48.1 overs Bangladesh 215 (Al Sahariar 59, Omar 54) lost to Zimbabwe 219 for 3 (Ebrahim 84, Carlisle 55*, Flower 40) by seven wickets
Scorecard
Young opener Dion Ebrahim was again the star as Zimbabwe eased to a seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh, securing a 3-0 series victory in the process. Ebrahim confirmed his liking for the Bangabandhu pitch by adding a brisk 84 to the 121 he scored yesterday. He shared partnerships of 107 with Grant Flower, who blazed a 45-ball 40, and 69 with his captain Stuart Carlisle, who saw Zimbabwe home with a stately unbeaten 55.

The Bangladeshi bowlers stuck grittily to their task but aspired mainly to containment rather than penetration. Their only wicket-taker was slow-left-armer Enamul Haque, who picked up Grant Flower and Ebrahim to finish with a respectable 2 for 52.

Earlier in the day Bangladesh limped to a sub-par total of 215, having squandered a fine opening stand of 104 between Javed Omar and Al Sahariar. After Omar was deceived by the recalled Paul Strang in the 24th over, Mohammad Ashraful, Habibul Bashar and Al Sahariar quickly succumbed to the innocuous guiles of Grant Flower and Doug Marillier.

With the soft underbelly of the Bangladesh team exposed, the predatory Heath Streak charged hungrily in, claiming 3 for 10 in 17 deliveries to leave Bangladesh tottering on 176 for 7. A last wicket partnership of 29 allowed Bangladesh to stagger past 200, but the target never looked like troubling the in-form Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe emerge from their tour of Bangladesh with greater confidence, buoyed by the emergence of Ebrahim and Craig Wishart as quality batsmen. Bangladesh will draw solace from the fact that five different batsmen reached 50 in the series, but the fact that none of them went on to reach three figures will be a concern - Bangledeshi players have now scored 33 half-centuries in ODIs, but have converted only one of them into a hundred.

Having suffered a pasting at the hands of relatively weak opposition, Bangladesh will be starkly aware that they have only reached the foothills of the mountain they must climb to achieve competitiveness in senior international cricket.

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