batted well today and this shows you that it’s going to be hard tomorrow to get 10 wickets. Hopefully we can get the ball to move a bit tomorrow and the spinners come into play,” said Taylor. — @bonganinkunzi