zimcricketnews.com

Poor batting again did for Zimbabwe in today's Twenty20 International against Bangaldesh - the first full Twenty20 match either side has played. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field, and restricted Bangladesh to a reasonable 166 despite quick-fire innings by Shahriar Nafees (25 from 17 balls) and Aftab Ahmed (28 from 18 balls), with Prosper Utseya back to his miserly best, conceding only 25 runs from his 4 overs.

Only three Zim batsmen put up much of a show, though, with Matsikenyeri (15) Masakadza (35) and Williams (38) being the only ones to make it to double figures. The rest of the side fell cheaply as Zim collapsed to 123/9 from their 20 overs.

Williams will be pleased with his performance on his return to the national side, while Utseya again did his best to lead from the front. Brent put in a reasonable performance with the ball (2/40 from his 4 overs), but once again the fragile batting lineup has been Zim's achilles heel. Allowance has to be made for the absence of regular top-order batsmen like Sibanda and Duffin, but this was still a disappointing performance. There'll need to be a significant improvement if Zimbabwe are to have a chance in the 1st ODI on Thursday.
Bangladesh 166 (19.5 overs; Mortaza 36, Utseya 3/25). Zimbabwe 123/9 (20 overs; Williams 38, Razzak 3/15). Bangladesh win by 43 runs. Check below the cut for the match scorecard.

Bangladesh innings	
Nazmus Sadat 		c Chigumbura b Brent 		4
Shahriar Nafees 	b Chigumbura 			25
Aftab Ahmed 		c & b Utseya 			28
Saqibul Hasan 		c sub (CB Mpofu) b Dabengwa 	26
Nadif Chowdhury 	c Brent b Utseya 		10
Farhad Reza 		c Brent b Utseya 		7
Mushfiqur Rahim 	c Williams b Dabengwa 		2
Mashrafe Mortaza 	b Chigumbura 			36
Mohammad Rafique 	c Chibhabha b Brent 		13
Abdur Razzak 		b Ireland 			0
Shahadat Hossain 	not out 			3
	    Extras 	(lb 2, w 8, nb 2) 		12 					
	    Total 	(all out; 19.5 overs) 		166 					

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Nazmus Sadat, 0.3 ov), 
2-57 (Shahriar Nafees, 5.3 ov), 3-65 (Aftab Ahmed, 6.4 ov), 
4-85 (Nadif Chowdhury, 8.6 ov), 5-94 (Farhad Reza, 9.4 ov), 
6-97 (Mushfiqur Rahim, 11.4 ov), 7-115 (Saqibul Hasan, 14.4 ov), 
8-142 (Mohammad Rafique, 16.5 ov), 9-154 (Abdur Razzak, 18.1 ov), 
10-166 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 19.5 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 	
GB Brent 	4 	0 	40 	2 	10.00 	
AJ Ireland 	3 	0 	33 	1 	11.00 	(2nb, 1w)
E Chigumbura 	2 	0 	23 	1 	11.50 	(1w)
P Utseya 	4 	0 	25 	3 	6.25 	
KM Dabengwa 	1 	0 	1 	0 	1.00 	
SC Williams 	4 	0 	28 	1 	7.00 	
CJ Chibhabha 	1.5 	0 	14 	1 	7.63 	

							
Zimbabwe innings
BRM Taylor 	b Mashrafe Mortaza 			5
S Matsikenyeri 	c Shahriar Nafees b Shahadat Hossain 	15
E Chigumbura 	b Shahadat Hossain 			4
H Masakadza 	b Abdur Razzak 				35
SC Williams 	c Farhad Reza b Saqibul Hasan 		38
KM Dabengwa 	st Mushfiqur Rahim b Abdur Razzak 	7
ML Nkala 	st Mushfiqur Rahim b Mohammad Rafique 	1
GB Brent 	b Abdur Razzak 				2
P Utseya 	not out 				7
CJ Chibhabha 	run out (Nazmus Sadat) 			2
AJ Ireland 	not out 				2
	    Extras 	(lb 2, w 3) 			5 					
	    Total 	(9 wickets; 20 overs) 		123 					

Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Taylor, 2.4 ov), 
2-20 (Matsikenyeri, 3.1 ov), 3-25 (Chigumbura, 3.6 ov), 
4-79 (Masakadza, 12.1 ov), 5-104 (Williams, 15.4 ov), 
6-107 (Dabengwa, 16.5 ov), 7-109 (Nkala, 17.1 ov), 
8-111 (Brent, 18.1 ov), 9-123 (Chibhabha, 19.3 ov)

Bowling 		O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 	
Mashrafe Mortaza 	4 	0 	28 	1 	7.00 	
Shahadat Hossain 	4 	0 	22 	2 	5.50 	
Mohammad Rafique 	4 	0 	23 	1 	5.75 	
Abdur Razzak 		4 	0 	15 	3 	3.75 	
Saqibul Hasan		4 	0 	30 	1 	7.50