Review of Zimbabwe-West Indies Tests-Feb 2023

The recent Test series was won by the West Indies 1-0 with one draw.

A total of 12 Tests have been played between these teams. West Indies leas 8-0 with 4 draws.

In The West Indies, the home team leads 4-0. In Zimbabwe, the west Indies lead 4-0 with 4 draws.

We now look at individual records, starting with Batting:

Most runs (750 or more):

Brathwaite has the most runs (335) among current players.

Gayle and H Masakadza have the most centuries (2) R Sarwan has the most 50+ scores (3).

Highest innings (125 or more):

In this series, T Chanderpaul made the highest score (207*) in matches between these teams, surpassing Lara’s 191 in 2003. Brathwaite made 182. GS Ballance scored a century on debut for Zimbabwe after earlier scoring 4 centuries for England.

Now for Bowling:

Most wickets (12 or more):

Newcomer G Motie is in third place with 19 wickets.

S Shilligford has the most 5wis (3)

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi or more):

G Motie has the best and third-best innings figures.

Best match bowling (for West Indies against all teams, 11wm or better):

Motie’s 13-99 is the third best match bowling for the West Indies. It is also the best for a West Indian spinner, surpassing the 11-152 by Ramadhin in 1950.

Best match bowling (West Indies and Zimbabwe), 8wm or better:

G Motie’s 13-99 is the best for matches between these teams, surpassing S Shillingford’s 10-93 in 2013.

Most dismissals (8 or more):

RD Jacobs has the most dismissals (16). Current player J da Silva is in third place with 10.

Most innings dismissals (4 or more):

Current player CR Ervine has the most catches by a fielder (4)

Most match dismissals (4 or more):

Current keeper has the most match dismissals (6). K Powell has the most by a fielder (5).

All-round performance (50+ and 5+wi in a match):

Note B Mavuta’s performance in this series.

Batting on all 5 days of a Test

This is one of the obscure records which cannot be found through Statsguru. It is however listed in the statistics section of Cricinfo. This is how it stands on the evening of Feb 7, the 4th day of the Zim-WI Test at Bulawayo:

Now KC Brathwaite and T Chanderpaul have batted on all 4 days so far, and will resume batting on the 5th morning. So they will also be added to this list. This will be the first occasion when two batsmen have batted together on all 5 days of a test.

India is well represented here by Jaisimha, Shastri and Pujara.

Other notes: Gary Ballance scored a century on debut for Zimbabwe. He had earlier scored 4 centuries for England. He joins Kepler Wessels in scoring centuries for two countries.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/gary-ballance-232438

Also see:https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283699.html

for a full list of those who played Tests for two countries.

Update: Brathwaite and Chanderpaul were duly added to the list above:

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283161.html

Bangladesh v Zimbabwe Test records

The only Test of July was played at Harare on the 7th to 11th.

Bangladesh won by 220 runs. This was their highest victory margin away from home, surpassing the 143-run victory also at Harare in 2013. Their highest victory margin was 226 runs against Zimbabwe in 2004-05.

A total of 18 Tests have been played between these countries. Bangladesh lead 8-7 with 3 draws.

In Zimbabwe, 8 Tests have been played. Zimbabwe lead 5-2 with 1 draw. However Bangladesh have won the last two Tests there.

The 9th-wicket partnership between Mahmudullah and Taskin was the 2nd highest in all Tests and the highest for Bangladesh. Mahmudullah was also involved in the previous record.

Until now no Bangladesh batter had scored a century in Zimbabwe. The previous best was 98 by M Ashraful in 2003-04. In this Test, Mahmudullah’s 150* was followed by two other centuries by Shadman and NH Shanto.

BRM Taylor continues to hold the record of 1239 runs in Tests between these countries. Next are H Masakadza (883) and Mushfiqur Rahim (857).

MH Miraz’s 9-148 is the best for Bangladesh in Zimbabwe and indeed their best away from home. These records were earlier held by Robiul Islam in 2013.

Also note: Bangladesh is the only Test team which has never played in at a neutral venue, after India played its first such Test in June.

Hamilton Masakadza at Hamilton

Today (Sep 20) marked the last international appearance of Hamilton Masakadza, who captained Zimbabwe in this T20I match.

As you can see, he played a major role in the victory:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/19449/scorecard/1197144/afghanistan-vs-zimbabwe-5th-match-bangladesh-twenty20-tri-series

This was Zimbabwe’s first T20I victory against Afghanistan.

More details about his career:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe/content/player/55608.html

He made his debut in 2001. At that time he was a little short of his 18th birthday, and was then the youngest to make a century on debut. Later this record was taken by M Ashraful.

He has played in 38 Tests, 209 ODIs and 66 T20Is.

He played only one Test in New Zealand, which was not at Hamilton.

His ODI career was somewhat more satisfactory, as he did play one ODI at Hamilton during the 2015 World Cup. While Zimbabwe did lose to South Africa, he was top scorer with 80:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/656403/south-africa-vs-zimbabwe-3rd-match-pool-b-icc-cricket-world-cup-2014-15

He also played precisely one T20I at Hamilton in 2012. Here Zimbabwe lost to New Zealand, though he did score a fifty:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/12620/scorecard/520596/new-zealand-vs-zimbabwe-2nd-t20i-zimbabwe-tour-of-new-zealand-2011-12

We now turn to his brothers who also played for Zimbabwe.

