1st Test, Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh, Statistical Highlights

It was the 1543rd Test match in cricket history

25-Apr-2001

It was the 1543rd Test match in cricket history.

It was Zimbabwe's 49th and Bangladesh's second Test match.

It was the first ever Test between these two sides. Zimbabwe became second country after India to play against all other Test playing countries.

Seven players were making their Test debut in this match- Andy Blignaut, Dion Ebrahim and Brighton Watambwa for Zimbabwe and Javed Omar, Manjural Islam, Mohammed Sharif and Mushfiqur Rahman for Bangladesh.

At 15 years 128 days Mohammed Sharif became the third youngest player to play in Test cricket after Pakistan's Hasan Raza (14 years 227 days) and Mushtaq Mohammad (15 years 124 days). The accompanying table lists the youngest Test debutants. Incidentally Bikash Das at 18 years 119 days (v India at Dhaka in Bangladesh's inaugural Test) was the previous record holder for being the youngest debutant for Bangladesh.

Age	Player	For	Vs	Test	Venue	Season
(Yrs-days)
14-227	Hasan Raza	Pak	Zim	2nd	Faisalabad	1996-97
15-124	Mushtaq Mohammad	Pak	WI	3rd	Lahore LG	1958-59
15-128	Mohammed Sharif	Ban	Zim	1st	Bulawayo QC	2000-01
16-189	Aaqib Javed	Pak	NZ	2nd	Wellington	1988-89
16-205	SR Tendulkar	Ind	Pak	1st	Karachi NS	1989-90
16-221	Aftab Baloch	Pak	NZ	3rd	Dhaka (Dacca)	1969-70
16-248	Nasim-ul-Ghani	Pak	WI	1st	Bridgetown	1957-58
16-352	Khalid Hassan	Pak	Eng	2nd	Nottingham	1954
17- 5	Zahid Fazal	Pak	WI	1st	Karachi NS	1990-91
17-68	Ata-ur-Rehman	Pak	Eng	1st	Birmingham	1992
17-78	Imran Nazir	Pak	SL	1st	Lahore GS	1998-99
17-118	L Sivaramakrishnan	Ind	WI	5th	St. John's	1982-83
17-122	JED Sealy	WI	Eng	1st	Bridgetown	1929-30
17-129	Fazl-e-Akbar	Pak	SA	2nd	Durban	1997-98
17-189	CDUS Weerasinghe	SL	Ind	2nd	Colombo PSS	1985-86
17-193	Maninder Singh	Ind	Pak	2nd	Karachi NS	1982-83
17-239	ID Craig	Aus	SA	5th	Melbourne	1952-53
17-245	GStA Sobers	WI	Eng	5th	Kingston	1953-54
17-265	VL Mehra	Ind	NZ	2nd	Bombay BS	1955-56
17-265	Harbhajan Singh	Ind	Aus	3rd	Bangalore	1997-98
17-300	Hanif Mohammad	Pak	Ind	1st	Delhi	1952-53
17-341	Intikhab Alam	Pak	Aus	3rd	Karachi NS	1959-60
17-364	Waqar Younis	Pak	Ind	1st	Karachi NS	1989-90

Rudi Koertzen was officiating in his 25th Test. He became first umpire from South Africa and 30th in the world to stand in 25 or more matches. The other umpire Kevin Barbour was officiating in his second match.

Andy Flower (73) has now made atleast a fifty in last consecutive seven innings. With this he equalled West Indian Everton Weekes' world record of most consecutive fifties which was set in 1947-48. Flower's scores in his last seven innings have been : 65 (v NZ at Harare), 183* and 70 (v India at Delhi), 55 and 232* (v India at Nagpur), 79 (v New Zealand at Wellington)......and now 73. The following table gives details of players with most consecutive half-centuries :

