Stand-in captain Dwayne Bravo hit 45 runs in 24 balls to see the West Indies home after the tourists flirted with danger in their third one-day international in Harare on Tuesday.
Bravo’s knock helped the West Indies to take their score to 142-4 in just 27.5 overs, and this has given them a series lead of 2-1 with two to play in the five-match series.
It had all looked so comfortable for the tourists when they bowled out the Zimbabweans for a measly 139 runs in 37.5 overs following a late morning start to the match.
There had been a 75-minute delay following morning rain. And so Bravo had no hesitation when winning the toss in asking the home side to bat on a humid wicket that had been under covers.
But West Indies made heavy weather of their reply and at 82-4, still 58 runs short of target, some of their players and officials at Harare Sports Club were beginning to have anxieties.
Bravo, replacing the injured Chris Gayle as captain, came to the wicket relishing the challenge, however, and he finished off the home side with abandon.
The sides’ next two matches will be staged at Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, 450km to the south-west, where water supply is being rationed to 18 hours a week, power cuts are long and frequent, but where runs should be plentiful on usually excellent, though slowish, wickets.
This could be helpful to the Zimbabweans, whose diminishing batting performances after stunning West Indies on the first day of the tour signify a trend that has haunted them since being deprived of top-level cricket about three years ago.
Coach Robin Brown, who sat in dejected posture throughout the match on Tuesday, has hard work ahead with spirits to lift and technique to impart, or re-impart, to his charges.
And the West Indies, who were concerned at their indifferent form four days ago, are gaining in confidence as their tour of South Africa approaches, even though their opponents here have been notoriously fragile in the recent past.
Other individual successes for West Indies were by Runako Morton, who added 38 to his previous scores of 55 and 79, Jerome Taylor who took 3-18 runs in 9.5 overs and Darren Powell with 3-32.
It was debut day for new opening batsman Brenton Parchment, but he made only a modest 15 runs. — AFP
