BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, (Reuters) - West Indies batsman Wavell Hinds was left to rue what might have been his fifth Test century on the first day of the second Test against Zimbabwe yesterday.
The opener roared to 81 off 109 balls, smashing 12 fours and two sixes, before coming down the pitch to a delivery from left-arm spinner Ray Price and being easily stumped by wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu.
``I was set for a hundred but then I got myself out,'' Hinds told Reuters. ``I'll have to work on that very hard next time around.''
West Indies scored 282 for three on an easy-paced pitch before a thunderstorm washed out the last 27 overs of the day's play. Brian Lara looked set for a big innings on 77 not out, with Ramnaresh Sarwan on 46.
``It's a batsman's wicket, but you still need to apply yourself irrespective of the surface you play on,'' Hinds said.
``Zimbabwe bowled pretty decently to start with, but once you got stuck in it was pretty easy to score freely on that wicket.''
Hinds said his side would look to press home their advantage.
``Anywhere close to 500 would be a good shout and then we need to rustle up 20 Zimbabwean wickets, perhaps with spin on what could become a rough surface,'' he said.
The mood was less buoyant in the Zimbabwe camp after a day of bowling and fielding in stifling heat.
``It was a disappointing day for us,'' Zimbabwe coach Geoff Marsh told Reuters. ``We just didn't get the right line and length, and we allowed them to hit too many fours.
``When you've got a player like Brian Lara out there you can't afford to bowl badly.
``They also ran very well between the wickets and picked up some singles we should have stopped.''
Marsh agreed with Hinds's assessment of the pitch.
``It's a flat track, that's for sure, with a bit of turn in it and it looks as though it might break up,'' Marsh said. ``Batting later in the game is going to be difficult.''