Mawoyo racks up records for Zimbabwe

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Cricket365
September 3, 2011

Tino Mawoyo carried his bat for Zimbabwe, but Mohammad Hafeez's unbeaten 79 saw Pakistan close day two of the one-off Test on a healthy 116 for one in response.

Tino Mawoyo carried his bat for Zimbabwe as the hosts recorded a sizeable total of 412, but Mohammad Hafeez's unbeaten 79 saw Pakistan close day two of the one-off Test on a healthy 116 for one in response.

They were two innings of complete contrast, with Mawoyo stone-walling the Pakistan attack to finish unbeaten on 163 after almost 11 hours at the crease, while Hafeez took just 93 balls for his knock to see the tourists go to stumps trailing by 296 runs.

Mawoyo was just the third Zimbabwean to carry his bat in Test cricket, with his predecessors Mark Dekker and Grant Flower having also achieved the feat against Pakistan. Dekker made 68 not out in Rawalpindi in 1993, while Flower hit 156 not out at Queens Sports Club in 1998.

With Mawoyo's innings having reached 645 minutes when Chris Mpofu became the last man out to signal the tea break on day two, the 25-year-old had also recorded the third longest knock by a Zimbabwean.

Only David Houghton, who made 266 in 675 minutes against Sri Lanka in Bulawayo in 1994 and Flower, whose 201 not out against Pakistan in Harare in 1995 spanned 654 minutes, have produced longer innings for Zimbabwe.

Mawoyo had a major stroke of luck when he was on 98 as Adnan Akmal missed a straightforward stumping off Saeed Ajmal. It was his second chance as Sohail Khan dropped him on the boundary when he had made 25.

He received support from Craig Ervine and Greg Lamb, but as expected the Zimbabwean innings collapsed reasonably quickly as Aizaz Cheema ran through the weak tail to finished with 4 for 79.

Ervine fell one run short of his half-century as he was caught and bowled by Junaid Khan, while Lamb was out lbw to Saeed Ajmal.

Taufeeq Umar was trapped lbw by Kyle Jarvis in the second over of Pakistan's response, but Hafeez appeared to be on a mission to show Zimbabwe just how flat the Queens wicket was as he set about dismantling the attack.

He enjoyed a dose of fortune in the third over when he was dropped by Brendan Taylor after Brian Vitori had found the edge, but was ruthless thereafter as he plundered 15 fours and a six.

Azhar Ali was sedate in comparison, diligently compiling 27 not out over the course of 72 deliveries before stumps were called.