Bangladesh Take 2-0 Lead in ODI Series

Bangladesh wrapped up another straightforward win in Sunday's 2nd ODI against Zimbabwe, to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Zimbabwe had made three changes from the squad that lost the first match (Rainsford, Mawhire and Dabengwa replacing Nkala, Higgins and Ireland), but that wasn't enough to close the gap between the sides.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl, drawing early blood with the wicket of Taylor (1) with the score on just 5. Several of the Zim batsmen did manage to get good starts, with Sean Williams (61) heading the field with his maiden ODI 50, but again Bangladesh's spinners were able to hold the run rate down to a level that didn't present much of a challenge when it came their turn to chase the total. Zimbabwe completed their 50 overs on 217/7.

Bangaldeshi openers Shahriar Nafees and Mehrab Hossain jnr again brushed aside the challenge of the Zimbabwean attack, putting on an opening stand of 104 before Nafees finally fell, and with the bowlers other than Utseya all conceding greater than 5/over it was only a matter of time until the home side wrapped up the match. The winning runs came in the 43rd over, with just 4 wickets down, giving Bangladesh a six-wicket win - athough Williams did enough with bat & ball to earn the Man of the Match award.

This trip so far has seen a reversal of the usual Zimbabwean problems - the batsman have done a reasonable job, with the traditional batting collapses mostly absent, but they've been playing more at a test-match pace, while the bowlers have struggled to make any sort of impact. With three games left to play there's still a chance for Zim to salvage the series, but it has to be said that it's looking unlikely. Coach Kevin Curran is still looking on the optimistic side, though - speaking to The Herald, Curran siad:

"If we win the next match, which is possible, we can win the series. Our first 15 overs were not good and we need to have the openers score a decent total and try to stay on the crease for longer period to build the innings. It was always going to be difficult to play Bangladesh here because of the wickets. Any score below 240/250 against teams from the sub continent would be difficult as they have huge strength in their spin.

"The wickets are good for batting especially to teams going in second. We need our big guys like Masakadza, Matsikenyeri and Taylor to come to the party. We need to build our innings with good totals from our openers, something that has not been happening."

Zimbabwe 217/7 (50 overs; Williams 61, Mohammad Rafique 2/34), Bangladesh 218/4 (42/4 overs; Shahriar Nafees 67, Williams 1/24). Bangladesh win by 6 wickets, lead series 2-0 with 3 to play. Check below the cut for the match scorecard.

Scorecard

Zimbabwe innings
S Matsikenyeri 	c Khaled Mashud b Mashrafe Mortaza 	25
BRM Taylor 	c Mashrafe Mortaza b Shahadat Hossain 	1
CJ Chibhabha 	lbw b Saqibul Hasan 			31
H Masakadza 	st Khaled Mashud b Saqibul Hasan 	41
SC Williams 	lbw b Mohammad Rafique			61
E Chigumbura 	c Khaled Mashud b Mohammad Rafique 	10
KM Dabengwa 	not out 				19
GB Brent 	lbw b Mashrafe Mortaza			4
P Utseya 	not out 				4
	    Extras 	(b 3, lb 5, w 11, nb 2) 	21 					
	    Total 	(7 wickets; 50 overs) 		217 					

Did not bat: NB Mahwire, EC Rainsford

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Taylor, 1.1 ov), 2-54 (Matsikenyeri, 13.3 ov), 
3-70 (Chibhabha, 19.2 ov), 4-146 (Masakadza, 36.4 ov), 
5-171 (Chigumbura, 41.2 ov), 6-188 (Williams, 43.5 ov), 
7-198 (Brent, 46.1 ov)

Bowling 		O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 	
Mashrafe Mortaza 	10 	0 	41 	2 	4.10 	(1nb, 3w)
Shahadat Hossain 	10 	1 	51 	1 	5.10 	(1nb, 5w)
Abdur Razzak 		10 	0 	39 	0 	3.90 	(2w)
Mohammad Rafique 	10 	2 	34 	2 	3.40 	
Saqibul Hasan 		10 	0 	44 	2 	4.40 	(1w)

							
Bangladesh innings (target: 218 runs from 50 overs)
Shahriar Nafees 	c Williams b Chigumbura 	67
Mehrab Hossain jnr 	c wicket-keeperTaylor b Utseya 	54
Aftab Ahmed 		c & b Williams			12
Saqibul Hasan 		run out (Williams/Dabengwa) 	36
Habibul Bashar 		not out 			31
Mohammad Ashraful 	not out 			4
	    Extras 	(b 1, w 11, nb 2) 		14 					
	    Total 	(4 wickets; 42.4 overs) 	218 					

Did not bat: Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe Mortaza, 
Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain

Fall of wickets: 1-104 (Shahriar Nafees, 21.1 ov), 
2-126 (Aftab Ahmed, 25.4 ov), 3-175 (Saqibul Hasan, 34.1 ov), 
4-198 (Mehrab Hossain, 39.1 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 	
EC Rainsford 	6 	0 	31 	0 	5.16 	(2nb)
NB Mahwire 	5 	0 	28 	0 	5.60 	(3w)
GB Brent 	4 	0 	26 	0 	6.50 	(1w)
P Utseya 	10 	0 	38 	1 	3.80 	
E Chigumbura 	5 	0 	32 	1 	6.40 	(2w)
SC Williams 	4 	0 	24 	1 	6.00 	
KM Dabengwa 	8.4 	0 	38 	0 	4.38 	(1w)