Craig Ervine wore the look of a man more relieved than elated after Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan in Harare on Wednesday, their first Test win on home soil since 2013. The side have already banked a place at next year’s T20 World Cup, and the senior men – Brendan Taylor among them – are back in the mix. Younger faces such as Brad Evans and Ben Curran are bedding in too. All of that felt positive, yet the captain kept returning to a single theme: finishing the job.
“We’ve been in good positions before and we have let it slip,” Ervine admitted. “So, you know, in this case, we get into a good position, we want to drive the advantage home, and fortunately we do that. And at least it gives you the impetus the next time around, you know, how did you do it? And it’s something that you can put in your pocket to remember for the next time.”
His point landed because Zimbabwe have played plenty of red-ball cricket this year – ten Tests, their busiest schedule since the early 2000s – against Bangladesh, England, South Africa and New Zealand. They have been bruised at times, but the captain believes those lessons turned into muscle memory over the last four days.
“I think guys have taken a lot from their experiences against England, South Africa, New Zealand,” he said. “And I think what guys learnt, especially from the series against New Zealand is, it was testing conditions and they got five bowlers that are going to test you all the time.
“And I think going into this game [against Afghanistan], I think we felt that you get through that new ball phase and if you’re patient enough, I think the runs do ease up. We felt that with their spin, they weren’t as accurate, so it took a little bit of pressure off and it allowed the scoreboard to keep moving. So I think that guys were a lot more composed, guys were a lot more patient. I think that only stems from the experience that you have against better sides [than Zimbabwe are]. You have to work a lot harder against the better teams. And I thought the application that guys showed in this test. I think is fruit from the test that you played against the better nations.”
The match itself rarely strayed from Zimbabwe’s grasp. Ervine won the toss, sent Afghanistan in and watched Richard Ngarava nip out the visitors for 127 before lunch on day one. The left-armer found seam and a bit of swing, returning figures of 5 for 32 that looked even better once the surface flattened. Afghanistan’s choice to go with only two frontline quicks – one on debut, Ziaur Rahman, who still grabbed 7 for the match – left them short when the pitch demanded hard lengths rather than spin.
Curran then compiled a patient, sometimes scrappy, maiden Test hundred. His 123 took nearly six hours, but it hauled Zimbabwe to 359 and a lead of 232. It was the kind of innings the dressing-room had been waiting for, a top-order player turning promise into concrete runs. The stand-in opener was understandably chuffed afterwards, though he preferred to talk up the bowling group.
Ngarava backed up his first-innings haul with three more wickets second time round, while the evergreen Evans kept chucking himself up the hill. Afghanistan made 201, and the hosts required just 70, which they knocked off before tea on day four. A simple chase on the card, but one that has tripped Zimbabwe before, so the final handshake still felt significant.
Afghanistan will argue they were undercooked – it was their first Test of 2025 – and they missed a third seamer badly once the Dukes ball went soft. All fair observations, yet Ervine was keen to frame the result as evidence of incremental progress rather than a one-off.
“There’s relief, definitely,” he said later. “But also satisfaction because the stuff we talked about after New Zealand, South Africa, England – about staying in the contest longer – actually happened here.”
Some loose ends remain. The slip cordon shelled a couple, the lower order added only 28 when 60 might have buried the game earlier, and Ervine himself scratched around for 12 in the first dig. Nobody in the camp is pretending everything’s fixed overnight.
Even so, a home Test win – the first in twelve years – will do plenty for confidence heading into a three-match series in Sri Lanka over Christmas. Ervine, pocketing memories as he goes, put it best: “It gives you the confidence that, yes, you can do it, and you can get over the line, especially when you get into those positions.”
