Zimbabweans earn a day off

The Zimbabweans earned a day off by winning their first tour game with a day to spare - but they had to put in a spot of overtime to do so. It was around 7.30pm when Dion Ebrahim and Mark Vermeulen reached the target of 34 without being separated. That Zimbabwe had to bat again at all was almost entirely down to Ed Cowan, an Oxford Brookes student who has played for Australia Under-19s. He batted for 223 minutes and made 137*, his maiden first-class hundred, with 20 fours and three sixes. The next-highest score was 27. Andy Blignaut got in some useful match practice, taking 4 for 89, but really it was Cowan's day.