Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe, 1st Test at Abu Dhabi, Mar 02 2021, Afghanistan v Zimbabwe

RESULT
1st Test, Abu Dhabi, March 02 - 03, 2021, Afghanistan v Zimbabwe
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131 & 135
(T:17) 250 & 17/0

Zimbabwe won by 10 wickets

Player Of The Match
1/4, 105 & 1/28
sean-williams
Match centre 
Scores: Ranjith P | Comms: @saurabh_42
Scorecard summary
Afghanistan 131/10(47 overs)
1st INNINGS
Zimbabwe 250/10(72 overs)
1st INNINGS
105 (174)
6/75 (25)
2/81 (19)
Afghanistan 135/10(45.3 overs)
2nd INNINGS
3/23 (9.3)
21* (47)
Zimbabwe 17/0(3.2 overs)
2nd INNINGS
11* (12)
0/5 (1.2)

4.54 pm: That's all we have for you from this first Test. The next one starts on March 10, so do join us for that. And in between there is a whole lotta cricket lined up, all of which we'll be covering. A grand win for Zimbabwe here and this was also Williams' first win as Test captain. On that note, this is Saurabh Somani signing off, on behalf of Binoy and Ranjith too.

Sean Williams is the Man of the Match and the winning captain: "It was a fantastic team performance. I was really happy with my seam bowlers. Obviously it was a difficult wicket to bat on, but these challenges come in Test cricket. If we take them head on, we'll succeed. Test cricket can swing in a couple of games. In this game, the senior players came to the party, which is what I want. The younger guys will learn from it. (Partnership with Raza) He took the role of being more aggressive than I did. I had to deal with a bit more spin than him. I was just happy to see the senior players stand up."

Asghar Afghan: Congratulations to Zimbabwe, they played very well. When you play good cricket you win the game. Yesterday we won a good toss but they bowled good lines and our boys played poor shots as well. Our bowlers bowled brilliantly, especially Hamza, but we had too low a total. Second innings, we had scoreboard pressure as well. We couldn't prepare well for this Test honestly, due to visa issues. Next game, we have to think positive. Zadran played very well too.

4.45 pm: We'll have the presentations for you shortly.

Neel: "Clinical performance by the Zimbabweans! They kept the pressure up on the Afganistan throughout this test to come out on top! Afganistan too showed great fight back in the second innings! Expect them to come back strong in the next test."

Pras G: "4-day test match?Ain't nobody got time fo dat..."

Munhumutema : "Quite beautiful to see Zimbabwe "

Simba T: "I am Zimbabwean and used to reading Williams and not Williamson ha ha ha. A near faultless display by Zimbabwe nevertheless"

4.38 pm: Zimbabwe have gone 1-0 up in the series with a dominant show. Afghanistan showed some fight in their second innings, but they had fallen too far behind to turn the result of the game around. They'll have some positives to take from here, Zadran's batting and Hamza's bowling most prominent. But lots to work on for the batsmen. Zimbabwe's bowlers set the tone and Sean Williams was simply outstanding. His was easily the innings of the game, and in addition, he took a key wicket and also plucked out a spectacular catch. But this was a collective triumph too. Blessing Muzarabani and Victor Nyauchi did well with the ball, Sikandar Raza and Regis Chakabva contributed with the bat, and Donald Tiripano played his part in the second innings to end Afghanistan's resistance with a double strike, and the final wicket.

3.2
1
Yamin to Kasuza, 1 run

length on the stumps and he turns it through backward square leg to complete a 10-wicket win for Zimbabwe.

Joydip: "Victories over Ireland and Bangladesh appear long ago now and things have definitely gone downhill for Afghanistan in test cricket. I do hope that this match is just a temporary glitch on their test match credentials "

3.1
Yamin to Kasuza, no run

length ball down leg side, doesn't connect while trying to glance it fine

Just 1 to win for Zimbabwe then.

end of over 37 runs
ZIM: 16/0CRR: 5.33 
Kevin Kasuza10 (10b 2x4)
Prince Masvaure5 (8b 1x4)
Amir Hamza 2-0-11-0
Yamin Ahmadzai 1-0-4-0
2.6
1lb
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, 1 leg bye

strays down leg and he tickles it fine. Scores level

2.5
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, no run

quicker one darted on the stumps, goes right back and blocks it

2.4
2
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, 2 runs

tossed up fuller, he goes for the big golf swing, gets a thick inside edge that goes to deep forward square leg

