Player of the Match
Player of the Match

END OF OVER:
43 | (wicket maiden) | AFG: 159/10

  • Yamin Ahmadzai13 (19b)
  • Blessing Muzarabani12-1-48-3
  • Richard Ngarava13-2-37-5

Ervine and his Zimbabwean players are all smiles as they pose with the trophy for winning this one-off Test match. That's all we have from our live coverage of this game. Sreshth's report should be up soon for you to read. But for now, on behalf of Sreshth and our scorer Chetan, this is Aaditya Narayan signing off. Take care, stay safe, goodbye.

And now, it's time to hear from the Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine: I'm ecstatic. A lot of credit to the boys for fighting hard throughout the year. It's a nice end to a tough year for Test cricket. Winning the toss was the first piece of the puzzle. The way we started in the first hour wasn't great, but the way the bowlers came back in the second hour, we built some real momentum. Very impressed with the batting. On a wicket that offered a little bit throughout, I thought it was a brilliant effort with the bat from the boys. The guys have learnt a fair bit over the last few months, playing the amount of Test cricket that we did. The bowlers were outstanding. I thought Brad in the first innings obviously picked up five-fer. Richie stepped up in the second innings and picked up a five-fer. Blessing was a bit unfortunate to not have picked up more wickets. It's very special. Earlier on in the year, when we won a Test match in Sylhet, I'd waited 14 years for that win. Now it's nice to come home, to Harare Sports Club, and get the win here."

Ben Curran is the Player of the Match. "Obviously delighted with the personal performance, but to get a win in such a manner, just very thrilled. Coming back from the injury that I had in England, coming straight into a Test match against New Zealand was hard. I was undercooked. It gave me time to make plans, and luckily it worked out well for me. I'll thank our batting coach, I made a few changes, you've got to make the changes if you want to succeed."

Here's the Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi: "Yeah, first off all, they played really good cricket. The conditions were supporting the fast bowlers, ball was seaming around. We didn't play good cricket. We wanted to bat first. The first hour, we were 80/1. The collapse after that let us down as a team. I think when we gave back-to-back wickets and didn't recover well. It was because of less experience of playing Test cricket. In Test cricket, the first day is very important, that gives you momentum looking forward. Zia bowled really well. When we played first class cricket, we played in the same team. I felt there he was ready for the Test format. Hopefully, he carries on the same way, and plays long for Afghanistan in the future."

The presentation ceremony will follow in just a bit.

Azweer : "Disappointing performance from Afghanistan." -- Quite the understatement, that.

Sampath chimes in: This is only Zimbabwe's third win by an innings in their Test history. The previous two came against Pakistan in 1995 here at the Harare Sports Club, and against Bangladesh in 2001 at Bulawayo.

What a performance from Zimbabwe. They have been in command right from Day 1, for their first Test win at home since 2013. Brad Evans' five-fer set the tone on that Day 1, as Afghanistan were bowled out for 127. Ben Curran scored a superb century to lead Zimbabwe to 359. And then there was today's Richard Ngarava show. His maiden Test five-fer was a superb display of skillful Test match bowling.

So many positives for Zimbabwe to take from this Test match. For Afghanistan, Ziaur Rahman Sharifi's dream debut spell, where he picked up seven wickets, will be what they take home from this game. Their Test match batting has been found really wanting in this game. That's where they'll have to improve, but for now, they'll move to more familiar environments with the T20 series that begins next week.

42.6
W
Muzarabani to Ziaur Rahman, OUT, There it is! Zimbabwe win! Muzarabani finishes it off with a perfect yorker, as the ball clatters into the base of middle stump.

Ziaur Rahman b Muzarabani 0 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0

42.5
0
Muzarabani to Ziaur Rahman, no run, Yorker on off stump, dug out into the offside.
42.4
0
Muzarabani to Ziaur Rahman, no run, Big appeal. Not given. Was a yorker just outside off stump, Sharifi looks to dig it out. Makes no contact on it. Tsiga takes and asks the question, umpire Holdstock says no.

Zia-Ur-Rahman Sharifi is the last batter in for Afghanistan, who have down with a bit of a whimper.

42.3
W
Muzarabani to Khalil Gurbaz, OUT, That was coming. Muzarabani goes full and straight. Khalil backs away and misses a slog again, this time Muzarabani has got the line perfect for the ball to clatter into leg-stump.

Khalil Gurbaz b Muzarabani 6 (13m 7b 1x4 0x6) SR: 85.71

42.2
0
Muzarabani to Khalil Gurbaz, no run, Goes full, just outside off stump, Khalil gets the front leg out of the way, and looks to smash it down the ground. He's beaten again.
42.1
0
Muzarabani to Khalil Gurbaz, no run, Bouncer. Khalil looks to slog across the line. Misses. Becoming a bit of a pattern, this.

Muzarabani is back.

END OF OVER:
42 | 4 Runs | AFG: 159/8

  • Yamin Ahmadzai13 (19b)
  • Khalil Gurbaz6 (4b)
  • Richard Ngarava13-2-37-5
  • Tanaka Chivanga11-1-40-2
41.6
0
Ngarava to Yamin Ahmadzai, no run, Bouncer that follows Yamin, the ball bounces over his attempted hoick across the line.
41.5
0
Ngarava to Yamin Ahmadzai, no run, Back of a length on middle and leg. Yamin dances down the track and looks to slog across the line, misses it.
41.4
0
Ngarava to Yamin Ahmadzai, no run, Dropped on his follow-through by Ngarava. Back of a length around off stump, Yamin bunts it straight back to Ngarava, around chest height, he doesn't get his hands up in time, and the ball pops out off the edge of the fingers.
41.3
0
Ngarava to Yamin Ahmadzai, no run, Short and wide, a big flash from Yamin, misses it. 'Oh come on,' is the shout from Curran at short leg.

Afghanistan 3rd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st10Ibrahim ZadranAbdul Malik (1)
2nd33Ibrahim ZadranRahmanullah Gurbaz
3rd16Hashmatullah ShahidiIbrahim Zadran
4th1Hashmatullah ShahidiBahir Shah
5th49Afsar ZazaiBahir Shah
6th18Afsar ZazaiIsmat Alam
7th8Sharafuddin AshrafIsmat Alam
8th7Yamin AhmadzaiSharafuddin Ashraf
9th17Yamin AhmadzaiKhalil Gurbaz