Zimbabwe bowlers leave match evenly poised

An 89 from Khurram Manzoor, the Pakistan Academy captain, held the innings together in response to Zimbabwe Board XI's 328 at the Harare Sports Club. The Zimbabwe bowlers capped a satisfactory day in the field to keep the visitors in check with five wickets, an improvement after they failed to build on their overnight score of 300 for 6. Pakistan ended the second day with a deficit of 82.

Trevor Garwe, the seamer, was rewarded for his continued probing before lunch when he had Umar Ameen caught behind for 23. Garwe was, however, fortunate to claim Raheel Majeed, adjudged lbw to a delivery that appeared to sail over the top of leg stump. Majeed registered his disapproval with the umpire before walking.

Manzoor added some stability to the innings by patiently holding one end up. He saw off the shine of the new ball but threw his wicket away by trying to take on Graeme Cremer. After lofting the previous ball for four over the bowler's head, he miscued the next to backward square-leg and was caught by Samuel Mwakayeni.

The Zimbabwe bowlers performed better than they did in the first game, but were not able to pick wickets at regular intervals. That prompted the captain Cremer to keep rotating his bowlers.