With day two of this Zimbabwe and New Zealand test match finally in the books, it’s become clearer that this Black Caps unit is close to finishing the match. As all three sessions clearly went their way, this group is currently ahead by 470+ runs, plus hope that is more than enough to create a series sweep. Seeing that this group doesn’t have some of their strongest batsmen and is missing out on bowlers like Nathan Smith, alongside Will O’Rourke, it is quite impressive how their newcomers have handled any early pressure or nerves. A big reason has been Mitchell Santner’s ability to build culture and be an easy-going captain who allows everyone to play with full freedom.
Despite these matches not having any impact on the World Test Championship standings, it really gives this Black Caps side an idea of who could be impactful in performing when they have to go up against top nations. On the other side, Zimbabwe will have to once again look at themselves in the mirror and try understanding why they are regressing every single match, despite having loads of talent.
With guys like Brendan Taylor re-arriving, their unit has still shown tons of struggles in the batting phase, while bowling has seemed to regress match by match. It will be interesting to see if captain Craig Ervine rotates the batting order around during this last batting session to avoid any collapse when chasing down a mammoth total.
Morning Session: Devon Conway and Company Start of Very Strong
As New Zealand entered the day 174/1 and up by over 40 runs, their batsmen continued building on that lead in the first part of today. Seeing that Devon Conway started at a little less than 80 runs to begin, this session was completely dominated by him as he brought his total up towards nearly 140.
Looking very crisp with his timing and placement of fours, it really seemed like he had the intent to strike, even if it wasn’t with the most aggression. Moving up to 17 fours during this session, his ability to find the middle of the bat made it impossible for bowlers to target the stumps against him. Creating a near 150-run partnership alongside Henry Nicholls, the left-handed Conway was able to hit his 11th century during 39 test matches.
On the other end, Nicholls did a very solid job of keeping up with his partner and was a big reason the score went up to 306/2 as well. Since Jacob Duffy had gotten out after hitting five glorious boundaries and a score of 36 earlier on, having a new right-handed batsman come after him to mix up the pair alongside a lefty benefited New Zealand a lot.
Henry Nicholls scored 41 runs throughout his innings while seeming very steady in the crease and not trying to be an aggressor. Hitting four boundaries, he helped dismantle Zimbabwe’s bowling attack quite a bit and showed amazing class in his shots as well. Looking at the Chevrons’ bowling attack, Vincent Masekesa took an amazing wicket by confusing Jacob Duffy with the angle, but outside of him and Sikandar Raza’s near 2.0 economy during this session, no one else really stood out.
Afternoon Session: New Zealand Continues Driving Up Their Run Total
Coming in for the 2nd part of today, it was clear that the Black Caps intended to keep on scoring runs and be ahead by even more runs. A task that had been accomplished pretty well in the first session, they were out to do it again, and got to a score of 427/3. During this period, Devon Conway finally got to his 150 and looked nothing more than relieved to hit that mark after many attempts. Although his innings came to an end a little shortly after, he seemed to have put this match fully in New Zealand’s favor. A partnership between him and Nicholls that ended at 110 runs, it helped bring another real batting threat named Rachin Ravindra, who could play some top-class shots, plus create another amazing combination.
That is exactly what happened as both batsmen worked up to an 83-run partnership before the tea break. Henry Nicholls dominated yet again as he was able to add 54 more to his total and nearly hit the century mark, while continuing to show his knack for hitting through open parts.
Having added seven more fours to get up towards 11 total for the match, his timing was super on-point while Rachin Ravindra got to a 50+ score as well. Seeing that the lefty Ravindra had managed to continue playing some wonderful drives and also develop a connection on reverse sweeps, his 10 boundaries allowed him to attain a score of 51 in just 52 balls faced. Although Blessing Muzabarani bowled a great ball right into Devon Conway’s legs and got him clean-bowled, that was the only wicket Zimbabwe had as their other bowlers like Tanaka Chivanga had economies of nearly 6.00.
Final Session: The Black Caps Finish On An Extreme High-Note
Seeing that this New Zealand group already entered with such a strong scoreline in hand, they also completed a final goal of batting through the whole day while losing minimal wickets. With Henry Nicholls finally getting to his century after putting up five more runs, it was clear that he was looking to play a very controlled innings.
Finishing days play not-out for 150 runs, his partnership with Rachin Ravindra continued being unbeatable as they helped this unit get past a total score of 600. Looking very sharp from start to finish, the shots became even classier as this innings went on, and he finished the day with a total of 15 boundaries, with them being hit in a wide a variety of places.
Meanwhile, Ravindra looked like a batsman playing his shots with the intent of being aggressive and scoring in quick succession. Ending at 165 runs, he managed to elevate just from hitting cover drives to taking on bowlers by maneuvering outside the crease. Although he did hit 21 fours during his innings, Rachin put the icing on the cake when he smacked two long sixes and improved his strike rate past a 110-mark.
Seeing that both these batsmen have a chance at a double-century tomorrow, it was a bowling session for Zimbabwe to forget as even Vincent Maskesa’s economy went all the way up to 5.47. Not being able to control the line as a spinner, even pacers like Trevor Gwandu got their lengths wrong and went for over 6.8 runs an over.
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