Chanderpaul hits ton as Windies draw

Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit a solid century

Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit an unbeaten ton as the West Indies warmed up for the first Test against England on Thursday with a draw against Zimbabwe.

The match came to a quiet close as Zimbabwe closed on 108 for one having been set a target of 333 from just 39 overs.

The West Indies, resuming on 12 without loss, did not declare until shortly after 3pm having reached 200 for five.

This was the first time in 105 years of cricket at Arundel that two international sides had played each other, and Chanderpaul provided the highlight on the last day with his solid knock.

Dominated

The 25-year-old left-hander hammered 18 boundaries from 149 deliveries and dominated half-century stands with skipper Jimmy Adams and Mahendra Nagamootoo.

Zimbabwe used seven bowlers not including Neil Johnson and Mluleki Nkala, who were injured, but were unable to stem the flow of runs from the West Indies.

Zimbabwe would have been left a target of 263 had West Indies called a halt when Ridley Jacobs was trapped leg before by pace-bowler Mpumelelo Mbangwa at 130 for four.

But they pressed on and kept going after Chanderpaul had compiled his century.

His 50 had come up off 102 deliveries with 10 boundaries, and he smoothly advanced to three figures from only a further 45 balls.

Mbangwa, the most successful of Zimbabwe's bowlers with three for 36 from 15 overs, had two early successes by removing openers Adrian Griffith (17) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (19).

Both batsmen were trapped leg before playing around the ball but Chanderpaul then took complete control.

He had added 62 in 14 overs with Adams when the skipper went down the wicket attempting to drive left-arm spinner Dirk Viljoen and was stumped.

Nagamootoo gave Chanderpaul useful support in a fifth-wicket stand of 55 before Nagamootoo was caught on the mid-wicket boundary attempting a big hit off leg-spinner Paul Strang.

Zimbabwe, with no realistic hope of getting close to the victory target, began their second innings in leisurely fashion as Franklyn Rose and Nixon McLean led the West Indies attack.

Trevor Gripper and Craig Wishart had shared an opening stand of 63 in 20 overs when leg-spinner Nagamootoo had Wishart caught behind for 21.

Gripper had compiled 10 boundaries off 104 balls when stumps were drawn.