By Geoffrey Dean
ZIMBABWE have been either brave or foolhardy in their last three Tests. In New Zealand last month, they elected to bat first in both Tests despite good swing conditions, were twice dismissed for under 200 in their first innings, and lost both matches.
Yesterday, Alistair Campbell again opted to bat in the opening Test against Pakistan when cloudy, cool conditions encouraged swing, and once more Zimbabwe struggled, reaching 151 for five before bad light ended play early.
Pakistan were without Wasim Akram, who went down on Friday night with the same feverish symptoms that kept Mushtaq Ahmed out of the match. But Waqar Younis, with late outswing, and Azhar Mahmood, with late inswing, conducted a searching early examination.
Waqar gave the debutant left-hander Dirk Viljoen the traditional ``Welcome to Test cricket'' first-ball bouncer, a nasty one that followed him. Two deliveries later, Viljoen pushed nervously at a full-length away-swinger and gave Rashid Latif the first of four catches.
Zimbabwe were reeling at 38 for three before the Flower brothers, Grant and Andy, brought some stability to the innings with a stand of 77 in 29 overs.
Day 2: Flower refuses to budge
By Geoffrey Dean in Bulawayo
IT was a day of milestones in the first Test as bowlers from both sides struggled to cause problems on a flat pitch that started to turn after tea. Grant Flower became only the 29th opener in Test cricket to carry his bat, surviving for 8.5 hours to finish with 156. That made him the first Zimbabwean to score five Test hundreds, three of them against Pakistan.
Flower's was a superb effort, particularly on Saturday when, after a late start because of rain, the Pakistanis got the new ball to swing consistently and late. Waqar Younis, who picked up a 22nd five-wicket Test haul, bowled with skill and aggression in a top-class opening spell to remove debutant Dirk Viljoen and Murray Goodwin with late outswingers.
Zimbabwe could well have been bowled out in the 54 overs possible on Saturday had Wasim Akram not been a late withdrawal with the same fever that incapacitated Mushtaq Ahmed.
The conditions were tailor-made for Wasim, but Azhar Mahmood, bowling mainly big inswingers, could not get his line right. Shoaib Akhtar, unexpectedly reprieved after alleged misdemeanours in Port Elizabeth, was very fast at times but did not obtain much movement.
Flower's shot selection was unerringly good. His defence was impeccable, the bat straight and never away from the body, and his strokeplay crisp and authoratitive.
Most of his 13 fours came from cuts and drives to his favoured offside. He hit a booming six over cover off Mahmood and another straight off Saqlain.
Batting conditions yesterday were much easier, with the ball stubbornly refusing to swing when new or reverse swing when older. Flower and Heath Streak, who equalled his Test best of 53, capitalised to add a critical 109 in 39 overs for the seventh wicket.
Day 3: Strang on song for Zimbabwe
By Geoffrey Dean in Bulawayo
FOR the fifth time in their nine Tests against Pakistan, Zimbabwe gained a first-innings lead. While the tourists batted carelessly to make only 256 on a good pitch showing no signs of deterioration, Zimbabwe's bowling was superbly disciplined.
Paul Strang bowled particularly well, getting some turn where Saqlain Mushtaq found none. Pomi Mbangwa made the early breakthroughs but Strang troubled all the Pakistan batsmen. He took an instinctive return catch from a blistering Inzamam-ul-Haq drive, then deceived Azhar Mahmood with a googly that drew no shot.
Yousaf Youhana, with a determined 60 in nearly four hours, held the innings together when a bigger deficit loomed at 144 for six. With the ball not swinging, the tailenders hung around, though Guy Whittall nagged away spiritedly for his four-wicket haul.
When Zimbabwe batted again, Dirk Viljoen bagged a pair on his debut. A graduate of the Adelaide Academy, his selection was bold as he has yet to make a first-class fifty.
Day 4:
ZIMBABWE'S Tests against Pakistan have, almost without exception, been eventful affairs, notable for landmarks, records and twists in the plot.
All three ingredients have been evident in this first Test, which Zimbabwe have a chance, if a slim one, of winning thanks to Murray Goodwin and Andy Flower, who compiled the biggest stand for any Zimbabwean wicket, an unbroken 277 in 68 overs. Pakistan, after being set 368 to win, closed on 24 without loss.
Goodwin's outstanding 166 in 204 balls was a maiden Test century, while Flower's more sedate hundred was his fifth.
The pair had come together with their side parlously placed at 25 for four after Grant Flower, with no shot, and Alistair Campbell, with a rash one, had got out to Waqar Younis.
But after a probing seven-over opening spell Waqar left the field with bruises to his heel and big toe and never returned.
Saqlain Mushtaq was another bowler forced out of the attack because of a swollen spinning finger.
Perhaps because of it, he did not bowl well, although Goodwin played him expertly, upsetting his length by using his feet and by sweeping.
On such a good batting pitch and with only two specialist bowlers to counter, the task for Goodwin and Flower was made easier. It was a hot day too - the temperature in the low 30s and the ball swung as little as it seamed.
But even though several factors favoured them, the two record-breakers played only a handful of false shots
between them. They also had to contend with the occasionally fearsome pace of Shoaib Akhtar, who ran in hard all day off what must be the longest current run-up in Test cricket.
David Shepherd said that Shoaib was the quickest bowler he has ever umpired to.
Just under 6ft tall, Shoaib is a natural athlete with a fine action who is clearly not afraid of hard work.
He impressed many on the Pakistan A tour of England last year, and it can only be a matter of time before he is signed by a county.
Goodwin, a short man, got nimbly out of the way of Shoaib's short-pitched bombardment and showed that two years' batting on the WACA's pitches for Western Australia have helped make him an excellent cutter and driver.
He is a neat, positive player with a good temperament who can accelerate when needed, as he showed by scoring his last 63 runs off 43 balls.
In all, he struck 17 fours and four sixes.
Flower, by contrast, was happy to accumulate, curbing his natural attacking instincts as a tally of six fours would suggest.
He gave one chance - to first slip off Shoaib when he had reached 57 - before reaching his century off 217 balls.
Day 5: Moin steers Pakistan safely out of danger
By Geoffrey Dean in Bulawayo
PAKISTAN, left with the task of batting out the final day to save the first Test, were given a fright when they slipped to 80 for four just after lunch. But on a pitch still playing beautifully, they had minimal difficulty in seeing out the rest of the day until a truce was called with 7.2 overs remaining.
Moin Khan was last out, three short of a fourth Test hundred, having resisted for 206 minutes. Dirk Viljoen, a part-time left-arm spinner who bowled exclusively over the wicket, had him caught off a top-edged sweep.
Partnering Moin in the all-important fifth-wicket stand of 110 in 41 overs was Yousaf Youhana, only the fourth Christian to represent Pakistan at Test level. But soon after Yousaf had reached his second fifty of the match, Heath Streak, armed with the second new ball, had him caught at mid-on off a top-edged hook for 64 in nearly three hours.
All the Pakistanis got themselves out, and indeed, Zimbabwe's only real hope of bowling them out twice on such a good pitch was that the visitors' occasional predilection to self-destruct might resurface. But Moin and Yousaf repelled a limited attack with ease, grateful no doubt that there had been virtually no deterioration in the wicket.
Paul Strang got the odd delivery to turn, but said he had been obliged to push it through quicker than he wanted on account of the pitch's slowness. Even so, it was a surprise that off-spinner Andy Whittall was given only eight overs.