Tagenarine Chanderpaul recorded an unbeaten double century after scoring a new West Indies record 336 with Kraigg Brathwaite on Monday before the visitors claimed 447-6 in the first Test against Zimbabwe. Queens Sports Club’s opening stand in the southwestern city of Bulawayo surpassed the 298 games played by Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes against England in 1990.
Zimbabwe responded with a 114-3 scoreline on the third day – 333 points behind – with Innocent Kaia one of five Test rookies in the squad, unbeaten in 59 games, hitting nine fours. Divide the ball. The final delivery of the day saw one captain dismiss the other as Brathwaite cleanly knocked down Craig Ervine for 13 with a seemingly quick ball.
“Guys played well, congratulations to Tucci on his maiden century. Great to see him turn it into a double. Worked really well with the captain,” said all-rounder Jason Holder.
“It’s good to see they’re not only laying the groundwork but playing deep. I don’t want to talk about team plans, we just need wickets.
“We need to be ruthless. Tomorrow we need to start well, take a few wickets early and hope to hold them down,” he added.
Brathwaite scored 182 before stranded legs, while Chanderpaul, son of former West Indies skipper Shivnarine, was not out on 207 after hitting a double-ton for six in his third Test outing. Both batsmen started day three with hundreds under their belts as West Indies recovered with 221 without a loss after two days of rain-affected overs.
Up until that point, the scoring rate had been below 2.5 points, but Brathwaite, who had 116 points and didn’t get out overnight, started the offense immediately, standing early on a run rate of 5 points per game. Brathwaite ran all the way to 182 before being caught by spinner Wellington Masakadza.
The captain failed when he attempted a full-length pitch over the stumps, ending an innings that spanned 312 balls and included 18 fours. It was a welcome return for Brathwaite, who made just 19 points and three against Australia in his last Test in Adelaide two months ago.
It was a small bonus for the Zimbabwe bowlers, who toiled for 114 runs before breaking through. They picked up a second wicket before lunch when Kyle Meyers was 20-balled by leg-spinner Brandon Mawuta, who took five wickets for 140 runs. But dodging Mavuta and four other Zimbabwean bowlers was Chanderpaul, who recovered his rhythm from a slump in the previous two days, hitting three sixes and 16 fours.
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