With the series win already out of the question, the 4th ODI was a matter of pride for Zimbabwe - especially after having handed the 3rd match on a platter to Bangladesh and lost the first primarily through an apparent lack of interest in chasing Bangladesh's total. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field - which at least removed the uncertainties of a runchase from the worries of Zimbabwe's batsmen. Early wickets, in the forms of Duffin and Sibanda, left Zim wobbling as ever on 22/2, but Chibhabha and Williams settled into the crease well and began the job of building a respectable total. Both reached their half-centuries before falling, although at a slower-than-ideal rate which left a little work for those who came after them to do. Elton Chigumbura was the only other batsman to really make an impression, with a quick and useful 77 not-out, but as ever the lower order wasn't much use, contributing only two runouts and nothing in double-figures. Zimbabwe finished with a reasonable 244/8 from their 50 overs, a target Bangaldesh would have been happy enough to try and chase.
When Shahriar Nafees fell in the 2nd over for a duck, though, home fans would have begun to hope for a series-levelling win, and when Mushfiqur Rahim, Saqibul Hasan and Tushar Imran fell in the space of 7 runs mid-innings, things were looking up. Aftab Ahmed's 92 (from 81 balls) earlier in the Bangladesh innings had left Zimbabwe really needing to bowl the Tigers out to be sure of victory, though - and that, they just failed to do. Bangladesh passed the target score in the 48th over, with just one wicket to spare - and that was the end of that.
There wasn't a game in this series that Zimbabwe couldn't have won, which in one way is a hopefull sign and in another a damning indication (more on that later). They didn't take their chances, though, and the result is a 3-1 away win from Bangladesh and time for Zimbabwe to rue their wasted opportunities. Check below the cut for the scorecard.
Zimbabwe 244/8 (50 overs; Chibhabha 54, Williams 51, Mortaza 3/52), Bangladesh 246/9 (47.2 overs; Aftab Ahmed 92, Mpofu 3/52). Bangladesh win by 1 wicket, win series 3-1.
Zimbabwe innings T Duffin lbw b Mashrafe Mortaza 12 V Sibanda b Mashrafe Mortaza 5 CJ Chibhabha c Mashrafe Mortaza b Abdur Razzak 54 SC Williams c & b Saqibul Hasan 51 F Kasteni b Shahadat Hossain 9 E Chigumbura not out 77 BRM Taylor b Mashrafe Mortaza 10 P Utseya run out 9 AJ Ireland run out 8 CB Mpofu not out 0 Extras (b 1, w 4, nb 4) 9 Total (8 wickets; 50 overs) 244 Did not bat: EC Rainsford Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Duffin, 2.3 ov), 2-22 (Sibanda, 4.2 ov), 3-123 (Williams, 28.6 ov), 4-127 (Chibhabha, 31.1 ov), 5-144 (Kasteni, 33.5 ov), 6-170 (Taylor, 40.5 ov), 7-191 (Utseya, 44.3 ov), 8-230 (Ireland, 49.1 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ Mashrafe Mortaza 10 0 52 3 5.20 (1nb) Tapash Baisya 9 0 47 0 5.22 Shahadat Hossain 8 0 46 1 5.75 (3nb, 2w) Abdur Razzak 10 0 36 1 3.60 (2w) Tushar Imran 3 0 20 0 6.66 Saqibul Hasan 10 0 42 1 4.20 Bangladesh innings Tamim Iqbal c Sibanda b Rainsford 30 Shahriar Nafees c Taylor b Ireland 0 Mushfiqur Rahim st Taylor b Utseya 57 Aftab Ahmed lbw b Ireland 92 Saqibul Hasan c & b Mpofu 25 Habibul Bashar run out 14 Tushar Imran lbw b Mpofu 0 Mashrafe Mortaza c Taylor b Rainsford 11 Tapash Baisya c Duffin b Mpofu 0 Abdur Razzak not out 4 Shahadat Hossain not out 0 Extras (lb 1, w 10, nb 2) 13 Total (9 wickets; 47.2 overs) 246 Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Shahriar Nafees, 1.3 ov), 2-40 (Tamim Iqbal, 8.1 ov), 3-172 (Aftab Ahmed, 29.2 ov), 4-209 (Mushfiqur Rahim, 39.2 ov), 5-216 (Saqibul Hasan, 40.4 ov), 6-216 (Tushar Imran, 40.5 ov), 7-238 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 43.5 ov), 8-242 (Habibul Bashar, 45.2 ov), 9-242 (Tapash Baisya, 45.6 ov) Bowling O M R W Econ EC Rainsford 10 2 41 2 4.10 (2nb, 2w) AJ Ireland 10 1 51 2 5.10 (3w) CB Mpofu 10 1 52 3 5.20 (3w) P Utseya 10 0 50 1 5.00 SC Williams 4 0 22 0 5.50 CJ Chibhabha 3.2 0 29 0 8.70 (2w)
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