Days 2 and 3 at Bulawayo

Well, it looks pretty certain this match is not heading for the draw that once seemed inevitable. Apart from offering some turn the pitch didn't change much, so put it down to some naive batting from both sides in response to controlled bowling.

NZ's scores of 426 was about 50 runs short, but it was kind of expected after Rossco threw away his wicket early on the 2nd day with an inexperienced lineup to follow. Watling and Brownlie were painfully defensive and allowed the Zimbos to throttle them, which gives you an idea of why Jesse Ryder is so important to the middle order. Brownlie apparently batted well in Vettori's company, and since I didn't see that passage of play I don't have anything to say on him yet.

Zimbabwe's batting effort was mostly solid, but they tended to undo the good work by gifting away a wicket each time. That partnership from the two debutants, Waller and Chakabva would have had NZ very worried before the wicketkeeper stupidly ran himself out. As with NZ, the tail folded up easily which will keep both bowling lineups extremely hopeful. After we celebrated Martin getting his 200th and Vettori his 350th, NZ seemed determined to mess up the advantage when Guptill played a surprising rash shot to be bowled for nought, and Baz was packed off by Price.

With NZ effectively 141 for 2, we appear to be heading for an interesting finish, as the kiwis have some inner demons to fight off. NZ are notoriously bad when it comes to setting a target - Manchester 2008 and Dunedin 2009 come to mind. The decision to send out a nightwatchman was another example of how muddle-headed we become in the 3rd innings of a test. I think the spinners are really coming into play now - Ray Price finally has conditions in his favour, Vettori has his fourth innings curse to fight off, and Patel is pretty much playing for his career.