BULAWAYO: Pakistan were on the verge of victory here on Sunday after an
astonishing collapse by hosts Zimbabwe in their second innings of the
one-off test match saw them go to tea on 56-5 It left the hosts just two runs ahead of the tourists, who had been dismissed for 466 just after lunch.The only consolation would have been that they had passed their lowest Test total, 54 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2005.The
Zimbabweans had more than held their own over the first three days but
it seemed to have taken its toll as their top order batsmen surrendered
their wickets all too easily with captain Brendan Taylor out for five
for his sixth successive failure.Tinotenda Mawoyo was the only one to even reach double figures as he went for 12, but that was as good as it got.Saeed
Ajmal and Aizaz Cheema took two wickets apiece while Mohammad Hafeez
delivered a heavy blow to the hosts when he trapped Craig Ervine leg
before shortly before the interval.Earlier the Pakistani batsmen had thrown caution to the wind as they upped the scoring rate to go into lunch on 460-8.Beginning
the session on 357-5 and looking for a big lead to put Zimbabwe under
pressure, Pakistan lost three wickets, including the pivotal wicket of
Younis Khan, who only added 27 to his overnight score of 61.He
was caught somewhat fortuitously at first slip by Taylor off veteran
spinner Raymond Price, the ball first bouncing off wicketkeeper Tatenda
Taibu's pad.Umar Akmal survived a TV review of a run-out
appeal but he failed to capitalise on that reprieve as he was caught
soon afterwards by Taylor off Gregory Lamb for 15.Sohail Khan was then caught by Lamb on the mid-wicket boundary off Christopher Mpofu for 11.Khan
had been dropped at gully by Hamilton Masakadza just beforehand the
sixth spilling of the innings - and he punished Masakadza by hitting the
next ball for a six Saeed Ajmal spent the last three overs
of the morning scoring quick runs but was eventually out for 28 after
lunch, bowled by the dependable Price.Zimbabwe's fielding in
general cost them dear throughout the innings and it showed no change
on Sunday as several elementary errors in the field cost them more runs
