Bangladesh scored a convincing win in the first of 5 ODIs against Zimbabwe, thanks in large part to an unbeaten century by Shariar Nafees.
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat, and made a reasonable start with Taylor and Matsikenyeri putting on an opening stand of 52 before Razzak's arrival triggered problems for Zimbabwe. The departure of Taylor with the score on 91 triggered a mini-collapse, with Masakadza and Chibhabha following close behind him to leave Zim struggling against Bangaldesh's spinners on 100/5, and while the lower order did manage to put on some runs it was at a rate that was unlikely to trouble Bangladesh. Zimbabwe's innings ended at 184/9.
Zimbabwe's own spin attack did do a reasonable job of keeping the Bangladeshi run-rate low in the early overs, but with only 1 wicket falling in the innings (Mehrab Hossain Jr, who scored 13 of a 72-run opening partnership with Shahriar Nafees) the home side were never under any real pressure. The winning total was reached during the 46th over.
At least this time around, Zimbabwe's batsmen didn't completely humiliate themselves - their problems only began when they tried to push the run-rate on against the spin attack, which they've always seemed to struggle with, but at least most of them made a good effort. Williams and Masakadaza disappointed with the bat (2 & 3 respectively), but Williams at least made up for that with a good bowling performance (1/26 from his 10 overs). Bangladesh seem comfortable, however, which doesn't bode well for Zim's chances in the rest of the series.
Zimbabwe 184/9 (50 overs; Taylor 38, Razzak 4/330, Bangladesh 186/1 (45.3 overs; Nafees 105*, Williams 1/26). Bangladesh win by 9 wickets, lead series 1-0. Check below the cut for the scorecard.
Zimbabwe innings BRM Taylor c Aftab Ahmed b Mohammad Rafique 38 S Matsikenyeri b Abdur Razzak 27 SC Williams b Mohammad Rafique 2 CJ Chibhabha c Khaled Mashud b Saqibul Hasan 19 H Masakadza c Mashrafe Mortaza b Saqibul Hasan 3 E Chigumbura b Shahadat Hossain 31 ML Nkala c Mashrafe Mortaza b Abdur Razzak 22 GB Brent b Abdur Razzak 20 RS Higgins not out 7 P Utseya st Khaled Mashud b Abdur Razzak 6 Extras (lb 4, w 3, nb 2) 9 Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 184 Did not bat: AJ Ireland Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Matsikenyeri, 12.4 ov), 2-63 (Williams, 15.3 ov), 3-91 (Taylor, 24.2 ov), 4-95 (Masakadza, 27.3 ov), 5-100 (Chibhabha, 29.5 ov), 6-143 (Chigumbura, 41.5 ov), 7-158 (Nkala, 45.6 ov), 8-178 (Brent, 49.4 ov), 9-184 (Utseya, 49.6 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ Mashrafe Mortaza 10 0 42 0 4.20 (1w) Shahadat Hossain 9 0 32 1 3.55 (2nb, 2w) Abdur Razzak 10 1 33 4 3.30 Mohammad Rafique 10 1 35 2 3.50 Saqibul Hasan 10 2 30 2 3.00 Mehrab Hossain jnr 1 0 8 0 8.00 Bangladesh innings Shahriar Nafees not out 105 Mehrab Hossain jnr c & b Williams 13 Aftab Ahmed not out 60 Extras (lb 1, w 3, nb 4) 8 Total (1 wicket; 45.3 overs; 165 mins) 186 Did not bat: Saqibul Hasan, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain Fall of wickets:1-72 (Mehrab Hossain, 19.4 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ GB Brent 10 1 34 0 3.40 AJ Ireland 6 0 40 0 6.66 (1nb, 1w) E Chigumbura 4 1 12 0 3.00 P Utseya 10 0 42 0 4.20 (2nb, 1w) SC Williams 10 0 26 1 2.60 (1w) RS Higgins 4.3 0 29 0 6.44 ML Nkala 1 0 2 0 2.00 (1nb)
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