AFG vs ZIM, 1st Test — Day 4 Stumps: Zimbabwe 504 & 164/3, Lead by 154, After Rahmat Shah's 173 Edges Afghanistan Ahead

On a pitch where 1,182 runs have now been scored for 23 wickets, Day 4 in Sharjah came down to patience and then to speed. In the first two sessions Afghanistan took 44.4 overs to add 112 runs, and that was exactly what they needed: a lead, however small. In the last session Zimbabwe scored 164 in 40 overs, and that was exactly what they needed too.

The first innings ended with Afghanistan 10 runs in front. The day ended with Zimbabwe 154 in front. With one day left and a surface that has given bowlers almost nothing, the question is whether anyone can find 20 wickets' worth of result in it, or even ten.

Afghanistan resumed on 402 for 7, 102 behind. Rahmat Shah reached his hundred in the second over with a slash behind point off Newman Nyamhuri, off 205 balls. After that the scoring slowed to a crawl, 63 runs in the session at 2.10 an over, but that suited Afghanistan. Shah farmed the strike, taking singles late in the over, and picked his moments against the spinners: he slog-swept Graeme Cremer out of the ground, which meant the umpires had to find a replacement ball, and danced down to hit Antum Naqvi for four in back-to-back overs. At the other end Zia-ur-Rehman blocked. Blessing Muzarabani fired four straight balls into his pads in one over and had four lbw appeals turned down. At lunch Afghanistan were 465 for 7, Shah on 146.

Shah reached 150 off 309 balls, and the stand passed Afghanistan's previous best for the eighth wicket in Tests. Zimbabwe's only real hope was the new ball, and it worked. Muzarabani had Zia caught behind for 15 off 99 balls, ending a 92-run partnership, and then had Shah dropped at point by Craig Ervine. Afghanistan were 502 for 8 at drinks, two runs short of Zimbabwe. Straight after the break, Shah misread a flighted ball from Cremer and was stumped for 173, his second-highest Test score, still at 502. It was left to the last pair: Ziaur Rahman hit 7 off 3 balls, including a six, and Saleem made 9 before Nyamhuri hit the top of his middle stump for a maiden five-wicket haul. Afghanistan were all out for 514, a lead of 10.

Zia, having batted for 99 balls, now bowled. His arm ball trapped Innocent Kaia lbw in the fourth over, and after tea he had Ben Curran caught at mid-on, leaving Zimbabwe 38 for 2. Brendan Taylor then took charge, sweeping and driving, and brought up his fifty off 61 balls by stepping out and lifting Qais Ahmad over his head for six. A second hundred of the match looked possible until a mix-up with Brian Bennett: Bennett sent him back from almost halfway down and Taylor was run out for 82, ending a stand of 82. Two balls later Shah dropped Ervine at cover off Hashmatullah Shahidi. Bennett and Ervine then added 44 without being parted before bad light ended play at 164 for 3.

For Afghanistan, a first-innings lead of 10 after conceding 504 is a real achievement, built on three hundreds and a tail that would not give in. But two dropped catches cost them in the field, and their bowlers could not hold Zimbabwe back in the evening. Zia's two wickets were the bright spot.

For Zimbabwe, the day turned on the new ball. Muzarabani and Nyamhuri gave them a way back after a slow, frustrating morning, and Nyamhuri's 5 for 82 is the best moment of his young Test career. Cremer, who bowled 55 overs for his three wickets, earned his rest. With the bat they went at more than four an over, which tells you they are thinking about a declaration and a result, not about safety.

The surface has stayed flat and unresponsive. The spinners have had the most overs but little help; the best returns of the day came with the new ball and the arm ball rather than big turn. Zimbabwe will want ten wickets on the last day, but on this evidence that will take something special.

173 off 347 balls, 14 fours and three sixes. The captain came in at 220 for 2 on the third day and stayed long enough to take Afghanistan from 102 behind to within two runs of Zimbabwe. He is the only Afghanistan batter with more than 1,000 Test runs, and this was the innings of a player who knows that job. He scored when he could, protected his partner when he had to, and only a clever ball from Cremer, flighted and a little wider, got him out.

Our Day 3 report had Afghanistan needing 102 with three wickets left, and we did not expect them to get there. They did, and then some. Zimbabwe's evening batting, though, has put the match back where the first two days left it: Zimbabwe's to set up.

When does Bennett declare, and with what target? Zimbabwe lead by 154 with Bennett on 49 and Ervine on 20. Every run they add makes Afghanistan safer from defeat but gives Zimbabwe less time to bowl. Afghanistan's batters have shown over two days that this pitch can be batted on. Watch Nyamhuri and Muzarabani early, and Cremer on a fifth-day surface.