Craig evans

Queens Sports Club: Former captain Sean Williams struck a superb unbeaten century while opener Ben Curran and skipper Craig Ervine scored half-centuries as Zimbabwe reached a commanding 363/4 on the opening day of their first Test against Afghanistan at the Queens Sports Club here on Thursday.

As Zimbabwe played a Boxing Day Test after many years, skipper Ervine won the toss and elected to bat first and his top-order batters made the most of their chances as they helped the team reach a strong position when play was called off early due to bad light.

Williams was the star of the day for the hosts, scoring his fifth century in 16 Tests, and was holding fort with 145 off 161 balls when play ended on Thursday. He had skipper Ervine keeping him company with 56 not out off 94 balls. Both have so far raised 143 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket partnership to put Zimbabwe on course for a big score on a docile pitch on which the Afghanistan bowlers had nothing to gain.