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Hard to get detailed coverage of a match when no-one's covering it (a clear breach of the ICC's Playing Conditions for ODI matches, which requires games between Full Members to be televised), but there you go. A 45-run loss doesn't sound like much, especially given the losing margins in some of Zimbabwe's other recent matches, but the nature of the defeat was thoroughly infuriating because of the way Zimbabwe played: as a team that didn't appear to want to win.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field - a defensive option, yes, but given that Zim's bowling has of late been the stronger part of their game perhaps also the sensible option. Unfortunately, Zim's bowlers didn't seem to be in their groove during the early part of the innings while fielding was also a bit iffy - particularly in the air. Bangladesh wobbled at the beginning but soon progressed to 248/5, before a lower-order collapse led to a final score of 260/9 from 50 overs, leaving Zim with a more manageable target to chase than Bangladesh would have hoped. Saqibul Hasan (68) and Habibul Bashar (78) did most of the damage for the Tigers, while Anthony Ireland was the best of a poor bowling attack with 3/41 from his 10 overs. The usually-miserly Utseya went for an uncharacteristically expensive 0/51 from his 10.

So Zim were left needing 249 at 4.98/over, a perfectly chasable target by modern one-day standards. When Duffin fell with the score on 10, the warning bells began ringing, but a 2nd-wicket stand of 72 between Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha steading Zim's innings - but at such a slow scoring rate that it essentially cost Zim any chance of victory. Chibhabha was the main culprit - he may have top-scored with 57, but be took 116 deliveries to get there, and by the time more agressive players got their chance (Elton Chigumbura shot a defiant 46 off just 27 balls), it was too late to chase down the total. As with Bangladesh, Zim's lower order failed to do much, and the home side were eventually bowled out for 2154 at the end of the 48th over.

Not a humiliation, then, but this was a match that Zimbabwe could and should have won, if only the top order batsmen had shown some guts. Instead, they protected their wickets and settled for trying to bat out the innings - and they didn't even manage to do that. Truly a chance wasted. Check below the cut for the scorecard - next match is on Tuesday 6th.
Bangladesh 260/9 (50 overs; Bashar 78, Ireland 3/41), Zimbabwe 215 (48 overs; Chibhabha 57, Mortaza 4/31). Bangladesh win by 45 runs, lead series 1-0 with 3 to play.

Bangladesh innings
Shahriar Nafees         run out                         34
Mehrab Hossain jnr      c Masakadza b Ireland           12
Aftab Ahmed             c Masakadza b Chigumbura        31
Saqibul Hasan           c Williams b Brent              68
Habibul Bashar          c Chigumbura b Ireland          78
Mohammad Ashraful       c Mufambisi b Mpofu             22
Mohammad Rafique        b Ireland                       3
Mashrafe Mortaza        c Brent b Mpofu                 1
Mushfiqur Rahim         run out                         1
Abdur Razzak            not out                         1
Shahadat Hossain        not out                         0
                 Extras (lb 2, w 6, nb 1)               9 					
                 Total 	(9 wickets; 50 overs)           260 					

Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Mehrab Hossain jnr), 
2-68 (Shahriar Nafees), 3-93 (Aftab Ahmed), 
4-198 (Saqibul Hasan), 5-248 (Habibul Bashar), 
6-255 (Mohammad Ashraful), 7-256 (Mashrafe Mortaza), 
8-258 (Mushfiqur Rahim), 9-260 (Mohammad Rafique)

Bowling         O       M       R       W       Econ 	
CB Mpofu        8       0       39      2       4.87 	
AJ Ireland      10      1       41      3       4.10 	
E Chigumbura    10      0       58      1       5.80 	
GB Brent        9       1       44      1       4.88 	
P Utseya        10      0       51      0       5.10 	
SC Williams     3       0       25      0       8.33 	


Zimbabwe innings (target: 261 runs from 50 overs)
T Duffin        b Shahadat Hossain                      2
V Sibanda       b Saqibul Hasan                         47
CJ Chibhabha    c Mushfiqur Rahim b Mohammad Rafique    57
H Masakadza     c Mushfiqur Rahim b Mashrafe Mortaza    31
SC Williams     c Mushfiqur Rahim b Mashrafe Mortaza    2
TV Mufambisi    c Mushfiqur Rahim b Mashrafe Mortaza    2
E Chigumbura    b Mashrafe Mortaza                      46
GB Brent        run out                                 2
P Utseya        c & b Abdur Razzak                      6
CB Mpofu        c Mashrafe Mortaza b Abdur Razzak       4
AJ Ireland      not out                                 0
		Extras 	(lb 3, w 9, nb 4)               16 					
		 Total 	(all out; 48 overs)             215 					

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Duffin), 2-82 (Sibanda), 3-142 (Masakadza), 
4-149 (Williams), 5-151 (Mufambisi), 6-165 (Chibhabha), 
7-187 (Brent), 8-206 (Chigumbura), 9-211 (Utseya), 10-215 (Mpofu)

Bowling                 O       M       R       W       Econ 	
Mashrafe Mortaza        9       0       31      4       3.44 	
Shahadat Hossain        8       0       48      1       6.00 	
Abdur Razzak            10      1       44      2       4.40 	
Mohammad Rafique        9       0       34      1       3.77 	
Saqibul Hasan           10      0       40      1       4.00 	
Mehrab Hossain jnr      2       0       15      0       7.50