The West Indies cricket team and the Zimbabwe cricket team have a brief history of facing each other in Test matches. While these matches have been few and far between, the Caribbean side has dominated the fixture.

The first West Indies vs Zimbabwe Test was played in March 2000 at the Port of Spain. Legendary pacer Curtly Ambrose picked up seven wickets in a low-scoring match to hand the West Indian side the victory.

Overall, 12 Tests have been played between West Indies and Zimbabwe, the most recent at Bulawayo in February 2023, when West Indies won by an innings and 4 runs. Zimbabwe have never beaten West Indies in a Test: the Caribbean side have won eight and the other four were drawn. The first encounter, a 35-run defeat, remains the closest the Chevrons have come.

West Indies vs Zimbabwe head-to-head in Tests

Matches

West Indies won

Zimbabwe won

Draw

Tie

12

8

0

4

0

West Indies vs Zimbabwe Test records

Highest team total

While wins have eluded Zimbabwe in this fixture, the Chevrons hold the record for the highest team total. Zimbabwe smashed 563/9d in the second innings of the Harare Test in July 2001. Hamilton Masakadza was the headline-maker with 119 runs off 316 balls, while Craig Wishart and Andy Blignaut were dismissed in the 90s.

Zimbabwe also registered 507/9d at the same venue against the West Indies in November 2003.

Meanwhile, West Indies’ highest team total in this head-to-head is 559/6d, made at Bulawayo on the July 2001 tour of Zimbabwe. Chris Gayle, known for his T20 exploits, made 175 off 255 balls and captain Carl Hooper scored 149 in quick time.

Lowest team total

Zimbabwe registered the lowest team total in this fixture in Tests in the first-ever match between the two nations. The Chevrons were knocked over for 63 runs in the run chase, courtesy of Curtly Ambrose’s 3/8.

In fact, the African nation has six of the seven lowest team totals in this head-to-head.

West Indies’ lowest team total against Zimbabwe in this format is 128, registered at Bulawayo in November 2003. However, a mammoth first innings score of 481 set up a 128-run victory for the Brian Lara-led team.

Average first innings score

West Indies vs Zimbabwe Test matches have been a mixture of high-scoring and low-scoring encounters. The Caribbean nation has shown greater consistency with the bat over the years.

The average first-innings score in this fixture is 272, across 12 Test matches.

Most runs

West Indies’ Chris Gayle has scored the most runs in this fixture. The former opener scored 498 runs in eight matches, averaging 45.27. The Jamaican registered two centuries and one fifty in Tests against the Chevrons.

Zimbabwe’s Hamilton Masakadza is second on the list with 428 runs, followed by West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul (393) and Kraigg Brathwaite (335), who moved into the top five with 182 in the 2023 series. Zimbabwe’s Craig Wishart (331) completes the top five.

Most wickets

Ray Price, the former Zimbabwe left-arm spinner, leads the wicket-taking charts in this head-to-head. In only five matches, Price took 24 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls, at a stunning economy rate of 2.82.

His countryman Heath Streak follows with 21 wickets in six Tests. West Indies spinners Shane Shillingford and Gudakesh Motie are next with 19 wickets each, both in just two matches; Shillingford’s came at an average of 10.52 and Motie’s at 13.63.

The top 10 features eight West Indians and two Zimbabweans.

Highest individual score

West Indies’ Tagenarine Chanderpaul, notched the highest individual score in the West Indies vs Zimbabwe Tests. The southpaw smashed unbeaten 207 runs off 467 balls at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo in February 2023.

West Indians’ Brian Lara (191), Kraigg Brathwaite (182), Chris Gayle (175) along with Caribbean all-rounder Carl Hooper (149) complete the top five.

Best bowling figures in an innings

Gudakesh Motie holds the best bowling figures in this fixture: 7/37 in Zimbabwe’s first innings at Bulawayo in February 2023. He followed it with 6/62 in the second innings of the same Test as West Indies won by an innings.

The only other six-wicket hauls belong to Shane Shillingford, the West Indies off-spinner, who took 6/49 at Bridgetown in March 2013, and Ray Price, whose 6/73 came at Harare in November 2003. Shillingford took three five-wicket hauls in the fixture and Price two.

The other five-wicket hauls in this fixture are Heath Streak’s 5/27 (2000), Reon King’s 5/51 (2000), Kyle Jarvis’s 5/54 (2013), Victor Nyauchi’s 5/56 (2023), Devendra Bishoo’s 5/79 (2017), Sikandar Raza’s 5/99 (2017), Fidel Edwards’s 5/133 (2003) and Brandon Mavuta’s 5/140 (2023).

Best bowling figures in a match

Motie’s 13/99 in that February 2023 Test at Bulawayo is the best match return in West Indies-Zimbabwe Tests. Shillingford and Price are the only other bowlers with a 10-wicket haul: Shillingford took 10/93 at Roseau in March 2013, and Price 10/161 at Harare in November 2003.

Shillingford (9/107 at Bridgetown) and Price (9/235 at Bulawayo) have also taken nine wickets in a match, as have Streak (9/72 at Port of Spain) and Devendra Bishoo (9/184 at Bulawayo).

Highest partnership

Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul hold the record for the highest partnership in this head-to-head. The West Indian pair registered a 336-run stand in the first Test of the 2023 Zimbabwe tour.

Daren Ganga and Chris Gayle’s opening stand of 214 at Bulawayo in 2001 ranks second, and Shane Dowrich and Jason Holder’s 212 for the eighth wicket at Bulawayo in 2017 third.

Murray Goodwin and Andy Flower scored 176 runs while batting together at Kingston in March 2000. It remains the highest partnership by a Zimbabwean pair.

 

Photo credits: Alamy