Shingirai Winston Masakadza played in 5 Tests, 16 ODIs and 7 T20Is. While he did not have a city in his name, he did play one T20I at Hamilton.

Then came Wellington Pedzisai Masakadza . He played one Test, 17 ODIs and 9 T20Is. Let us see if he got to play at Wellington.

However, none of his matches were in New Zealand.

 

Review of South Africa-Zimbabwe Tests

A summary of all Tests between these countries:

SA has won 8 out of 9 Tests, including all 4 played at home and 4 out of 5 played away. Zimbabwe’s best performance can thus be said to be the Test at Bulawayo starting on 14 Sep 2001 (just after 9/11!) which was drawn.

We quickly go through the main individual performances:

Most runs (200 and above):

Andy Flower’s performance in a weak team is particularly creditable. He and Kallis are the only ones with more than one century.

Highest innings scores (90 and above):

Andy Flower again, highlighting his lone battle with 142 and 199* in a losing cause.

Most wickets (8 and above):

The first three names are no surprise. Zimbabwe bowlers hardly figure here, particularly since their team sustained several innings defeats.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi and above):

Donald’s performance in the first Test between these teams remains unsurpassed. And Bryan Strang’s performance in the same Test is still a record for Zimbabwe.

Best match bowling (6wm and above):

As above, Donald’s record stands since 1995. And no Zimbabwe bowler appears here (again, because of the numerous innings defeats).

Most dismissals (5 and above):

As one would expect. Interestingly four non-keepers share the record of 5 catches.

Best innings fielding (3 or more dismissals):

As expected, though Sibanda’s presence as the lone Zimbabwe player is strange.

Best match fielding (4 or more dismissals):

Note the absence of any Zimbabwe players here, and GC Smith’s record among non-keepers.

Overall all-round performance (see criteria below):

The best all-rounder on both sides, while Pollock and Streak did not play enough in these matches.

All-round match performance (50+ runs and 5+ wickets):

There is no instance of 50+5wi in these matches, so the criterion is reduced to 50 runs and 5 wickets in the match. Here again it is Kallis all the way with Pollock playing a minor role.

 

 

An unusual all-round feat

Test matches between the West Indies and Zimbabwe have generally been one-sided. So it is a welcome change to see a strong performance by a Zimbabwe player.

Sikandar Raza became only the 15th player in all Tests to score two fifty-plus scores and take a fiver in the same Test:

In fact, he and Kallis are the only ones to make two scores of 80+ and take a fiver.

This list include some well-known and not so well-known players. Mankad (256) and Umrigar (228) have scored the most runs here-but in both cases India lost. Faulkner is the only other one here to have scored over 200 runs (when his team won).

There are a few other instances where the player’s team lost. Bhuvaneswar Kumar was the last to achieve this all-round feat, which resulted in a draw.

Sikandar Raza is probably the only Zimbabwe player who was born in Pakistan.

Lowest scores in ODIs and related stuff

Zimbabwe’s 54 all out would have had cricket’s number-men looking for records of lowest scores in ODIs. This was not the lowest score in ODIs or even the lowest score by Zimbabwe in ODIs.

Tables are for data as on 28/02/2017

Here is a list of lowest ODI scores (below 60):

It can be seen that this is the lowest total against an Associate team.

Live link for ODI scores of 80 and below: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283987.html

Scorecard for the recent match, which came in a Duckworth-Lewis chase:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/1079250.html

The record for the lowest ODI score is 35, also set by Zimbabwe in 2004:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64890.html

Note that Sri Lanka’s innings of 9.2 overs and 39 minutes are probably records for a winning side in an ODI.

Indian fans would remember their team’s 54 as well, which was probably India’s most humiliating ODI defeat:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65900.html

Humiliating particularly because one player (Jayasuriya) scored over 3 times India’s total. It was the heaviest ODI defeat at that time, though it has since been surpassed several times. India has also inflicted similar defeats on Hong Kong and Bermuda. Afghanistan has also been on the receiving end (against Australia in 2015).

ODI victory margins of 225 runs and above:

Live link for all wins by 180 or more runs: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283902.html

Bangladesh’s greatest Test win

While Bangladesh has made good progress in limited-over cricket in recent years, the just-concluded Test at Mirpur is historic. To understand this clearly, we look at the the team’s 8 Test victories:

This is their first victory against a full-strength “regular” team, not a fellow minnow such as Zimbabwe-even if it was a 3-0 sweep as in 2014.

And we don’t count the two wins against a West Indies third XI which included many debutants who (apart from Kemar Roach) vanished without a trace. The stand-in captain Floyd Reifer witnessed clean-sweep losses in the Test as well as the ODI series. In the course of the series he talked about his team improving. A journalist asked him, “Have you been smoking something that sounds like your name?”

(Those familiar with American crime novels would know that “reefer” is one of the numerous synonyms for marijuana).

It should be remembered that Bangladesh came very close to winning their first Test back in 2003, but were thwarted by the last-wicket pair of Inzamam (138*) and debutant Yasir Ali (1*): http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64045.html

Yasir Ali never played a Test again, but much was heard of another debutant Salman Butt in years to come.