Williams, Tiripano record highest 9th wicket partnership of 21st century, Rashid Khan bowls most overs in a match

The Zimbabwean pair of Sean Willimas and Donald Tiripano achieved a rare feat in the ongoing second Test match against Afghanistan. They both stitched a partnership of 187 runs for the ninth wicket, making it the highest ninth-wicket partnership of the 21st century and the third highest ninth-wicket partnership in the history of Test cricket. 

Following on after getting dismissed for 287 in the first innings in reply to Afghanistan’s mammoth 545, Zimbabwe were struggling at 142-7. Tiripano, 32 then joined skipper Williams in the middle and the two steadily pulled the gold and red out of the clutches of an innings defeat. Not only the two played out the entire fourth day, but also pushed the game past lunch. 

While Willimas remained unbeaten on 151, Tiripano, after scoring his first fifty, missed out on a maiden hundred after getting out antagonisingly, leg before wicket off the bowling of Rashid Khan on 95. Their stand of 187 is just 11 less than the highest partnership achieved by South Africa’s Mark Boucher and PL Symcox against Pakistan in 1998. 

Another feat achieved in the game was by Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan who bowled 99.2 overs in this match, the most by any bowler in the 21st century. The record for most overs bowled by a bowler in a Test match stands with West Indian spinner Sonny Ramadhin. 

As far as the match is concerned, Afghanistan needing 108 to win the match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, and level the series, were 89-2 at the time of writing this news.