West Indies v Zimbabwe, 2012-13

At Roseau, Dominica, March 20-22, 2013. West Indies won by an innings and 65 runs. Toss: West Indies. Test debut: S. C. Williams.

Zimbabwe's batting was as fragile as it had been in Barbados. Again, they failed to carry the contest beyond tea on the third day, depriving Dominica's keen supporters of play at the weekend as West Indies won the Clive Lloyd Trophy 2-0. But there was some good news for the locals: Shane Shillingford, the Dominican off-spinner playing his second Test at Windsor Park, repeated his performance against Australia the previous April with another ten wickets in the match. Defeat had somewhat devalued his performance in that game; this time it was the limitations of outclassed opposition which subdued the celebrations.

Exploiting a surface that encouraged turn and bounce, Shillingford and Samuels (who took three cheap wickets in each innings) were even more of a handful than in the First Test. Gabriel triggered the initial crash, but after that pace was virtually redundant. West Indies then built a commanding lead of 206: Gayle's 15th Test hundred was followed by Chanderpaul's 28th (though his first against Zimbabwe), and another significant contribution from Ramdin. Sammy declared before the start on the third day, after which the end was only a matter of time - and there was not much of it.

In the first innings Ervine had resisted for 73 balls and Sean Williams - a 26-year-old left-hander finally making his Test debut after playing the most recent of his 47 one-day internationals - for 88. But still no one passed 35 in either innings. Sibanda did reach 30 twice and hinted at more, but his penchant for choosing the wrong shot was again his undoing. He began with a volley of boundaries - six in all, three off successive balls from Roach - but then drove Gabriel's low full toss straight to mid-on.

Once more, Shillingford's impact was immediate: his sixth ball was a doosra that cleaned up Masakadza. He had to wait until his seventh over before claiming another, when Taylor's botched reverse sweep dropped the ball on to the stumps via various parts of his body. Ervine and Williams battled through 17 overs, but a collapse never seemed far away - and it duly followed after Samuels accounted for both, and the last six tumbled for 34.

Jarvis's opening burst again removed Powell and Bravo, for his first Test duck in his 41st innings (among West Indians, only Clive Lloyd, Basil Butcher and Garry Sobers had waited longer for their first). And they were tottering briefly at 114 for three when Chatara's outswinging yorker bemused Samuels first ball next morning. But Gayle and Chanderpaul took them into the lead, then Chanderpaul and Ramdin extended it with a partnership of 173. Gayle initially batted with unusual care, after a run of 17 consecutive international innings in all formats without a fifty. But he moved to a half-century with six and four off Utseya, and later launched three more sixes in four deliveries to reach 99; a single followed next ball. Attempting a fifth six, however, he hoisted a catch to long-off: it was a first Test wicket for Utseya, almost nine years after his only previous cap.

Zimbabwe were again stalled by Ramdin, who made 86, before providing Cremer with his first wicket of the series in his 49th over, courtesy of an unchallenged lbw. Chanderpaul, not satisfied with 284 balls at the crease, was more reluctant to leave when Williams came up with a grass-high catch at cover.

The visitors made another promising start in their second innings, this time from Sibanda and Masakadza, opening instead of Mawoyo, who was ill. But once Best and Sammy each claimed their only wickets of the series, the innings disintegrated against Shillingford and Samuels, who ended an unequal contest by dismissing Jarvis and Chatara with successive balls. Shillingford's 19 wickets were a West Indian record for a two-Test series, beating Courtney Walsh's 16 in New Zealand in 1994-95.