Zimbabwe A – 195 all out in 49 overs (Johnathan Campbell 72, Ainsley Ndlovu 27, Roy Kaia 19; Stanley McAlindon 3/34, Ben Raine 2/40, Colin Ackermann 1/5)
Durham – 187-6 in 40 overs (Colin Ackermann 81*, Scott Borthwick 53, Ben Raine 25*; Ainsley Ndlovu 4/43, Victor Nyauchi 1/35, Cuthbert Musoko 1/46)
Day 1 – Stumps: Durham trail by eight runs
Johnathan Campbell and Ainsley Ndlovu stood out for Zimbabwe A on a day of tumbling wickets as their first three-day match against the English county Durham got underway at Harare Sports Club on Thursday.
Campbell propped up a faltering Zimbabwean innings, with help from Ndlovu, whose bowling was to trouble the tourists during the afternoon.
Zimbabwe A decided to bat first on winning the toss, and were soon in trouble.
Nkosana Mpofu quickly went for six, while Matthew Welch briefly looked good, hitting three successive fours, before he was caught at the wicket for 14, and both openers were out to Stanley McAlindon for 27.
Wickets fell steadily, as Brian Bennett went for seven, Tadiwanashe Marumani for three and Roy Kaia for 19.
Campbell by way of contrast was in superb form from the start, striking a stream of fours while his partners struggled.
He put on 40 with Clive Madande, who made eight of them, and 27 with Donald Tiripano (14).
Campbell finally miscued an attempted hook and skyed a catch off McAlindon, having scored 72 off only 64 balls, including 13 fours.
Ndlovu was the only other batter to reach 20, making 27 before he was run out.
Zimbabwe A were all out for 195, which appeared to be a poor effort against the county team.
McAlindon with three for 34 off only eight overs was the most successful bowler.
When Durham batted, they lost Michael Jones to the first ball of the innings – he edged a catch to the wicketkeeper and sportingly walked off without even a look at the umpire.
Durham are known for their aggressive batting approach, and Scott Borthwick quickly hammered Musoko for four successive fours.
The tourists reached 45 in the eighth over before Ben McKinney was caught off Cuthbert Musoko for 18.
Colin Ackermann then joined Borthwick and they raced past the hundred mark with only two wickets down.
Then Borthwick became Ndlovu’s first victim, bowled out for 53, scored off 69 balls with seven fours.
In five overs from Ndlovu, Durham lost Jonathan Bushell, Graham Clark and Haydon Mustard in quick succession, and the county side found themselves six wickets down for 153.
However, Ackermann was still there, and Ben Raine showed better form, so by the close Durham had reached 187 for six wickets in 40 overs, just eight runs short of taking the lead.
Ackermann was still there with 81 off 86 balls to his credit, while Raine had 25.
