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Zimbabwe secured a historic victory on home soil, defeating Afghanistan by an innings and 73 runs at the Harare Sports Club to claim their first home Test win since 2013 and record their biggest-ever Test triumph.Richard Ngarava was the star of the match, taking his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests and finishing with figures of 5-37 in the second innings. His relentless accuracy under overcast skies helped seal the innings victory, with Zimbabwe dominating the match from early on.
Captain Craig Ervine praised his side’s performance, saying, “I’m ecstatic. A lot of credit to the boys for fighting and winning to end a tough year of Test cricket. Then with the bat, Curran’s innings — full of composure and discipline — was outstanding. Brad (Evans) with the five-for in the first innings, and Richie (Ngarava) stepped up in the second innings. TK (Chivanga) was superb and Bless (Muzarabani) was unlucky not to take a few more wickets.” Afghanistan struggled throughout, with their top order unable to withstand the Zimbabwean pace attack. Chivanga and Muzarabani supported Ngarava with key breakthroughs, while Muzarabani wrapped up the tail with precise yorkers and clean bowling. Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi admitted the early collapse proved decisive. “They played really good cricket, it was supporting the fast bowlers. We started the Test well with 80 for 1 in the first innings, but that collapse let us down. I feel the lack of our Test-playing experience cost us since we kept losing back-to-back wickets,” he said. Ben Curran led Zimbabwe’s innings with a composed 121, supported by Sikandar Raza’s 65, earning Curran the Player of the Match award.
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Zimbabwe will now turn their attention to the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, starting October 29.Brief scores: Afghanistan 127 & 159 (Ibrahim Zadran 42, Bahir Shah 32; Richard Ngarava 5-37, Blessing Muzarabani 4-38) lost to Zimbabwe 359 (Ben Curran 121, Sikandar Raza 65; Ziaur Rahman Sharifi 7-97) by an innings & 73 runs.
