ZIM vs NZ 1st Test Highlights: Craig Ervine-led Zimbabwe Squared off against Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand in the first test between July 30 and August 30 at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo.
| Match | New Zealand tour of Zimbabwe 2025 |
| Match No | Zimbabwe vs New Zealand, 1st Test |
| Date | July 30 – Aug 01, 2025 |
| Toss | Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat |
| Venue | Queen Sports Club, Bulawayo |
| Result | New Zealand won by 9 Wickets |
ZIM vs NZ 1st Test Playing 11
Zimbabwe
Ben Curran, Brian Bennett, Nick Welch, Sean Williams, Craig Ervine (c), Sikandar Raza, Tafadzwa Tsiga (wk), Newman Nyamhuri, Vincent Masekesa, Blessing Muzarabani, Tanaka Chivanga
New Zealand
Devon Conway, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William ORourke
ZIM vs NZ 1st Test Scoreboard
| Team | Scoreboard |
| Zimbabwe | 149 & 165 |
| New Zealand | 307 & 8/1 |
ZIM vs NZ 1st Test Highlights
Day 01
- Batting first, Zimbabwe went on score 149 runs off with Craig Ervine and Tafadzwa Tsiga were the only scorers for Zimbabwe. Matt Henry picked a six wicket haul while Nathan Smith picked three wickets.
- Starting their first innings, New Zealand went on to score 92 runs by the end of day 01.
Day 02
- Conway and Daryl Mitchell were the scorers for New Zealand 88 and 80 runs and Young’s 41 runs has helped the side to score 307 runs.
- Muzarabani went on to pick three wickets while Tanaka picked two wickets. Other bowlers Newman, Raza, Williams and Vincent Masekesa picked one wicket each.
- Starting their second innings, Zimbabwe went on to score 31/2 by the end of day 02.
Day 03
- Resumed the innings, Zimbabwe went on to score 165 runs where Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke picked three wickets each while Santner completed the deal with four dismissals.
- With 8 runs to win, New Zealand started their second innings, where they won the game by 9 wickets.
ZIM vs NZ 1st Test Scorecard
Zimbabwe 1st innings
| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Brian Bennett | c Young b Henry | 6 | 11 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 54.54 |
| Ben Curran | c Young b Henry | 13 | 20 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 65 |
| Nick Welch | c Bracewell b Henry | 27 | 68 | 104 | 4 | 0 | 39.7 |
| Sean Williams | b Smith | 2 | 13 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 15.38 |
| Craig Ervine (c) | lbw b Smith | 39 | 116 | 101 | 6 | 0 | 33.62 |
| Sikandar Raza | c †Blundell b Henry | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.66 |
| Tafadzwa Tsiga † | lbw b Smith | 30 | 78 | 110 | 5 | 0 | 38.46 |
| Newman Nyamhuri | c Young b Henry | 9 | 20 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 45 |
| Vincent Masekesa | run out (Conway/†Blundell) | 7 | 22 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 31.81 |
| Blessing Muzarabani | c Santner b Henry | 1 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 12.5 |
| Tanaka Chivanga | not out | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
New Zealand Bowling
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Matt Henry | 15.3 | 3 | 39 | 6 | 2.51 | 0 | 0 |
| Will O’Rourke | 13 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Nathan Smith | 14 | 8 | 20 | 3 | 1.42 | 0 | 0 |
| Mitchell Santner | 16 | 4 | 46 | 0 | 2.87 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Bracewell | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
New Zealand 1st Innings
| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Will Young | c Welch b Muzarabani | 41 | 70 | 116 | 4 | 0 | 58.57 |
| Devon Conway | c Bennett b Chivanga | 88 | 170 | 247 | 12 | 0 | 51.76 |
| Henry Nicholls | c Bennett b Muzarabani | 34 | 56 | 85 | 6 | 0 | 60.71 |
| Rachin Ravindra | c Ervine b Sikandar Raza | 2 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Daryl Mitchell | b Nyamhuri | 80 | 119 | 224 | 5 | 1 | 67.22 |
| Tom Blundell † | c Williams b Chivanga | 2 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Michael Bracewell | c †Tsiga b Muzarabani | 9 | 23 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 39.13 |
| Mitchell Santner (c) | c & b Masekesa | 19 | 30 | 42 | 1 | 0 | 63.33 |
| Nathan Smith | retired hurt | 22 | 79 | 98 | 1 | 0 | 27.84 |
| Matt Henry | b Williams | 5 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 50 |
| Will O’Rourke | not out | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Zimbabwe Bowling
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Blessing Muzarabani | 26 | 5 | 73 | 3 | 2.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Tanaka Chivanga | 18 | 3 | 51 | 2 | 2.83 | 1 | 0 |
| Newman Nyamhuri | 16.1 | 2 | 64 | 1 | 3.95 | 0 | 0 |
| Sikandar Raza | 20 | 2 | 63 | 1 | 3.15 | 0 | 0 |
| Sean Williams | 7 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 3.28 | 0 | 0 |
| Vincent Masekesa | 9 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 3.22 | 0 | 0 |
Zimbabwe 2nd Innings
| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Brian Bennett | c †Blundell b O’Rourke | 18 | 21 | 36 | 4 | 0 | 85.71 |
| Ben Curran | c O’Rourke b Henry | 11 | 26 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 42.3 |
| Nick Welch | c †Blundell b O’Rourke | 4 | 32 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 12.5 |
| Vincent Masekesa | c Ravindra b O’Rourke | 2 | 40 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Sean Williams | c †Blundell b Santner | 49 | 66 | 89 | 6 | 0 | 74.24 |
| Craig Ervine (c) | c †Blundell b Henry | 22 | 53 | 76 | 3 | 0 | 41.5 |
| Sikandar Raza | c Ravindra b Henry | 5 | 22 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 22.72 |
| Tafadzwa Tsiga † | c Conway b Santner | 27 | 83 | 100 | 2 | 0 | 32.53 |
| Newman Nyamhuri | b Santner | 1 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11.11 |
| Blessing Muzarabani | c sub (AY Patel) b Santner | 19 | 38 | 50 | 3 | 0 | 50 |
| Tanaka Chivanga | not out | 0 | 13 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
New Zealand Bowling
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Matt Henry | 21 | 5 | 51 | 3 | 2.42 | 0 | 0 |
| Will O’Rourke | 10 | 4 | 28 | 3 | 2.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Bracewell | 15 | 2 | 42 | 0 | 2.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Mitchell Santner | 17.1 | 6 | 27 | 4 | 1.57 | 0 | 0 |
| Daryl Mitchell | 4 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 |
New Zealand 2nd Batting
| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Devon Conway | b Nyamhuri | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.66 |
| Will Young | not out | 0 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Henry Nicholls | not out | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 200 |
Zimbabwe Bowling
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
| Newman Nyamhuri | 1.2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Sean Williams | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
ZIM vs NZ 1st Test Highlights
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Player of the Match
Matt Henry | New Zealand
That’s probably the nature of playing international cricket, you’re chopping and changing between formats and have to trust the work put in beforehand. It was great the way we could exploit it on day one and set the platform. They’ll both get checked out today. Great to be back here playing Test cricket.
