Record-Breaking Start for the Chevrons in Sri Lanka Test

   courtesy of espn cricinfo

By Perkins Bare

The Chevrons got off to astrong start in Day 1 of their first Test against Sri Lanka as they closed off the day at 182-9 at the Harare Sports Club yesterday. The match saw the Chevrons having the opening batsmen,1-3 posting half-centuries in a Test Match which certainly got them off to a great start.

Kevin Kasuza and Prince Masvaure opened the batting for the Chevrons and they went on to post  a partnership of 96 for the opening wicket. The Chevrons went straight for a defensive approach after they opted to bat and managed to close Day 1 on 182-2.

This will be a good start for the Chevrons as the extra wickets will come in handy on the second day in racking up those runs and hopefully setting up a strong lead. Kevin Kasuza (63) was playing his first Test whilst Prince Masvaure (55) was only playing his second Test.

    courtesy of france24

After the dismissal Craig Ervine then came in to partner up with the debutant Kevin Kasuza and then propel him to 55 before he departed as well. One thing that stood out was Ervine’s maturity going to the crease as he took his time to settle in and not lose his wicket early on but then also being aggressive and not being shy to bang the bad balls away for a six. This maturity will be surely be needed in the team going forward as its a relatively inexperienced team in Tests.

With the outfield playing out slow, this is will be the biggest challenge for the Chevrons but the good thing is that Ervine will start the day on Day 2 with Brendan Taylor. He seems to have worled on his strenght and Taylor on the other hand can also be a big hitter.

The other thing is that this innings has sort of helped out in the Chevrons parterships because we had 96 for the first wicket and then 70 for the second wicket which shows that they’re being able to slowly build those partnerships and it will  be interesting to see how Taylor and Ervine play it out on Day 2.

The pitch on the other hand seems to be quick as the fastbowlers from Sri Lankan side seemed to be terrorising the Chevrons especially Kevin Kasuza, who got hit in the head at some point. This then saw bowlers like Lakmal finishing with an economy of 1.20 whilst the highest for the day was 3.29 from Lasith Embuldeniya who also had the wicket of Prince Masvaure.

Taylor and Ervine will open the day at the crease whilst Regis Chakabva, Sikander Raza and the captain Sean Williams are yet to bat.