New Zealand vs Zimbabwe Tests 2025: 2–0 NZ — Matt Henry 16 Wickets Player of Series, Conway 153 in NZ's Biggest Test Win (Innings and 359 Runs)

New Zealand beat Zimbabwe 2–0 in the 2-match Test series at Bulawayo in July–August 2025, completing an unbeaten tour of Zimbabwe that included both Test victories and the T20I tri-series final. The second Test victory — by an innings and 359 runs — stands as New Zealand's largest-ever Test victory by margin, recorded against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo after New Zealand declared at 601/3 and then bowled Zimbabwe out for 125 and 117 in two innings. First Test Bulawayo (July 30 – August 1, 2025): New Zealand won by 9 wickets in a three-day Test that was dominated from start to finish by New Zealand's pace attack. Zimbabwe were bowled out for 149 in their first innings — a total that gave New Zealand's batters a straightforward first innings platform. New Zealand replied with 307, establishing a first-innings lead of 158. Zimbabwe's second innings of 165 left New Zealand needing only 8 runs to win — reached for the loss of 1 wicket. Matt Henry's 9 wickets across the match — his signature performance of the first Test — confirmed him as the bowler most capable of exploiting Bulawayo's pace and bounce and a consistent threat to any batting lineup on surfaces with carry. New Zealand won by 9 wickets on Day 3 to take a 1–0 series lead. Second Test Bulawayo (August 7–9, 2025): New Zealand's second-Test performance was the defining moment of the Zimbabwe tour — a display of batting dominance followed by bowling destruction that produced New Zealand's biggest Test win in history. Devon Conway, batting at number three for New Zealand, scored 153 in New Zealand's first innings of 601/3d — a total that Zealand built across the first day and a half of the Test before declaring with the pitch still offering minimal help to Zimbabwe's bowlers. Zimbabwe needed to bat out a minimum of two innings to save the match against New Zealand's formidable pace and swing attack on a Bulawayo pitch that had been exhausted by over 600 runs. Zimbabwe's first innings of 125 collapsed against Henry and New Zealand's pace attack; their second innings of 117 was similarly unable to resist the swing and seam movement that Henry extracted from the Bulawayo surface. New Zealand won by an innings and 359 runs — 601 minus (125+117) = 359 — to record their biggest-ever Test margin of victory. Conway was named Player of the Match for his 153 that anchored the 601/3d declaration; Henry was named Player of the Series for his 16 wickets across both Tests.

Matt Henry's 16 Wickets: Player of the Series Performance in Zimbabwe

Matt Henry's 16 wickets across the New Zealand vs Zimbabwe 2-match Test series in July–August 2025 — making him Player of the Series — confirmed his status as New Zealand's most potent pace bowler at the opening of the WTC 2025–27 cycle and as a consistently productive performer in conditions that offer carry and seam movement. Henry's ability to take wickets in Bulawayo — at the Queens Sports Club, where the pitch provides consistent pace and carry from its slightly higher altitude compared to sea-level venues — reflected his skill in using his seam position to generate movement off the pitch and his ability to extract edge-behind-wicket dismissals from batters who play at deliveries outside off stump. In the first Test, Henry's 9 wickets across the match set up New Zealand's 9-wicket victory — a contribution that included sustained pressure throughout both Zimbabwe innings that ultimately left the home batting lineup unable to resist New Zealand's swing and pace. In the second Test, Henry's wickets contributed to Zimbabwe's collapses to 125 and 117 in their two innings — with both totals well below what Zimbabwe needed to avoid the innings defeat. Henry's 16-wicket series haul placed him as the series' outstanding individual bowling performer and established New Zealand's pace attack — Henry as spearhead with support from other New Zealand seamers — as fully capable of dominating Zimbabwe batting in all conditions across both Tests.

Conway's 153 and New Zealand's Record 601/3d Declaration

Devon Conway's 153 in New Zealand's second-Test first innings of 601/3d at Bulawayo was the batting centrepiece of New Zealand's record Test victory. Conway's innings — patient, authoritative, and built across the first day of the Test on a Bulawayo surface that offered little swing or movement to Zimbabwe's bowlers — provided the foundation for New Zealand's largest-ever first-innings total in Zimbabwe and one of their highest-ever Test totals against any opposition. Conway, New Zealand's left-handed top-order batter who consistently applies pressure through his ability to grind through the hardest phases of a batting innings on good pitches, scored 153 in a partnership-dominated first-day batting session that saw New Zealand accumulate at a rate too high for Zimbabwe's bowlers to contain across their limited attack. New Zealand's declaration at 601/3 left Zimbabwe facing a deficit of 476 runs in their first innings — a deficit so large that no batting lineup can reasonably overcome it on a Test pitch that has been in use for a day and a half, especially against a pace attack of New Zealand's quality. Zimbabwe's inability to resist Henry and New Zealand's bowlers across their two innings of 125 and 117 confirmed that the 601/3d declaration was always going to produce an innings result. New Zealand's previous biggest Test win by margin was an innings and 322 runs (against Zimbabwe in 2000 and against other oppositions); the innings-and-359-run victory in Bulawayo in August 2025 set a new record for New Zealand's largest-ever victory in Tests.