Zimbabwe's winning Streak

Zimbabwe finally sealed the series 2-1, by beating Bangladesh by three wickets in the deciding match. It was a game both teams tried to throw away, but in the end it was once again the magnificent Heath Streak who secured Zimbabwe's narrow win.

The plain fact is that Bangladesh would have won all three one-day matches had it not been for the allround skills and iron temperament of Streak. Once again he bowled superbly when Bangladesh batted, and once again he stood in the breach with the bat, stemming a middle-order collapse that was horrendous even by Zimbabwean standards - six wickets tumbled for just 12 runs as they were seemingly strolling to victory.

Twice the match was turned violently on its head as the middle orders of both teams choked under pressure and collapsed. The vital factor was that Zimbabwe had Streak in their ranks to dig them out of trouble, while Bangladesh had no such saviour. Dion Ebrahim and Gary Brent played handy supporting roles, but the strong likelihood is that had Streak fallen, the Zimbabwean ship would have drifted, rudderless, onto the rocks of humiliation.

Remarkably, both teams' collapses came after outstanding century opening partnerships. Hannan Sarkar and the stopgap opener Manjural Islam Rana for Bangladesh, and then Grant Flower and Barney Rogers for Zimbabwe, mastered the bowling, only for their hard work to be totally undone by their feckless team-mates.

It was Khaled Mahmud, Bangladesh's former captain, whose steady, accurate medium-pacers caused Zimbabwe to flounder and fall. His main weapons were accuracy and vibrant enthusiasm, and it proved enough for him to take 4 for 19 and lift the Man of the Match award. These were the best one-day figures for Bangladesh - but, with all due respect, the man who improves on them will probably have to work much harder to do so.

Overall, this one-day series confirmed that Bangladesh are on their way up. All they needed was one victory, and the confidence gained from that should make them much more formidable opponents in the future ... especially for Zimbabwe. Next time these two teams meet, it could be Bangladesh who start as favourites.