2.3
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, no run

good length on off, defended on the front foot

Dave: "This is just a result of not playing enough red ball cricket. It's not really a coincidence that the only bloke who tonned is the most experienced. "

2.2
4
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, FOUR runs

fuller on off, swept hard and swept square. There is no fielder there so even though the timing wasn't pristine, there's enough to take the ball over the rope

2.1
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, no run

tossed up on off, defended on the front foot

end of over 24 runs
ZIM: 9/0CRR: 4.50 
Prince Masvaure5 (8b 1x4)
Kevin Kasuza4 (4b 1x4)
Yamin Ahmadzai 1-0-4-0
Amir Hamza 1-0-5-0
1.6
Yamin to Masvaure, no run

full outside off, driven fluently but can't beat mid-off

1.5
Yamin to Masvaure, no run

angling into him on a length outside off, he comes forward to defend and inside edges onto pad

1.4
Yamin to Masvaure, no run

length ball, well clear of offstump, and left alone

1.3
Yamin to Masvaure, no run

length ball coming into him, tucked to square leg

1.2
Yamin to Masvaure, no run

nudged to midwicket

1.1
4
Yamin to Masvaure, FOUR runs

inside edged past the keeper. Gets this to tail into him from around the wicket, and the batsman was looking to whip it off his toes. Gets an inside edge that goes to the keeper's right

Ahmadzai to share the new ball, so it won't be all spin.

Rakib: "Disappointing to see Afghans cannot survive even 50 overs. Their only decent batting performance in both innings were against Bangladesh where they won with huge margin."

end of over 15 runs
ZIM: 5/0CRR: 5.00 
Kevin Kasuza4 (4b 1x4)
Prince Masvaure1 (2b)
Amir Hamza 1-0-5-0
0.6
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, no run

length on off, he stretches well forward to defend.

0.5
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, no run

tossed up outside off, comes on the front foot to defend.

0.4
4
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, FOUR runs

bang. Full outside off and he gets down to absolutely hammer a slog-sweep to deep midwicket

0.3
Amir Hamza to Kasuza, no run

beauty. Tossed up on a length, pitches on leg and turns past the bat as he's looking to defend and hits his back pad. that looked out.

Round the wicket for the right-hander.

0.2
1
Amir Hamza to Masvaure, 1 run

tossed up, he comes down the track and drills it past the bowler. Came off the end of the bat so it's cut off before the boundary

0.1
Amir Hamza to Masvaure, no run

fuller on the stumps, defended

4.25 pm: Right we're all set for the final innings. Hamza to open the bowling with slip, silly point and short leg around the bat

TheGrissom: "Just checking with all the other readers - am I the only one who keeps reading Williamson rather than Williams?"

- erm, I might have contributed to that with a typo, missing a space when writing "Williams on"...

Best performances - batters
Spike Graph
Wagon Zone
SC Williams
105 runs (174)
10 fours0 six
Productive shot
flick
34 runs
1 four0 six
Control
88%
Ibrahim Zadran
76 runs (145)
10 fours0 six
Productive shot
cover drive
16 runs
3 fours0 six
Control
83%
Best performances - bowlers
Amir Hamza
O
25
M
3
R
75
W
6
ECO
3
FTYFGSGS
OFFLEG
RHB
1W
3W
LEGOFF
LHB
1W
1W
B Muzarabani
O
12
M
3
R
48
W
4
ECO
4
FTYFGSGS
OFFLEG
RHB
2W
1W
LEGOFF
LHB
1W
Match details
Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
TossAfghanistan, elected to bat first
Series
Season2020/21
Player Of The Match
Series resultZimbabwe led the 2-match series 1-0
Match numberTest no. 2413
Hours of play (local time)10am start, Lunch 12.00-12.40, Tea 14.40-15.00, Close 17.00
Match days2,3, March 2021 - day (5-day match)
Test debut
Umpires
TV Umpire
Reserve Umpire
Match Referee