Hamilton Masakadza celebrates after scoring his fifth Test century

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Zimbabwe opener Hamilton Masakadza scored an unbeaten 101 to rescue his side from a precarious position against the West Indies on the opening day of the second Test in Bulawayo.

Prior to this, Masakadza had not reached the triple-figure mark in the longest format since his 158 against Bangladesh in Khulna in November 2014.

Choosing to bat first, Zimbabwe were dealt an early blow as opener Solomon Mire was caught behind off the bowling of Kemar Roach for four runs in the fourth over.

Craig Ervine failed to trouble the scorers as he was clean bowled by Shannon Gabriel in the seventh over.

To make matters worse, Brendan Taylor was trudging back to the pavilion three overs later as he was cleaned up by Roach for one run.

With Zimbabwe in serious trouble at 14/3, Masakadza and Peter Moor turned the tables on the West Indies as they amassed a 142-run partnership, during which both batsmen brought up their fifties.

However, just when everything seemed to be going swimmingly for Zimbabwe, Moor was clean bowled by Roston Chase for 52, which came off 155 balls and included three boundaries.

Despite losing Moor, Masakadza went on to bring up his hundred during the unbeaten 13-run stand he put together with Sikandar Raza. But shortly after doing so, the rain came and since it didn’t relent, the umpires brought play to an end for the day.

Masakadza finished on 101 off 171 balls, which included nine boundaries and two sixes, while Raza remained undefeated on nine off 14 deliveries, which included a boundary.

Roach was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets, while Gabriel and Chase chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Zimbabwe ended day one on 169/4 and will continue batting on Monday at 09:30 local time or 07:30 GMT.