Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh, 1st Test at Harare, Apr 17 2013 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Cremer collects four wickets. Zimbabwe have won by 335 runs, that is not just a big win, it's a thrashing. It's their 10th Test win. We expected Bangladesh to put in a better performance after that implosion in the first innings, but they've only gone better by 13 runs. Zimbabwe were brilliant in the field, but the Bangladesh batsmen, like they had done in the first innings, also gave it away, playing poor shots and not showing much intent to occupy the crease when that was the need of the hour. It's Zimbabwe's biggest win, purely in terms of fourth-innings runs, though they have had a couple of innings wins.

Bangladesh came into this series as favourites, on the back of a good performance in the first Test against Sri Lanka. But they've lost, and lost badly. They had been tipped to win against Zimbabwe not long ago when Zimbabwe made a return to Tests after a long period of self-imposed isolation, and Bangladesh were beaten then as well. Two steps backwards for Bangladesh here. Time for the presentation.

Mushfiqur Rahim: "After winning the toss, I thought we bowled well but we didn't hold on to our catches in the first innings. Maybe we did a mistake in that area [not playing a third seamer], but we should have held on to our catches. We are capable of scoring big runs, we have a couple of days and hopefully we will come back strongly."

Brendan Taylor: "I couldn't be happier today We showed a lot of character, we like playing at home and we understand the conditions well. It was good to win this after an average performance in the West Indies. There were some stern words from the coach after the second day, and we turned it around the next day. We put up a very tough total to chase down. Extremely happy, we do bat down, Cremer and Masakadza at eight and nine have got first-class hundreds. I'm sure the top order will work harder. "

Now, no surprises about who is the Man of the Match. It's Taylor again. Taylor: "They [fans] are tough to please and they expect high standards. Extremely happy with the way everyone went about it. Credit must go to the two seamers for Bangladesh on the first day, they dried up the runs and we had to rebuild. It's certainly one of the hardest innings I've had to play, but that's Test cricket."

Well, the second Test begins on April 25. Losing to a team they were expected to beat, that too in four days, should hurt Bangladesh. Whatever the result in the next game, here's hoping it is more closely fought. Zimbabwe should celebrate, though they need to address their top-order problems. There's too much reliance on Taylor in the batting. As for the visitors, defeats like this will just provide more ammo to critics who question the progress they claim to have made in recent times in the longest format. Bangladesh need to dispel that with more consistency, challenging the top teams in the five-day game and beating opposition like Zimbabwe, who don't play as much Test cricket as they do. Join us for the next game, but before logging off, here's the report which is being updated as I type. Do watch out for stories from Firdose Moonda, who is at the Harare Sports Club covering the game. Take care, thank you for your comments, and goodbye.

Zimbabwe on the brink of a major win, a significant victory. Bangladesh need some serious introspection.

Two slips and a short leg