Visitors reeling after following on
Tea Zimbabwe 12 for 3 (Taibu 4*, Mutizwa 2*, Martin 3-9) and 51 (Waller 23) trail New Zealand 495 for 7 dec (Taylor 122, Watling 102*) by 432 runs
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Zimbabwe face their heaviest Test defeat, after 37.5 overs of catastrophic batting on day three in Napier. The visitors surrendered 13 wickets for a cumulative total of 63 to a gleeful New Zealand attack defending 495 for 7 – BJ Watling’s maiden Test century and the hosts’ declaration was a distant memory after a session and a half of dismissal-riddled disarray. In their second innings at 12 for three, Zimbabwe still trail New Zealand by 423 runs.
Chris Martin snared both Zimbabwe openers and captain Brendan Taylor after New Zealand enforced a no-brainer follow-on, setting an evening session in which the hosts will look to deliver the coup de grace. That they find themselves on the verge of victory at tea on day three would astound even them, given the urgency of the declaration this morning, and the fact that over two sessions were lost to rain yesterday.
Zimbabwe had succumbed for 54 against South Africa on their last away Test tour in 2005, but they trumped even that ignominy at McLean Park, with a 51 all out in the first innings that lasted a shade under 29 overs. Tino Mawoyo and Forster Mutizwa were the first dominoes to fall, flailing wildly at Martin indippers that went on to disturb their stumps.
Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor and Tatenda Taibu continued the spectacular surrender, pushing hard outside off stump to provide the slips with a supply of edges. The visitors might have hoped to breach the follow-on target of 295, but not only did that seem a fanciful pipe dream at lunch, the rate of implosion suggested they wouldn’t even manage 40. New Zealand’s stand-in skipper employed no fewer than seven catching men in addition to the keeper at one stage, so keen were Zimbabwe’s batsmen to gift their scalps.
Malcolm Waller offered the only resistance amidst a procession of abysmal surrender, when he managed 23 before edging Tim Southee to the slips. At least he made a double figure score – something that evaded each of his teammates, who between them recorded three ducks, two twos and three threes.
Waller defied New Zealand for 42 balls – a paltry show in truth, but a rearguard given the context, with momentary support from Regis Chakabva and Graeme Cremer who stayed around for 20 and 23 balls respectively. Once those three were dismissed though, the tail bowed as meekly as those who had gone before them at the top of the innings, who in turn padded up again for the second time in two hours, only to return to the changing room shortly after.
Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/new-zealand-v-zimbabwe-2012/content/story/551285.html?CMP=OTC-RSS