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Ervine, Bennett tons headline Zimbabwe’s day
Bulawayo was buzzing on the second day of the Boxing Day Test as the home fans celebrated one landmark after another, with Zimbabwe creating history against Afghanistan by getting to their highest Test score of all time. Overnight centurion Sean Williams posted his personal best in Tests, the captain Craig Ervine scored his third Test ton in a 13-year career, and Brian Bennett struck a dramatic maiden hundred, taking Zimbabwe to 586.
Williams set the tone early with a cut through point to pass 150. He looked to be aggressive to the leg side but mistimed a pull off Naveen Zadran to deep midwicket, adding only nine to his overnight score before departing for 154 in the day’s sixth over.
The No. 7 Bennett, playing only his second Test, then looked busy upon arrival. His early strokes allowed Ervine, starting overnight on 56, to get his eyes in, and together they put on 82 in only 20.2 overs for the sixth wicket. Ervine showed off his ease against spin to dominate square of the wicket. He reached triple figures with a flick towards backward square leg in the 109th over, took off his helmet, and revealed a smile that bore a feeling of satisfaction.
Left-arm spinner Zia-Ur-Rehman had Ervine nicking to the keeper for 104 two overs later, followed by Brandon Mavuta’s dismissal for 0 in the same over, those two wickets did not bring any respite for the inexperienced Afghanistan bowling unit. The turn was predictable, the pacers were ineffective, allowing Bennett and the lower-order to score freely.
Bennett, a few streaky boundaries aside, peppered boundaries through the covers, and after lunch the message was clear that the remaining batters would also play positively. Teen debutant Newman Nyamhuri, known for his left-arm seam bowling in the domestic circuit, showed he can also contribute with the bat. He was out on 26 to Zahir Khan, but not before bringing up Zimbabwe’s 500 with a big six down the ground. It ended a 21 year wait for Zimbabwe to breach that mark in Tests.
The mystery spin of AM Ghanzafar didn’t have much impact either, with Bennett and Blessing Muzarabani (19) crunching sixes off his over pitched deliveries. As Zimbabwe pushed towards their previous score of 563 for 9, achieved against West Indies in 2001 as errors crept into the Afghan fielding effort too. Fumbles and mis-fields allowed singles to become doubles, and Muzarabani survived a dropped chance at deep midwicket too.
However Muzarabani fell with Zimbabwe at 550 for 9, earning Azmatullah Omarzai a maiden Test wicket, and with only the No. 11 remaining, Bennett, on 82, moved to fifth gear. A six off Zia-ur-Rehman through midwicket took him to 89, and back-to-back twos in Trevor Gwandu’s company got him closer to triple digits. His 96th run also took Zimbabwe to 564, a new high in their 32-year history in the format.
But that was not enough for the crowd. Only a Bennett century would make the innings perfect, and it arrived in cinematic fashion in the 135th over. Zadran had set up a short-ball ploy with two sweeper fielders in the deep on the leg side, but Bennett went for the pull anyway. The fielder in the deep took the catch, only to see that he had stepped into the boundary line, and Bennett roared “come on” in the direction of his family on the grass banks, which included his father and twin brother. He would pin another six next ball over the same region before Ghazanfar picked up his third wicket by removing Gwandu, leaving Bennett unbeaten on 110.
“It is not just my first Test century but my first century for Zimbabwe, so it’s a great feeling,” Bennett said after the day’s play. “To get a Test match hundred at Queen’s Sports Club with my family watching, with Sean Williams and Craig Ervine also getting hundreds and putting on a record score for Zimbabwe in Test matches. I don’t think there’s any better feeling to that. So, yeah, I’m just very proud.
“At first, when I saw it going, I thought it was six, but when I saw it coming down, I was like, oh shucks, I’m in trouble here,” he recalled the drama. “But you know what? You create your own luck in cricket. And when it stepped over the boundary there, I was lost for words, actually.
“It wasn’t too much about me getting to my hundred. It was more about us getting a big score and getting the Afghan guys out on the field for as long as possible. So credit to the tail-enders as well. They did a good effort for me to get my hundred but also, I think we were six down, and with our tail, we added 120 [121] runs.”
Afghanistan’s reply to 587 began in overcast conditions after tea, and Sediqullah Atal lost the battle of the debutants to Gwandu trying to flick across the line in the second over. Gwandu got a ball to swing in and shape away late to gain his maiden Test scalp. The seamer would bowl four overs before an injury while fielding ended his day early.
Muzarabani was metronic from the other end, bowling in the channel around off stump, and challenged Abdul Malik’s bat on occasion. It needed someone of Rahmat Shah’s experience at No. 3 to get the runs flowing. His strong off-side play earned him four fours in the space of as many overs bowled by Gwandu and Nyamhuri. Malik, instead, offered soft hands when possible, with his only boundary a gentle glance towards fine leg.
With the pitch still good for batting and the effects of the new ball wearing off, both batters milked the Zimbabwe bowling, but looking to make something happen Ervine brought Muzarabani back and the idea worked. Malik, who had mostly offered defensive shots, was proffered a short ball by Muzarabani and the rising delivery forced the error, straight to Ben Curran at fine leg.
