Fifties galore for Bangladesh

Stats highlights from Bangladesh's convincing 143-run win in the second Test, their first Test victory in Zimbabwe

30-Apr-2013

Robiul Islam took 15 wickets in two Tests, the most ever by a Bangladesh fast bowler in a series  •  AFP

Bangladesh's 143-run win is their fourth in 79 Tests, of which they've lost 67 and drawn eight. It's also their first win in Zimbabwe, and their third overseas: they'd earlier won two in the West Indies in 2009. Bangladesh's overseas win-loss record of 3-34 is thus much better than their home record of 1-33.

The win was set up by Bangladesh's batting performance, especially their total of 391 in their first innings. They played 113.2 overs in the first innings, which is their eighth-best in an away Test; over the entire match, they faced 201.2 overs, their sixth-best in an overseas game.

While no Bangladesh batsman scored a hundred, there were six fifties for them in the game, with the highest of them being Mushfiqur Rahim's 93 and the lowest Shakib Al Hasan's 59, both in the second innings. This equals Bangladesh's record for most fifties in a match: the only previous instance when they had six 50-plus scores in a Test was against England in Mirpur in 2009-10, a match Bangladesh lost by nine wickets.

Bangladesh's Nos.5-7, Shakib, Mushfiqur, and Nasir Hossain, were the architects of their batting in both innings, scoring fifties each time they batted. It's the first time in Test history that the three batsmen at these positions have scored more than 50 in each innings of a Test.

Before this Test, in 78 matches, only 16 times had a Bangladesh batsman scored fifties in each innings. In this Test alone three batsmen accomplished the feat, taking the overall count for Bangladesh to 19. Habibul Bashar has achieved it seven times, Tamim Iqbal and Shakib thrice each, and Mushfiqur and Nasir twice each. This is the first time three batsmen for Bangladesh have scored fifties in each innings of the same Test.

Robiul Islam's series haul of 15 wickets is the third-highest for Bangladesh in a series, but the highest for a Bangladesh seamer. The two bowlers who've taken more than 15 in a series for Bangladesh are both left-arm spinners - Enamul Haque Jr (18 versus Zimbabwe in 2004-05) and Mohammad Rafique (17 versus Pakistan in 2003). (Click here for Bangladesh's batting and bowling averages in the series.)

Bangladesh also had a surprise wicket-taker in debutant allrounder Ziaur Rahman, who wasn't expected to be such a force with his bowling. Rahman picked up 4 for 63 in Zimbabwe's second innings, the second-best debut figures for a Bangladesh seamer, after Manjural Islam's 6 for 81 against the same opposition in Bulawayo in 2001. Overall, it's the sixth-best by a Bangladesh bowler.

Zimbabwe's two most impressive performers in the series were Brendan Taylor, the captain, and Shingi Masakadza, the seamer who took ten wickets at 16.80. (Click here for Zimbabwe's batting and bowling averages in the series.) Taylor's aggregate of 319 is the seventh-best in a series for Zimbabwe, and the best since Tatenda Taibu's aggregate of 330 in a two-Test series in Bangladesh in 2005.

In the second innings of the second Test, Hamilton Masakadza finally shrugged off his poor run to score an unbeaten 111, his third Test hundred, and his first since the 104 he scored against the same opposition at the same venue in 2011. In 12 innings between these two centuries, Masakadza had scored 153 runs in 14 innings at an average of 10.93, with a highest score of 25.

Shingi Masakadza Robiul Islam Ziaur Rahman Brendan Taylor Hamilton Masakadza Mushfiqur Rahim Bangladesh Zimbabwe Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh Bangladesh tour of Zimbabwe

S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter