Zimbabwe, chasing 233 for victory, stumbled to 90 for nine before bad light stopped play 12 overs early on the fourth day of the second and final Test against the West Indies on Saturday.

Earlier, left-arm spinner Ray Price claimed his 19th wicket of the series as the tourists collapsed to 128 all out in their second innings, giving Zimbabwe a real chance for victory.

But the home side subsided to the off-spin of Omari Banks, who took three for 35 in 15 overs.

In all, 18 wickets fell on a day of poor batting on a deteriorating surface and the West Indies are on the verge of winning the series after hanging on for dear life to draw the first Test in Harare last week.

The visitors resumed their second innings on 13 for one and lost nine wickets for 115 runs to be dismissed 18 overs after lunch.

Skipper Brian Lara, who made 191 in the first innings, was out for one, bowled by a beauty of an inswinging yorker from his opposite number, Heath Streak.

Opener Wavell Hinds topscored with 28 after two hours at the crease before becoming another victim of Price, who ended the innings with four for 36 off 21 overs.

Mervyn Dillon stroked his way to 27 not out, but the end came when Fidel Edwards was bowled by all-rounder Andy Blignaut without scoring.

Zimbabwe's run chase got off to a poor start when Vusi Sibanda edged the fourth ball of the innings, bowled by Dillon, to Lara at first slip without a run on the board.

Mark Vermeulen, who scored 118 in the first innings, played on to Hinds to be bowled for 24. After that the writing was on the wall with the home side crashing to 75 for nine.

Streak (not out 19) and Blessing Mahwire (not out 4) delayed the inevitable, but the West Indies must count themselves lucky to emerge as series winners.

Banks said of this Test: "We came here expecting to play five days of hard cricket and it would have been nice to finish off the opposition today, but that's cricket.

"We put ourselves in a situation where we were under a bit of pressure, but we came through in the end."

Streak said: "Batting last and chasing anything over 150 on this wicket was always going to be difficult.

"We had a couple of soft dismissals, but you have got to ride your luck on a pitch like this."

Scoreboard

West Indies (first innings): 481 (B C Lara 191, W Hinds 81, R Sarwan 65, R Price 5-199)
Zimbabwe (first innings): 377 (M Vermeulen 118, C Wishart 96, C Collymore 4-70)
West Indies (second innings) (overnight 13-1)
Chris Gayle lbw b Streak 0
Wavell Hinds c Wishart b Price 28
Daren Ganga c Carlisle b Blignaut 8
Brian Lara b Streak 1
Ramnaresh Sarwan c Wishart b Blignaut 9
Shivnarine Chanderpaul lbw b Streak 15
Ridley Jacobs c Blignaut b Price 10
Omari Banks c Vermeulen b Price 16
Mervyn Dillon not out 27
Corey Collymore b Price 0
Fidel Edwards b Blignaut 0
Extras: (b-5, lb-3, nb-2, w-4) 14
Total: (all out, 52.4 overs) 128
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-17, 3-21, 4-51, 5-51, 6-82, 7-82, 8-127, 9-127
Bowling: Streak 15-2-39-3 (w-1), Blignaut 14.4-6-29-3, Price 21-7-36-4, Mahwire 2-0-16-0 (nb-2 w-3)

Zimbabwe (second innings)
Vusi Sibanda c Lara b Dillon 0
Trevor Gripper c Ganga b Banks 8
Mark Vermeulen b Hinds 24
Stuart Carlisle c Jacobs b Banks 9
Craig Wishart c Jacobs b Hinds 13
Andy Blignaut lbw b Banks 3
Stuart Matsikenyeri run out (Edwards) 5
Tatenda Taibu lbw b Collymore 1
Heath Streak not out 19
Raymond Price b Collymore 4
Blessing Mahwire not out 4
Extras: 0
Total: (for nine wickets, 41 overs) 90
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-32, 3-33, 4-54, 5-56, 6-62, 7-63, 8-67, 9-75
Bowling: Dillon 4-2-13-1, Collymore 11-5-19-2, Hinds 9-2-20-2, Banks 15-2-35-3, Sarwan 2-1-3-0