Shillingford leads the way but visitors fight back

Shane Shillingford continued to impress, but half-centuries from Andy Blignaut, Craig Ervine and Tatenda Taibu saw Zimbabwe fight back in their four-day, first-class match against West Indies ‘A’ at the Queen’s Park Stadium in Grenada yesterday.



Off-spinner Shillingford captured four wickets for the second time in the match as Zimbabwe, trailing by 95 runs on first innings, reached 322 for seven in their second innings at the close of the third day.



Blignaut has so far top scored for Zimbabwe with an unbeaten 72 from 77 balls. Taibu had already put West Indies ‘A’ team under pressure with 59 from 110 balls including nine fours, and Ervine with six fours and one six scored 58 from 137.



Earlier, West Indies ‘A’ crumbled inside the first hour, after they continued from their overnight total of 254 for five. They were dismissed for 280 chasing Zimbabwe’s first innings total of 183.



Travis Downlin 84, Kirk Edwards 67, Kraigg Brathwaite 30 and Justin Guillen 25 were the main contributors for West Indies ‘A’.



Zimbabwe fast-medium bowler Christopher Mpofu ended with a career-best seven for 37 from 27.5 overs.



Scores in the match so far Zimbabwe 183 and 322 for seven, West Indies ‘A’ 280.