Boxing Day Test: Afghanistan and Zimbabwe smash 7 tons, break all records

The Test match between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan has witnessed the most centuries in Boxing Day Test history. Test centuries were scored by Afghanistan’s Rahmat Shah (234), Hashmatullah Shahidi (246), Afsar Zazai (113), and Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams (154), Craig Erwine (104), Brian Benett (110).

The historic Test match between Zimbabwe and Afghanistan unfolded at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

ZIM vs AFG Boxing Day Match: Record-Breaking Day

Afghanistan’s Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi both scored double centuries, leading their team to a staggering total of 699 runs in their first innings. This score marked Afghanistan’s highest ever in Test cricket, surpassing previous records.

Zimbabwe also made a strong showing with their first innings score of 586 runs, featuring centuries from Sean Williams, Craig Ervine, and Brian Bennett.

Williams led the charge with a quick-fire 154, while Ervine and Bennett contributed 104 and 110 not out, respectively.

The combined efforts of both teams resulted in an extraordinary total of seven centuries in the match so far.

Zimbabwe also recorded their highest total in Tests during this game. Their 586 all-out in the first innings bettered the 563 for 9, which they made against West Indies in Harare in 2001.

21 year old Brian Bennett’s age coming into the Bulawayo Test, the youngest to score a century and take a five-wicket haul in a men’s Test match. The previous youngest was Bruce Taylor, who was 21 years and 236 days old at the start of the Eden Gardens Test against India in 1965.

Bennett is only the second player to score a century and take a five-wicket haul in a Test match for Zimbabwe, after Paul Strang against Pakistan in 1996.

Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s Historic Partnership

The partnership between Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi was particularly noteworthy, as they formed an unbroken stand of 361 runs for the third wicket. 

This partnership is now the second-highest on Zimbabwean soil in Test history, only behind the legendary 438-run partnership between Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara in 2004.

Records tumbled in Bulawayo, with gun batters Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi easily eclipsing Afghanistan’s highest ever Test partnership.

The unbeaten Afghan duo were also crowned the eighth pair in 21st century to bat a full day’s play without losing their wicket, nearly 100 years exactly since the feat was first achieved by English duo Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe against the West Indies in January, 1926.

Stats – Zimbabwe (586), Afghanistan (699) reach record highs in Bulawayo run-fest. 699 Afghanistan’s total against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo is their highest in the format, bettering the 545 for 4 they posted in 2021, also against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi.