KARACHI, Jan 16: Zimbabwe were heading for a big defeat on Wednesday after PCB Patron’s XI pace duo of Samiullah Niazi and Sohail Khan reduced the tourists to 111 for six in their second innings on the penultimate day of the four-day fixture here at the DHA Stadium.

Having conceded a massive lead of 270 runs on the first innings, Zimbabwe were undone by swing and cut of Sami and Sohail despite dogged resistance from stand-in skipper Hamilton Masakadza (44 off 158 balls, six fours) and Tatenda Taibu (30 off 136 balls).

Still requiring 159 more to make the home side bat again, the writing appears to be on the wall because apart from Elton Chigumbura who is rated highly as an all-rounder, nobody is left to carry the fight when play resumes on Thursday.

Zimbabwe, who are bidding to re-enter Test cricket after a self-imposed suspension, by their own admission are so far enjoying every bit of this tour. But they must be perturbed at their lack of proficiency since they head straight into the five-match one-day series against Pakistan from Monday.

Ray Price summed up the enthusiasm in the Zimbabwe camp when he said that the objective of playing a four-dayer as the only warm-up match was to give the lads a feel of first-class cricket.

“It may not be an ideal situation just before a one-day series against a good side like Pakistan, but we wanted to give the boys a thorough workout because our main aim is to play Test cricket again,” the 31-year-old slow left-armer, easily the most experienced player in the squad, told reporters.

“We are not going to be discouraged by our lack of success on the tour. Our recent form had been encouraging enough with wins over Australia [Twenty20 World Championship] and the West Indies [in a one-day game]. We want to compete with Pakistan in the coming series,” he added.

To be fair to the Zimbabweans, a couple of contentious umpiring decisions went against them on Wednesday. Riazuddin, who remarkably was involved in all four leg-before-wicket decisions after Shahid Afridi declared the Patron’s XI innings at 479-6, left Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda unhappy.

Sibanda, the first to go for 23, nicked the ball into his pad to an in-swinger from the left-armer Sami, while Masakadza was also unlucky since the yorker speared by Sohail was heading down the leg side at the point of impact.

There was more drama towards the end of play when the umpires took the players off the field for poor light, before asking them to carry after some 11 minutes.

The resumption proved disastrous for Zimbabwe as the incapacitated Sean Williams, who batted with the aid of a runner following an ankle injury, and Keith Dabengwa fell to the hostile Sohail on consecutive deliveries.Earlier, Naumanullah and Fawad Alam hit the straps as Patron’s XI added 118 in 25 overs to their overnight score of 361-3 with the fourth-wicket pair putting on 127.

Nauman, 46 overnight, missed the coveted century by only 14 runs but his 86 (114 balls, eight fours and one six) comfortably made him the first player to cross the 1,000-run mark this season.Fawad was denied the chance of scoring a deserved hundred when the declaration was made on the stroke of lunch with the young left-hander stranded on 82, a 152-ball knock featuring eight boundaries.

In between, Price, who took all the three wickets on Wednesday to finish with four for 130 in 35 overs, scalped Afridi after the dashing all-rounder smashed a six before holing to long-off for 13.

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