Zimbabwe enjoyed much the best day of the First Test against India at theQueen's Sports Club in Bulawayo, batting throughout the third day to finishon 303 for seven. The main contributors, as so often for Zimbabwe, were theFlower brothers, Andy and Grant, who both scored determined fifties, as didStuart Carlisle.
Night-watchman Brian Murphy did not last long into the morning session, outto a fine diving catch by Shiv Sunder Das at short leg for his overnight 10off Zahir Khan, who had just received his second warning for running on thedanger area of the pitch. Ashish Nehra, another left-armer, bowling over thewicket, was also to receive a second warning later.
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Carlisle, although beaten occasionally, played some good strokes, especiallydrives and cuts, and it was a fine drive through extra cover that broughthim his fourth Test fifty. His highest is 58, and once again he failed toreach 60. When 52, he played back loosely to Nehra and was caught at secondslip. Zimbabwe were still 21 behind with half their wickets gone.
Once again the Flower brothers were together with almost everythingdepending on them. Andy Flower was playing far more typically than he did inthe first innings, choosing his deliveries carefully and waiting for the badball to put it away unerringly. At lunch Zimbabwe were 143 for five, stilltwo runs in arrears.
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A reverse sweep for four by Andy Flower off Harbhajan Singh in the latter'sfirst over after lunch took Zimbabwe into the lead. It was not long before asimilar stroke brought up his ninth fifty in ten Test innings. It was theninth time in 12 Test innings against India that Andy has passed 50. Onlyonce have India been able to dismiss him for less (when he made 30) as onthe other two occasions he was not out.
India strove in vain to break the fraternal partnership until the second newball was due in the last over before tea. Once again the brothers proved howthey have been the backbone of Zimbabwe's batting during the country's nine-year Test history. At the interval Zimbabwe were 230 for five, 85 runsahead.
Andy Flower disappointed in the first over after tea. He slashed at Nehraand the thick edge just cleared the slips and went to the boundary. Off thevery next ball, he failed to profit from the warning and sliced a hard catchinto the slips where Sadagoppan Ramesh took it very well. He scored 83,another fine innings, but must have been disappointed to give his wicketaway through the basic error of failing to play himself in again after aninterval, and immediately after receiving a warning the previous ball. Healso missed the chance of recording his tenth Test century. The brothers hadput on 101 runs together, and neutralized the threat of Harbhajan veryeffectively.
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Heath Streak almost immediately had the benefit of a very close lbw appealagainst Nehra, but survived to fight again. Grant Flower reached his fifty,a fine effort after some trouble early on. Streak (14) played inside a ballfrom Zahir Khan to be out lbw; at this point, with only the inexperiencedAndy Blignaut and two tail-enders to partner Flower, Zimbabwe were only 128ahead.
Shortly afterwards umpire Harper bit the bullet and removed Nehra from theattack, after two previous warnings from umpire Tiffin at the other end forpersistently running on the danger area of the pitch. Blignaut, initiallyvery nervous, gradually settled in and gave occasional evidence of thepowerful hits for which he is renowned in domestic cricket. Flower seemed togo into his shell, playing for the close, which ended due to bad light`only' 30 minutes after the scheduled close with two overs unbowled. Flowerhad 67 and Blignaut 11.
