Sibanda epic rescues Zimbabwe XI
Vusi Sibanda's career-best, unbeaten 185 kept the Zimbabwe XI on even terms with Kenya after the match appeared to be slipping away from them at Kwekwe
Cricinfo staff
08-Oct-2009
Zimbabwe XI 326 for 7 (Sibanda 185*, Chakabva 67*) trail Kenya 333 (Tikolo 61, Obanda 51) by 7 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Vusi Sibanda's career-best, unbeaten 185 kept the Zimbabwe XI on even terms with Kenya after the match appeared to be slipping away from them at Kwekwe. Sibanda held the innings together as his team-mates came and went, but eventually found a stable partner in Regis Chakabva who finished the day unbeaten on 67.
Kenya added four runs to their overnight total before they began making inroads into the Zimbabwe batting. Chamu Chibhabha fell second ball and Friday Kasteni only managed 9. Wickets continued to fall steadily to a mixture of pace and spin and at 178 for 7 a significant deficit was on the cards.
Sibanda began as virtually a one-man show, but Chakabva soon settled and Kenya's bowlers, for so long in control, began to find the going a lot tougher. Hiren Varaiya, the left-arm spinner, sent down the most overs and claimed two wickets for his efforts but the workload was fairly evenly shared. However, from a position where Kenya looked certain to hold a lead, they are now likely to lose out on first-innings points.