Inns	Batsman	For			Scores					Series	Runs	Ave
7	EdeC Weekes	WI	141	128	194	162	101	90	56	1947-48 to 1948-49	872	124.57
7	A Flower	Zim	65	183*	70	55	232*	79	73	2000-01	757	151.40
6	J Ryder	Aus	78*	58	56	142	201*	88		1921-22 to 1924-25	623	155.75
6	EH Hendren	Eng	85	172	70	99	93	52		1929-30	577	115.40
6	GA Headley	WI	80	65*	76	51*	50	56		1934-35 to 1938-39	680	136.00
6	A Melville	SA	91	126	52	215	186	168		1938-39 to 1947	658	131.60
6	GStA Sobers	WI	108	52	101	77	59	101*		1957-58	783	195.75
6	ER Dexter	Eng	63	132*	101	94	126	76		1962 to 1962-63	571	95.17
6	KF Barrington	Eng	76	118	110	50	242	103		1962-63	592	118.40
6	KD Walters	Aus	77	205*	56	123	61	55		1968-69	699	116.50
6	GS Chappell	Aus	93	53	270*	106	107	51		1975-76 to 1976-77	432	86.40
6	GR Viswanath	Ind	68	54*	52	70	121	67		1977-78 to 1978-79	499	83.17
6	Zaheer Abbas	Pak	59	54	79	89	73	145		1982-83	838	139.67
6	AR Border	Aus	67	78	103	189	104*	117		1989 to 1989-90	378	94.50
6	MA Taylor	Aus	52	52	80	365*	125	109*		1989-90	498	99.60
6	RS Dravid	Ind	92	93	85	52	56	86		1997-98	464	77.33

Andy Blignaut, by returning the figures of 5 for 73 in first innings, now holds the record of best figures by a Zimbabwean in an innings on debut. The previous record was on the name of Brian Murphy who took 3 for 32 against West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1999-00 (Though John Traicos finished with 5 for 86 against India in Zimbabwe's first ever Test, this was not his debut Test as he had previously played in three Tests for South Africa in 1969-70)

Blignaut's match figures of 8 for 110 was the best by a debutant for Zimbabwe bettering Bryan Strang's 5 for 50 against Pakistan at Bulawayo QC in 1994-95.

The ninth wicket partnership of 56 runs between Murphy and Nkala was the highest for Zimbabwe for this wicket at home soil. This obliterated the previous highest of 49 between Grant Flower and Andy Whittall against Pakistan at Bulawayo in 1997-98.

The partnership was also the second best for Zimbabwe in all Testshome or awayafter the 87 run-partnership between Strang brothers against Pakistan at Sheikhupura in 1996-97.

Manjural Islam's analysis of 6 for 81 is the best by a bowler in an innings for Bangldesh. He bettered Naimur Rahman's six for 132 against India at Dhaka. Interestingly both Rahman and Islam were playing their first Test.

Javed Omar (85*) became first Bangladesh batsman to carry his bat through the completed innings. He also became the 35th batsman in Test chronicles to perform this feat on 41st occasion.

Omar also became only the second batsman to carry his bat in debut Test after Australia's Jack Barrett who made 67* out of team's total of 176 against England at Lord's in 1890.

Omar's contibution of 50.60 % in Bangladesh's second innings was the second highest by any batsman against Zimbabwe. The record is held by Pakistan's Mohammad Wasim who contributed 54.24 % (192/354) in first innings of Harare Test in 1997-98.

Omar became first Bangladeshi and only the 18th batsman in Test annals to score a fifty in each innings on debut. The list includes five West Indians -Bryan Davis, Frank de Caires, Jackie Grant, Clive Lloyd and Sew Shivnarine, three Australians -Wick Darling,Bruce Laird and Peter Toohey, three Englishmen -Tony Greig, Cyril Poole and Peter Richardson, three New Zealanders -Graham Dowling,Noel Harford and Mervyn Wallace, two Indians -Dilawar Hussain and Sunil Gavaskar and a South African- Bruce Mitchell.In addition, seven batsmen have scored half-centuries in their first two innings but not in debut Test. They are West Indians Sherwin Campbell, Desmond Haynes and Desmond Lewis, Australia's Darren Lehmann and Ricky Ponting , England's David Gower and India's Rahul Dravid (Kepler Wessels also scored two fifties in his debut Test for South Africa after having appeared in 24 Tests for Australia.

The victory was second for Zimbabwe by an innings margin. The first such instance took place in 1994-95 when Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan by an innings and 64 runs at Harare in January 1995.Overall it was the 247th occasion of a side winning a Test by innings margin.

Zimbabwe Bangladesh Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh Bangladesh tour of Zimbabwe Queens Sports Club