Day 2: West Indies 407 and 12 for no wicket (Griffith 12, Sarwan 0); Zimbabwe 275 for eight dec.
Zimbabwe's tour of England so far may have been more disaster than triumph – even respectability at times – but to their credit they have continued to play positive cricket, risking defeat, as they did in the Trent Bridge Test, in order to keep alive hopes of victory. They did it again at Arundel, declaring 132 runs behind the West Indies to give hope of a competitive day’s play tomorrow.
Zimbabwe had two notable performers of the day, Bryan Strang completing a five-wicket haul in the morning and Murray Goodwin scoring a determinedcentury. For the West Indies, pace bowlers Nixon McLean (four for 64) and Franklyn Rose (three for 62) were the leading performers.
Play began in cool, cloudy conditions with the West Indies continuing from their overnight score of 364 for six. Nagamootoo showed some talentwith the bat, playing some handsome off-side strokes off Bryan Strang. There was some brilliant Zimbabwe fielding early on, which culminated in a superb throw from Paul Strang to run out Sherwin Campbell for 146. Strang then proceeded to trap Nixon McLean lbw for 2. Nagamootoo, dropped off a hard chance by Alistair Campbell at second slip, off Bryan Strang, hit Paulover long-on for six to bring up the 400. Then he drove Bryan hard and straight to Trevor Gripper at mid-off to be out for 28, and last man Corey was bowled in the same over without addition. The West Indies were all out for 407, with Bryan Strang completing his five-wicket bag.
Trevor Gripper and Craig Wishart concentrated on a solid, unspectacular start against the bowling of Rose and McLean, which was pretty sharp withsome dangerous balls, occasionally lifting sharply from the slow pitch. Wishart fought his way to 9 before an outside edge was snapped up low at second slip by Sherwin Campbell off Rose, making Zimbabwe 23 for one. McLean generally looked the better bowler, though, pitching a fuller length, as Rose tended to dig the ball in too short.
There were frequent lbw appeals as the West Indian bowlers strayed towards leg and the Zimbabwean batsmen continued to display their usual difficulty with using bat as well as pads that has won so many lbw appeals against them on tour. There were some edgy strokes, both batsmen needing some luck, especially considering the poor quality of the light, but they applied themselves thoroughly to their task. Collymore also produced some fine deliveries and very nearly had Gripper caught in the slips just beforelunch, when the score was 46 for one (Gripper 20, Goodwin 10).
After lunch, the story continued in the same vein: trench warfare under dull skies. Goodwin gave the impression of being the more aggressive, although it was Gripper who actually scored slightly the faster, mainly through taking most of the bowling. There were regular West Indian appeals,all rejected, and a number of snicks that either fell short of or shot through the slips. Boundaries were almost non-existent but the score somehow kept moving at about two runs an over.
Finally Collymore got his reward, as Gripper (42) fended off a lifter into the gully, where it was held by Adrian Griffith, making Zimbabwe 83 for two. It was a far cry from 24 hours earlier when Brian Lara had been producing his exhibition. Still, Zimbabwe now were facing much sterner bowling in much less hospitable conditions, and they were fighting it out,while still scoring at a gallop compared with the West Indian rate of 1.5 an over before lunch then.
Goodwin, his eye now firmly in, began to play his strokes with greater regularity, and reached his fifty by cracking Nagamootoo for four to point off the back foot. Campbell played some superb strokes in a brief cameo of 31, driving and occasionally pulling with style and timing, but his return to form did not match that of Lara. As so often happens even when among theruns, he got out when looking as if he never would, edging McLean to second slip where his namesake Sherwin Campbell took the catch; Zimbabwe 153 forthree.
Captain Andy Flower looks in danger of sliding into the Campbell trough; after failing against Ireland, he did not score here, snicking a fierce lifter from McLean into the slips, where Campbell again held on to a fine catch down to his left. This was just before tea, when Zimbabwe were 158 for four (Goodwin 66, Dirk Viljoen 2).
After tea, Goodwin continued where he had left off, gathering most of his runs with confident cuts, sweeps and pulls, while Viljoen played a predominantly defensive role, successfully taking Zimbabwe past the 208 needed to avoid the follow-on. Goodwin was stuck on 99 for a while but he never appears to let such occasions bother him; he waited patiently beforecutting Nagamootoo for two to reach his century, his second in successive first-class innings after the Trent Bridge Test.
The century partnership came, but the second new ball accounted for Viljoen, who moved across his stumps to try to turn Rose to leg and was trapped lbw for 33; Zimbabwe 258 for five after a stand of 103. Mluleki Nkala fell similarly first ball, the last of the over, and then Goodwin, who makes rather a habit of losing concentration when a wicket falls at theother end after a long partnership, swatted McLean straight to deep backward point Griffith to depart for 126; Zimbabwe 258 for seven.
Paul Strang saved Rose’s hat-trick ball and hit three fours in a breezy innings before snicking a catch to the keeper to be out for a breezy 12. On275 for eight Zimbabwe made one of their enterprising declarations, leaving West Indies with five overs to face before the close.
Griffith was not interested in playing for the close, driving Bryan Strang for three fours in his first two overs. Ramnaresh Sarwan, opening inplace of Sherwin Campbell, was in contrast all caution, playing out two maiden overs from Pommie Mbangwa. The West Indies finished the day 144 runsahead.
