mid the Bazball era and a trillion T20 leagues, Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul have brought out the good, old-fashioned Test match cricket grind to help West

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With the weather always expected to be a factor, West Indies opted to bat first.

World, Olympic 400m champion Shaunae

Miller-Uibo announces pregnancy

…will miss World Championships in Budapest

Indies gain ascendancy over Zimbabwe on a rain-curtailed opening day of the first Test in Bulawayo.Zimbabwe had to field four debutants, with plenty of their first-choice players out. Gary Ballance, who had played 23 Tests for England, was handed his first Zimbabwe Test cap.

While there was a bit of movement early on under cloudy skies, the West Indies openers dug in to remain undefeated when heavy rain brought about an early end to the day's proceedings with only 51 overs possible.

Both openers have raised their respective half-centuries, and the West Indies score stood at 112 without loss at the end of day one.

The Bulawayo surface looked dry from the outset, and with variable bounce often coming into play, both Chanderpaul and Brathwaite took the safety-first approach. Chanderpaul got off the mark with the 19th ball he faced, although that didn't mean he was in any trouble. In fact, he was fairly solid, despite some

20th over, when he seemed to glove a short-of-a-length Richard Ngarava delivery to the wicketkeeper. The fielders went up in unison, but the umpire remained unmoved, and there was no DRS in place to challenge the decision.

The Zimbabwe bowlers kept bowling around the channel outside off, but were met with staunch defence from both batters. Even when the ball started to keep low,

Bathwaite and Chanderpaul stood firm

Tagenarine Chanderpaul batting

A snapshot from Shaunae Miller-Uibo’s pregnancy announcement

Miller-Uibo will not be defending her 400m title at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest in August. She will also not be running the 200m, because she is going to be a mommy!

The 28-year-old, two-time Olympic champion has announced that she is pregnant with her first child. Her husband is Estonian decathlete Maicel Uibo, whom she married in 2017. She made the announcement on Instagram on Saturday.

“New year, new blessing. We can’t wait to meet our little bundle of joy. Happy sixth anniversary,” she posted underneath pictures of herself and husband.

Miller-Uibo won her Olympic 400m title at the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, and defended it at the 2020 Tokyo Games held in 2021. She won her first World title in the 400m in Eugene, Oregon in 2022, after being the runner-up in Beijing in 2015 and Doha in 2019, when she was sensationally beaten by Salwa Eid Naser, who ran a blistering 48.14, the third-fastest time in history.

Last season, Miller-Uibo said 2022 was the last time she was going to be running the 400m, as she was stepping down to the 200m. (Sportsmax) probing Zimbabwe bowling.

Brathwaite, on the other hand, was beaten on the outside edge multiple times. There was also a chance in the

Brathwaite and Chanderpaul remained unfazed.

The runs came in instalments in the first session, with West Indies scoring only

54 runs in 27 overs. Zimbabwe could have struck straight after the break, but debutant wicketkeeper Tafadzwa Tsiga mistimed his jump. Brad Evans, also on debut, had secured Chanderpaul's edge with a quick bouncer. Tsiga sprung to his right, but was late in getting his glove up,

West Indies 1st Innings

Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach GUYANATIMESGY.COM and the ball raced away to the fence. Chanderpaul followed that up with a punchy square drive, and looked much more fluent in the second session.

Brathwaite reached his half-century - his seventh 50+ score in the last 12 innings - first with a drive past midoff off 116 balls. Chanderpaul then smashed legspinner Brandon Mavuta for two successive fours, before pulling Ngarava through square leg to bring up his second Test fifty. The duo also brought up the 100-run stand in 47 overs.

This is just the fifth time these two players have opened for West Indies in Tests, and they already have three 50+ stands.

Soon, though, the skies opened up, early tea was taken, and it did not take long for play to be called off for the rest of the day. (ESPN Cricinfo)

Scoreboard

Kraigg Brathwaite (c) not out 55

Tagenarine Chanderpaul not out 55

Extras(nb 2)2

TOTAL 51 OV (RR: 2.19) 112

Yet to bat:

Raymon Reifer, Jermaine