BULAWAYO: Daryl Mitchell hit 80 as New Zealand took a first innings lead of 158 runs before claiming two late wickets on the second day of the first Test against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club on Thursday. Zimbabwe were 31 for two at the close, still 127 runs short of making New Zealand bat again. It was a disappointing end to the day for the home side, who fought back strongly before Mitchell re-asserted New Zealand’s control. Fast bowlers Blessing Muzarabani and Tanaka Chivanga extracted pace and bounce from the pitch as New Zealand slipped from their overnight 92 for no wicket to 233 for seven in reply to Zimbabwe’s first innings total of 149. Muzarabani had Will Young caught at short leg for 41 off the first ball of the day and followed up with two more wickets to finish with three for 73. Chivanga (two for 51) dismissed top-scorer Devon Conway (88) and Tom Blundell in successive overs as Zimbabwe entertained hopes of restricting New Zealand’s lead to around 100. But Nathan Smith provided dogged support for Mitchell as the pair batted through until tea and then saw off the second new ball. The pair added 61 runs before Smith was forced to retire hurt with an abdominal injury after scoring 22 off 79 balls. Smith did not field when Zimbabwe star-ted their second innings, which suggested the injury could prevent him from bowling on Friday. Mitchell was last man out after facing 119 balls and hitting five fours and a six. Faced with just under an hour to bat until the close, Zimbabwe made a promising start, with Brian Bennett and Ben Curran putting on 25 for the first wicket. But Matt Henry, who took six for 39 in the first innings, made the breakthrough with a bou-ncer to Curran (11) which the left-hander top-edged to fine leg. Five balls later Will O’Rourke had Bennett caught behind for 18, leaving Zimbabwe with a massive task if they are to take the match into a fourth day, let alone avoiding their seventh defeat in nine Test matches since last December. ZIMBABWE (1st Innings) 149 (C. Ervine 39; M. Henry 6-39) NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings, overnight 92-0): W. Young c Welch b Muzarabani 41 D. Conway c Bennett b Chivanga 88 H. Nicholls c Bennett b Muzarabani 34 R. Ravindra c Ervine b Raza 2 D. Mitchell b Nyamhuri 80 T. Blundell c Williams b Chivanga 2 M. Bracewell c Tsiga b Muzarabani 9 M. Santner c&b Masekesa 19 N. Smith retired hurt 22 M. Henry b Williams 5 W. O’Rourke not out 0 EXTRAS (LB-4, W-1) 5 TOTAL (all out, 96.1 overs) 307 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-92 (Young), 2-158 (Nicholls), 3-163 (Ravindra), 4-177 (Conway), 5-181 (Blundell), 6-200 (Bracewell), 7-233 (Santner), 8-307 (Henry), 9-307 (Mitchell) BOWLING: Muzarabani 26-5-73-3, Chivanga 18-3-51-2 (1w), Nyamhuri 16.1-2-64-1, Raza 20-2-63-1, Williams 7-1-23-1, Masekesa 9-1-29-1 ZIMBABWE (2nd Innings): B. Bennett c Blundell b O’Rourke 18 B. Curran c O’Rourke b Henry 11 N. Welch not out 2 V. Masekesa not out 0 TOTAL (for two wickets, 13 overs) 31 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-25 (Curran), 2-29 (Bennett) STILL TO BAT: S. Williams, C. Ervine, S. Raza, T. Tsiga, N. Nyamhuri, B. Muzarabani, T. Chivanga BOWLING: Henry 4-0-11-1, O’Rourke 4-1-18-1, Bracewell 3-2-1-0, Santner 2-1-1-0 Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2025