ZIM v NZ, 2nd Test Day 3 Review: Craig Ervine spares blushes with ton

Craig Ervine became yet another rare Zimbabwean batsman to complete a Test-match century as he smashed a wonderful and unbeaten ton on the third day of proceedings. Ervine virtually batted the entire day as the hosts went about making an attempt to scale the mammoth target set by the New Zealand side. Ervine was assisted by Peter Moor as the latter made his debut as he went on to score a wonderful half-century. In a nutshell, the day well and truly belonged to Zimbabwe who now find themselves 277 runs adrift of the New Zealand total and with 4 wickets in hand.

Day three began with the hosts well-poised at 55/0. However, some phenomenal bowling from the Kiwi attack Tino Mawoyo (26) and Sikandar Raza (3) fall in quick succession. Tim Southee and Neil Wagner were certainly finding their elements as Trent Boult also succeeded in finding inroads with batsmen. Shortly after lunch, however, the grand scheme of things in the context of the direction of the match was about to change.

While the wicket was a terrific piece of bowling from Mitch Santner as well as a terrific catch from Kane Williamson, Craig Ervine, and Peter Moor joined each other in the middle. The two began their innings in a slow fashion as it seemed as though the Kiwis had finally found or rather discovered the art of reverse swing. With the second new ball that is more than 30 oversold, they may start looking at it again early on the fourth morning.When they found it with their first ball, they made life uncomfortable for the Zimbabwean line-up, who were suffocated with close fields to the spinners.

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However, soon after, it seemed as though those fielders had disappeared and were nonexistent at one point. They stitched an important partnership of 148, something that brought down the deficit right down to where the Kiwis certainly did not expect. Ervine did the unthinkable by becoming the first Zimbabwean in a long time to smash a century and also managed to remain unbeaten on 115 at the end of the day’s play. Peter Moor, however, fell for 71, a wicket that lifted the morale of the visitors, nearing towards the end of the day.

Brief Scores

New Zealand, 1st innings: 582/4

Zimbabwe, 1st innings: 305/6 (C Ervine 115*; I Sodhi 2/41)