1st ODI: Zimbabwe v Bangladesh at Harare, 7 Apr 2001 CricInfo Live Report

1st ODI: Zimbabwe v Bangladesh at Harare, 7 Apr 2001
John Ward

Pre-game: Toss,
Bangladesh innings: Interval,

BANGLADESH STRUGGLE TO 151 OFF 50 OVERS

On a beautiful sunny morning at Harare Sports Club, Bangladesh unwittingly signed their own death warrant, it appeared, by deciding to bat against Zimbabwe. Those who have known the pitches at Harare Sports Club over the last couple of years would probably have fielded first, as the pitch tends to be liveliest at the start of a match and settle down later. The amount of rain during the past two months made it deceptively favourable to seamers, and Zimbabwe would certainly have fielded given the choice.

The result was that Bangladesh could score only 151 for eight in their 50 overs, a total hardly likely to challenge Zimbabwe, who will enjoy the better batting conditions. This was actually a considerable recovery after the first four wickets had fallen for 14 runs, apparently ending the match as a contest. The most likely hope of salvaging anything from batting in these conditions would be to play safe but Bangladesh were too eager to get the score moving and paid the penalty. Heath Streak picked up one wicket and Bryan Strang two, both moving the ball sharply off the pitch, while Habibul Bashar was run out without facing a ball as the batsmen unwisely took on Guy Whittall’s arm attempting a second run.

In these circumstances, Bangladesh’s recovery was highly commendable. Although frequently troubled by the ball just outside the off stump, Akram Khan (35) and Naimur Rahman (19) dug in to see off the opening seamers. Andy Blignaut bowled equally superbly, but it was David Mutendera who broke through with two more wickets. He had Naimur caught at third man and yorked Khaled Masud without scoring in the same over.

Mushfiqur Rahman then stood in the breach with Khan and the pressure gradually relaxed, but it never looked as if Bangladesh would be able to set Zimbabwe a challenging target. The home crowd generously cheered the tourists as the hundred came up with six wickets down in the 39th over. They had added 64, a new record for Bangladesh’s seventh wicket in One-Day Internationals, when Mushfiqur (31) was well caught at short leg off Blignaut, and immediately afterwards Khan’s gallant innings came to an end at 35, well yorked by the same bowler.

Still Bangladesh continued to fight, with Mohammad Rafique playing some powerful strokes, aided by Mohammad Sharif, but they still lack experience in scoring quickly at the death, while Zimbabwe gave nothing away. They just succeeded in reaching 150 before their time ran out.

BANGLADESH WIN TOSS AND DECIDE TO BAT

On a beautiful sunny morning at Harare sports Club, Bangladesh won the toss against Zimbabwe and decided to bat.

Those who have known the pitches at Harare Sports Club over the last couple of years might have been tempted to field first, as the pitch tends to be liveliest at the start of a match and settle down later. However the pitch looks good and if there is any life it may be short-lived.

The teams are as follows:

Zimbabwe: *Heath Streak, Guy Whittall, Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, +Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Dion Ebrahim, Andy Blignaut, Dirk Viljoen, Bryan Strang, David Mutendera

Bangladesh: *Naimur Rahman, +Khaled Masud, Javed Omar, Al-Shahriar, Habibul Bashar, Aminul Islam, Akram Khan, Mohammad Rafique, Mushfiqur Rahman, Mohammad Sharif, Monjurul Islam.