Wisden
Match Reports

Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, 2006-07

ESPNcricinfo staff

At Harare, July 29, 2006. First one-day international: Zimbabwe won by two wickets. Toss: Zimbabwe. Bangladesh 246-7 (50 overs) (Shahriar Nafees 78, Habibul Bashar 40, Mohammad Rafique 39; T. Mupariwa 4-61); Zimbabwe 248-8 (49.1 overs) (S. Matsikenyeri 89, E. Chigumbura 70*; Mashrafe bin Mortaza 4-41, Shahadat Hossain 3-34). Man of the Match: S. Matsikenyeri. Zimbabwe looked sunk at 101-5 just after halfway, but a partnership of 114 between Matsikenyeri (in his first international match since March 2005) and Chigumbura - a Zimbabwean sixth-wicket record - put them back on track, and Chigumbura took them over the line with five balls to spare, a happy ending for Prosper Utseya in his first match as captain.

At Harare, July 30, 2006. Second one-day international: Bangladesh won by 62 runs. Toss: Zimbabwe. Bangladesh 238-8 (50 overs) (Aftab Ahmed 40, Farhad Reza 50, Khaled Mashud 48*, Mohammad Rafique 33; N. B. Mahwire 3-29); Zimbabwe 176 (44.4 overs) (V. Sibanda 33, S. Matsikenyeri 46; Shahadat Hossain 3-41). Man of the Match: Mohammad Rafique. One-day international debut: Farhad Reza (Bangladesh). Bangladesh squared the series with another strong bowling performance: this time there was no lower-order comeback by Zimbabwe. Habibul Bashar broke the little finger of his left hand trying to catch Sibanda, and missed the rest of this series and the tour of Kenya that followed.

At Harare, August 2, 2006. Third one-day international: Zimbabwe won by two wickets. Toss: Zimbabwe. Bangladesh 236 (49 overs) (Rajin Saleh 54, Aftab Ahmed 53, Mohammad Ashraful46; A. J. Ireland 3-41, H. Masakadza 3-39); Zimbabwe 238-8 (50 overs) (T. Duffin 48, H. Masakadza 38, B. R. M. Taylor 79*; Shahadat Hossain 3-52). Man of the Match: B. R. M. Taylor. One-day international debut: T. V. Mufambisi (Zimbabwe). Zimbabwe conjured a remarkable last-ball victory from the depths of 151-7 in the 39th over - in which Shahadat Hossain took the first hat-trick for Bangladesh in one-day internationals - inspired by Taylor, who scored most of the 18 runs which came from Mashrafe bin Mortaza's final over of the match, including six over midwicket off the final ball.

At Harare, August 4, 2006. Fourth one-day international: Zimbabwe won by seven wickets. Toss: Bangladesh. Bangladesh 206-9 (50 overs) (Shahriar Nafees 45, Farhad Reza 30); Zimbabwe 212-3 (41.4 overs) (V. Sibanda 46, G. M. Strydom 58). Man of the Match: P. Utseya. Zimbabwe cruised to a winning 3-1 lead in the series, with a run-a-ball 58 from Strydom, who hit eight fours and a six, taking them home with 50 balls to spare. Earlier, Bangladesh were restricted by some tight spin bowling from Masakadza (10-1-36-2) and Utseya (10-0-25-2), after Aftab Ahmed (27 from 19 balls) had hit four fours in one Ed Rainsford over. Masakadza later retired hurt (19*) with a nosebleed.

At Harare, August 6, 2006. Fifth one-day international: Bangladesh won by eight wickets. Toss: Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe 197 (49.3 overs) (T. Duffin 40, H. Masakadza 75; Rajin Saleh 4-16); Bangladesh 201-2 (44.4 overs) (Rajin Saleh 37, Shahriar Nafees 118*, Saqibul Hasan 30*). Man of the Match: Shahriar Nafees. Man of the Series: P. Utseya. One-day international debuts: Mushfiqur Rahim, Saqibul Hasan (Bangladesh). A vastly improved performance from Bangladesh's batsmen swept them to a convincing victory, the key innings coming from Shahriar Nafees, who struck 12 fours in his maiden one-day international century. Bangladesh's battery of spinners did most of the damage: slow left-armers Abdur Razzak (2-24), Mohammad Rafique and Saqibul Hasan bowled 30 overs for 98 runs between them, while Rajin Saleh claimed four wickets with his irregular off-spin. Zimbabwe still took the series 3-2.

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