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Latham, Williamson build on 169-run opening stand

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Tea New Zealand 206 for 1 (Latham 78*, Williamson 30*) v Zimbabwe
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

File photo – Tom Latham was solid at the crease once again © AFP

Martin Guptill was denied a fourth Test century but Zimbabwe could not stop New Zealand from continuing to build what looks likely to be an imposing first innings total. After Tom Latham and Guptill put on 169 for the first wicket, Kane Williamson joined Latham to take New Zealand’s total over 200 and set them up for a strong finish to the first day of the second Test.

Runs came easily for New Zealand against a Zimbabwe attack that lacked discipline, penetration and assistance from a flat Queens surface. Between them, Zimbabwe’s five bowlers overstepped seven times, conceded 22 fours and a six and bowled both sides of the wicket to leave New Zealand unchallenged. Not even the addition of a second specialist spinner, John Nyumbu, aided their quest to take more wickets and three other options – Prince Masvaure, Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams – went unused.

Zimbabwe retained the same pair of frontline quicks they had used in the first Test but Donald Tiripano and Michael Chinouya did not threaten the New Zealand openers at all. They allowed them to ease in with three overs of freebies, from overpitched deliveries to short and wide ones. Guptill found the boundary four times and the score had raced to 27.

The pair tightened up and got closer to off stump in the next four overs, which were all maidens, but the squeeze did not last long. Chinouya gave Latham his first boundary – a cover drive off a full delivery – and New Zealand continued to find gaps and rotate.

The introduction of spin in the 21st over, when captain Graeme Cremer brought himself on, had no impact on the scoring rate. Neither Cremer nor Nyumbu could find the turn that had troubled New Zealand in the first Test and Zimbabwe went to lunch wicketless, having conceded 101 runs.

Guptill reached his fifty two balls after the break and had added two more runs to his total when his innings could have ended. He threw his hands at width offered by Cremer and got a thick edge but debutant wicketkeeper PJ Moor was unable to hold on.

Latham’s fifty followed two overs later but the attention moved off the field and into the stands where the sizeable crowd was gearing up for a peaceful protest. In the 36th over, with the grandstand decked in Zimbabwe flags, they stood to sing the national anthem, followed by a chant of “Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.” Had you not known of the call for action made earlier this week, you may have wondered why fans were cheering a team that had yet to take a wicket and who were being milked.

Guptill took on the spin and seemed to be hurtling towards a hundred when, against the run of play, Tiripano got one to beat the inside edge and rap Guptill on the pads, trapping him lbw. That was the 16th time, out of 19 fifty-plus scores, that Guptill was unable to convert to three figures.

The scoring rate barely slowed after Guptill’s departure as Williamson quietly settled in and Latham worked his way to what would be a second successive century in the series.

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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