Zimpapers Logo

DHAKA. — Elton Chigumbura had very little to say after conceding the series in the third ODI, and he has two more matches and potentially two more early Press conferences to attend.

The only positive from a 124-run defeat yesterday is that they will have two months before the World Cup to shed away the memories and regroup.

But for now, they have been unable to reach the 200-mark in any of the three ODIs, despite good batting conditions.

Their bowling did not have the best tour either and conceded 103 runs in the last 10 overs in Mirpur as the hosts piled on 297/6 and then bowled out the visitors for just 173.

Bangladesh benefited from their lack of threat as Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque added 120 runs for the opening stand in 25.5 overs that provided a perfect foundation for the lower order to spring from.

The visitors sunk to a new low, recording their biggest loss, in terms of runs to Bangladesh in an ODI on the back of a whitewash in the Test series.

This time Zimbabwe were chasing a daunting target of 298; only once have they chased a score that high to win.

There was no repeat as they were bowled out for 173 runs in 39.5 overs, with Arafat Sunny picking up four wickets for a second time in as many matches.

Chigumbura, who scored a half century, lamented the bowling effort and said losing early wickets dented their chances.

“It was another disappointment,” he said. “Same old stuff, same old mistakes. I guess if we keep repeating the same thing we keep getting the same result. We changed the team, but we repeated the same mistakes.

“Today it was disappointing on the bowling side. We didn’t bowl as well as we wanted. So obviously, any team chasing 290 is always in a tough fight. We didn’t help ourselves by losing early wickets again, it could have been better if we’d had wickets in hand.”

There was a suggestion that perhaps the tour has been too long for Zimbabwe.

Chigumbura said that it was not an excuse, but he was hopeful that he can leave the worries of Bangladesh behind and prepare for the World Cup in February.

“I can’t say it (tour) is long because the guys who played Test cricket, some of them are not the same guys (in the ODI squad).

“So I can’t say it’s been long tour, that’s not why we are playing like this. It’s just that we are repeating the same old mistakes of losing wickets.

“These are different conditions than the one we will face in the World Cup,” Chigumbura said.

“The worry is just here and not in the World Cup, because we are kind of used to more similar wickets to the ones that we are going to be facing in the World Cup. It’s not really a worry looking at the World Cup; it is just a worry in this series.”

Chigumbura added that the visitors’ concentration moves to avoiding a second whitewash on the tour.

“We just have to redeem ourselves and make sure losing 3-2 is better than losing 5-0. We are still playing for the win and we are going to come hard in the last two games.”

The rage

Umpire Anisur Rahman gave Hamilton Masakadza out caught down the leg-side off Mashrafe Mortaza.

The batsman though did not want to budge from his crease, and replays showed he had not hit the ball.

The Bangladesh players converged to celebrate behind Masakadza and as he slowly walked away, Mahmudullah and Tamim Iqbal appeared to say something to the aggrieved batsman.

Masakadza reacted with anger, throwing his fist in the air and shoving the Zimbabwe 12th man away as he had tried to calm Masakadza.

The run-out repetition

As soon as Anamul Haque worked the ball on the on-side, his opening partner Tamim was alive to the prospect of some runs.

The pair ran the first one quickly, but Anamul hesitated to take the second. Tamim ran through though, putting pressure on Anamul to look for a second.

Tamim was close to making his ground at the striker’s end when his bat jammed into the turf while he was trying to slide it to safety.

As it happened, his feet were in the air when Masakadza broke the stumps to complete Tamim’s second run-out in consecutive matches.

The successful long-hop

Zimbabwe’s spinners were getting away with a lot of long-hops and full-tosses, but legspinner Tafadzwa Kamungozi stretched his luck even further.

He bowled one at Anamul, batting on 95, at the start of the second Powerplay, and watched it sail right down Shingi Masakadza at deep midwicket.

The slam dunk

Masakadza went down on one knee and swept Mortaza over the fine-leg boundary. It was a shot that had all the skill of a basketball player preparing to pull off a slam dunk.

He crouched low but instead of propelling into the air himself, he sent the ball soaring over square leg to record the first six of the Zimbabwe innings. — Cricinfo.