Hashmatullah Shahidi, at No. 4, battled against the fading light to face some tricky overs of spin from Williams and part-timers Mavuta and Bennett. He struck three boundaries in 24 balls, while Rahmat moved to 49 after surviving one catching chance at slip. Bad light stopped play three overs before close, with Afghanistan on 95 for 2, staring at a mammoth 491-run deficit.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 95 for 2 in 30 overs (Rahmat Shah 49*) trail Zimbabwe 586 in 135.2 overs (Ben Curran 68, Brian Bennett 110*, Sean Williams 154, Craig Ervine 104; Naveed Zadran 2-109, AM Ghazanfar 3-127, Zahir Khan 2-127, Zia ur Rehman 2-101) by 491 runs
[Cricinfo]
Almost exactly 100 years since Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe became the first pair to achieve it in Test cricket, the Afghanistan pair of Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi batted out a full day of a Test match without being dismissed. In the process, Rahmat became the holder of Afghanistan’s highest Test score (231*), Shahidi struck his second Test ton (141*), and the pair comfortably broke the record for Afghanistan’s best Test partnership (361). All in all, their addition of 330 runs across 95 overs on the third day has taken Afghanistan to 425 for 2, now only 161 behind Zimbabwe’s 586.
Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo ranks among one of the best places to bat among Test venues, and Zimbabwe’s first-innings score across the first two days suggested a placid third-day surface, which it was, barring the occasional ball that stayed low.
The Zimbabwe bowlers were made to grind by the strong defensive game showed by Rahmat and Shahidi, but they were also let down by their fielding. There were atleast four catches dropped, all off Rahmat, along with a few half-chances. Both spin and pace proved ineffective to get a breakthrough, and the set batters pounced on the loose deliveries from the inexperienced bowlers, a regular occurrence through the day.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 425 for 2 in 125 overs (Rahmat Shah 231*, Hashmatullah Shahidi 141*) trail Zimbabwe 586 [Sean Williams 154, Craig Ervine 104, Brian Bennet 110*; AM Ghanzafar 3-127] by 161 runs
[Cricinfo]
A court in China has sentenced a man to death for killing 35 people last month by driving into a crowd, in an attack that raised national concern about mass killings.
Fan Weiqiu was venting his anger because he was unhappy with his divorce settlement, the court in the southern city of Zhuhai said in handing down the sentence on Friday.
The victims were exercising at a sports centre. Fan pleaded guilty to endangering public safety by dangerous means, a court statement said.
Fan’s “criminal motive was extremely despicable, the nature of the crime was extremely vile, the means of the crime were particularly cruel, and the consequences of the crime were particularly severe, resulting in great social harm”, the court said.
The attack on November 11 was one of the deadliest attacks in contemporary Chinese history.
It was among a spate of violent attacks that have recently raised questions about public safety in China, where citizens have long been proud of streets safe from violence.
The attacks spurred Chinese leader Xi Jinping to order local governments to take steps to prevent future “extreme cases”.
His order prompted pledges from local leaders to examine personal disputes that could trigger aggression, from marital troubles to disagreements over inheritance.
Some analysts have linked the incidents to growing anger and desperation at the country’s slowing economy and a sense that society is becoming more stratified.
A court earlier this week gave a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve to a driver who injured 30 people when he drove into elementary school students and parents in Hunan province. Such sentences are usually commuted to life in prison.
The court in the city of Changde said the driver was taking out his frustration after losing money he had invested.
Chinese authorities keep a tight lid on any reports about the attacks, censoring videos and witness accounts posted on social media and releasing only basic information, often many hours later.
The death toll in Zhuhai was not announced until 24 hours after the attack. In addition to the 35 people killed, 43 were injured, police said.
The 62-year-old driver, Fan, was found in his vehicle trying to stab himself with a knife, a police statement said.
Police set up barricades the day after the attack and barred people from entering the sports complex. Members of the public left bouquets by an adjacent square instead.
[Aljazeera]
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has apologised to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, in which 38 people were killed – but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.
In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic incident” had occurred when Russian air defence systems were actively repelling Ukrainian drones.
Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky said Russia must “stop spreading disinformation” about the strike.
The plane reportedly came under fire from Russian air defence systems as it tried to land in Chechnya – forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.
It crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 on board.
The Kremlin released a statement on Saturday noting Putin had spoken to Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev by phone.
“President Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” it said.
In the Kremlin read-out made no direct admission that the plane had been struck by a Russian missile.
Prior to Saturday, the Kremlin had refused to say whether it was involved in the crash. But Russian aviation authorities had said the situation in the region was “very complicated” due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Chechnya.
Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were affected by electronic jamming and it was then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defence missile blasts.
Survivors had previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane crashed, suggesting it had been targeted.
Azerbaijan had not officially accused Russia this week, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and damaged inside and out as it tried to land.
US defence officials on Friday had also said they believed Russia was responsible for the downing.
In a statement released a shortly after the Kremlin’s, Zelensky said the damage to the aircraft’s fuselage is “very reminiscent of an air defence missile strike”, adding that Russia “must provide clear explanations”.
“The key priority now is a thorough investigation that will answer all questions about what really happened.”
In Saturday’s phone call, Putin acknowledged that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport in Chechnya on 25 December.
At the time, Grozny in Chechnya and Mozdok and Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia were being attacked by Ukrainian drones and Russian air defense systems had repelled those attacks, Putin said according to the Kremlin’s statement.
Moscow noted that Russian investigators had launched a criminal investigation. Azerbaijan had already announced it would launch an investigation.
The Kremlin said that Azeri, Kazakh and Russian agencies were “working closely at the site of the disaster in Aktau region”.
[BBC]
Rahmat, Shahidi bat through the day in record show
Driver who killed 35 in China car ramming sentenced to death
Putin apologises for plane crash, without saying Russia at fault
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