Bangladesh take upper hand on opening day
Fifteen wickets fell on the opening day of Bangladesh's first-class warm-up match against Zimbabwe A, but by the close, it was the Bangladeshis who had the upper hand, thanks to the efforts of Alangir Kabir, who grabbed four wickets late in the day
Wisden Cricinfo staff
15-Feb-2004
Zimbabwe A 71 for 5 (Alamgir 4-24) trail Bangladesh XI 199 (Shahriar 75) by 128 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Fifteen wickets fell on the opening day of Bangladesh's first-class warm-up match against Zimbabwe A, but by the close, it was the Bangladeshis who had the upper hand, thanks to the efforts of Alamgir Kabir, who grabbed four wickets late in the day.
It was not a day for batsmen at Harare, as Bangladesh were bundled out for 199 after winning the toss. Shahriar Hossain provided some much-needed ballast to the innings with a four-hour 75, but the Test bowlers Travis Friend and Doug Hondo grabbed five wickets between them to reduce Bangladesh to 90 for 6.
But the tail did a fine rescue act for Bangladesh, as Manjural Islam cracked 40 and Anwar Hossain 20 to lift the total to a respectable level. Then Alamgir took over, whipping through the Zimbabwean top-order with four wickets in nine overs. At one stage the score was 25 for 4, and when Anwar trapped Doug Marillier lbw for 26 (60 for 5), Bangladesh were firmly in control.
The one remaining stumbling block for the Bangladeshis was Trevor Gripper, who had lived up to his name by hanging on from the start of the innings for an unbeaten 25.