Ish Sodhi finished with seven wickets in the match as New Zealand wrapped up a 254-run victory over Zimbabwe in the second Test yesterday to sweep the series 2-0.
Although Zimbabwe showed some fight early on day five when nightwatchman Donald Tiripano and first-innings centurion Craig Ervine stood firm for the better part of 90 minutes, once they had fallen to some contentious umpiring decisions the hosts folded quickly.
Sodhi’s leg-spin claimed three of the last four wickets to go down, while part-timer Martin Guptill finished with figures of 3 for 11 as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 132 in their second innings at the Queen’s Sports Club.
“We knew it was going to be especially tough to take 20 wickets on this surface, so I think a lot of credit needs to go to the bowlers for managing to do that,” reflected New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, a centurion in the tourists’ huge first-innings 582 for four declared.
Zimbabwe were all out for 362 in reply before New Zealand declared their second innings on 166 for two. Zimbabwe started the day on 58 for three, and while their official target was 387 for victory, a face-saving draw was their real aim.
That goal began to look within their grasp when Tiripano and Ervine batted out the first 22 overs of the day, seeing off everything that the New Zealand seamers could throw at them.
However, first Tiripano was given out lbw to left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner for 22 when the ball looked to be missing leg stump, then Ervine was adjudged caught behind off Guptill for 27.
Replays confirmed that Ervine had not made contact with the ball as it turned past his outside edge. Australian Paul Reiffel was the umpire on both occasions, and produced another questionable decision after the lunch interval when Graeme Cremer was given out lbw to Guptill despite a clear inside edge.
Sodhi went on to clean up the tail and finish off the match, leaving New Zealand to look forward to a two-Test series against South Africa that begins in Durban on August 19. “There were some really good things that we can take from this,” said Williamson. “The way the seamers bowled was fantastic, our batsmen spent a lot of time in the middle and the way the spinners performed was also pleasing.”
Williamson was pleased with the way his spinners came through after the seamers and the batsmen set the match up in the three previous innings.
“We could tell the wicket was deteriorating. It was a little bit slower than the first surface and it was breaking up,” he assessed.
“We were fortunate that the wicket was extremely tough to bat on today. It was nice to see our seamers out in the yards on a surface that did not offer a huge amount lot but also the spinners to take control in that last innings. That’s always what you want to see in a Test match, the spinners taking control at the end.”
Despite another heavy loss, Zimbabwe could reflect on an improved effort from the first Test, which they lost by an innings inside four days. The hosts went into that game after a 20-month hiatus from Test cricket.
“When you don’t play enough cricket you can come into a Test match and be shellshocked, and that’s what happened,” said captain Cremer.
“I knew the guys were going to fight back in this game. It was good to see guys learn and be willing to get stuck in.”
“There are a lot of people in the system now who have realised that we need to play more cricket,” he said. “We are heading in the right direction, if we can keep getting a lot more cricket. We are getting some A team tours and our first-class structure is going to be a lot longer.”

Scoreboard
New Zealand I innings: 582/4 decl
Zimbabwe I innings: 362 all out
New Zealand II innings: 166/2 decl
Zimbabwe II innings
T. Mawoyo lbw b Boult  35
C. Chibhabha c Guptill b Wagner  21
Sikandar Raza lbw b Southee  0
D. Tiripano lbw b Santner  22
C. Ervine c Watling b Guptill  27
P. Masvaure c Taylor b Sodhi 1 1
S. Williams c Williamson b Guptill  11
P. Moor lbw b Sodhi  1
G. Cremer lbw b Guptill  1
J. Nyumbu not out  0
M. Chinouya c Williamson b Sodhi  0
Extras (1b, 2lb)  3
Total (all out, 68.4 overs)  132
Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Chibhabha), 2-58 (Mawoyo), 3-58 (Sikandar Raza), 4-97 (Tiripano), 5-112 (Ervine), 6-130 (Williams), 7-131 (Moor), 8-132 (Cremer), 9-132 (Masvaure), 10-132 (Chinouya)
Bowling: Southee 14-7-35-1, Boult 12-4-26-1, Wagner 12-5-23-1, Santner 12-4-15-1, Sodhi 11.4-5-19-3, Guptill 7-4-11-3.
Result: New Zealand won by 254 runs
Series: New Zealand won the 2-match series 2-0.