Utseya rues missed opportunities

Prosper Utseya: his side needs to bounce back quick © AFP

Zimbabwe's captain, Prosper Utseya, believes his side could have done better in the opening one-day international played against Bangladesh at Harare Sports Club yesterday, had they taken all their chances.

The Bangladeshis won the match by 45 runs to take a crucial 1-0 lead in a four-match series that may be threatened by inclement weather. Rain is forecasted for the next week.

Utseya conceded that they were now under enormous pressure to give themselves any chance of clinching the series by winning tomorrow's second game.

"We will have to try and pick ourselves up from the way we played," Utseya said, "and the match on Tuesday is very important and we will have to be at our best.

"The wicket looked good, but I think there was a problem with our seamers early on in the game they should have done better on that wicket.

His Bangladeshi counterpart Habibul Bashar, who led from the front by top-scoring with 78, believes the series is still up for grabs

"It is going to be hard in the second ODI and in order for us to win then we must really work hard," he said. "Our main objective is to win that game so that we would be in a comfortable position going into the third ODI for the series win.

Bashar also gave credit to the way his side batted. "260 as a target is generally a good score when it comes to an ODI on any wicket, especially on the one we had today which was okay. The bowlers also played a good part as they were in good form especially when it came to the power plays."