ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Rampant West Indies were propelled by another five-wicket haul from off-spinner Shane Shillingford as they routed Zimbabwe by an innings and 65 runs here yesterday, to complete an emphatic clean sweep of the two-Test series.
Shillingford captured five for 34 to send Zimbabwe crashing to 141 all out, half-hour before tea on the third day, surrendering meekly in the second Test at Windsor Park.
Classy opener Vusi Sibanda resisted with a polished 35 while Graeme Cremer and Malcolm Waller both got 20, but no other batsman showed enough mettle to stand up to the Windies attack.
Part-time off-spinner Marlon Samuels weighed in with three for 35 to follow up a similar first innings effort, and finish the series with ten wickets following his four-wicket haul in the first Test at Bridgetown last week.
Shillingford, meanwhile, snared ten for 93 in the game to take Man-of-the-Match honours and finished with 19 wickets in the series to nail the Man-of-the-Series award.
Zimbabwe were always facing an uphill battle once West Indies declared at their overnight 381 for eight, leaving them 206 runs behind on first innings.
They denied the hosts any early breakthrough, however, as Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza put on 37 for the first wicket.
Sibanda shone in his 57-ball knock with five fours and a six – a swept shot off Shillingford that cleared the ropes at square leg – while Masakadza hit 17 off 36 balls with three boundaries.
Fast bowler Tino Best eventually accounted for Masakadza to a leg-side catch that gave wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin his 150th victim. The decision was initially given not out, but overturned on review.
Ironically just three balls earlier, Masakadza had been given out, also caught behind, but gained a reprieve through the DRS.
Once again, Sibanda exuded class, epitomised in two superb consecutive cover-driven boundaries off fast bowler Shannon Gabriel. He added 27 for the second wicket with his captain Brendan Taylor who made just seven, as Zimbabwe tried to rebuild.
Once Shillingford was introduced 45 minutes before lunch, the complexion of the contest changed.
He got the final delivery of his third over to bounce and Taylor failed to keep down his defensive prod, giving Kieran Powell an easy catch at short leg.
With no runs added three balls later in the next over, Sibanda gifted his wicket with a slack stroke, playing across a straight one from captain and medium pacer Darren Sammy, and falling lbw on the back foot at 64 for three.
Debutant Sean Williams tried to survive until the break but failed as he was caught at point by Shiv Chanderpaul in the final over before lunch, top edging a cut off one from Shillingford that also bounced.
Perched on 77 for four at the interval, Zimbabwe’s slide continued afterward when Shillingford had the left-handed Craig Ervine (8) brilliantly caught at slip by Chris Gayle, one-handed diving to his left. Tottering on 92 for five, Zimbabwe slumped even further when Sammy picked up Tino Mawoyo at leg slip off Shillingford without scoring, with just four runs added to the total. Cremer and Waller then delayed the inevitable by adding 18 for the seventh wicket, with both batsmen striking some lusty blows. Given out lbw offering no stroke to Samuels before he had scored, Cremer escaped via the DRS to whack the next delivery to the mid-wicket boundary before later on, clearing long on with Shillingford.
Waller faced 30 balls and struck two fours but was Samuels’s first wicket when he was snapped up at leg slip by Sammy. Cremer’s resistance ended when he charged Shillingford and clipped a catch to Samuels at mid-wicket, giving the bowler his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests.
In the next over, Samuels knocked over Kyle Jarvis (1) and Tendai Chatara (0) with the first two balls of his over, to hand West Indies their sixth straight Test victory.
Scoreboard
ZIMBABWE 1st Innings 175
WEST INDIES 1st Innings 381 for eight decl.
ZIMBABWE 2nd innings
V Sibanda lbw b Sammy 35
H Masakadza c wkp Ramdin b Best 17
*+B Taylor c Powell b Shillingford 7
C Ervine c Gayle b Shillingford 8
S Williams c Chanderpaul b Shillingford 6
M Waller c Sammy b Samuels 20
T Mawoyo c Sammy b Shillingford 0
G Cremer c Samuels b Shillingford 20
P Utseya not out 10
K Jarvis c Sammy b Samuels 1
T Chatara c Gabriel b Samuels 0
Extras (b8, lb 9) 17
TOTAL (all out; 42.2 overs) 141
Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-64, 3-64, 4-73, 5-92, 6-96, 7-114, 8-138, 9-141, 10-141.
Bowling: Best 7-2-11-1, Roach 3-0-12-0, Gabriel 3-0-19-0, Shillingford 15-4-34-5, Sammy 5-1-13-1, Samuels 9.2-0-35-3.
Result: West Indies won by an innings and 65 runs.
Series: West Indies win two-match series 2-0.
Man-of-the-Match: Shane Shillingford.
Man-of-the-Series: Shane Shillingford.
Toss: West Indies.
Umpires: A Hill, R Martinesz; TV – B Oxenford.
