Zimbabwe Bounce Back Thanks To Masakadza Century

Zimbabwe Bounce Back Thanks To Masakadza Century

Zimbabwe returned to form with a 69-run win over Bangladesh.

©REUTERS/Andrew Biraj (BANGLADESH) Picture Supplied by Action Images

Zimbabwe 323-7 (Masakadza 102, Taylor 94) beat
Bangladesh 254 (Roqibul Hasan 78, Mupariwa 3-32) by 69 runs
Scorecard
Third One-Day International, Bulawayo
Peter Exley

Zimbabwe have clawed their way back into the ODI series with Bangladesh after a 69-run win, mainly thanks to a stunning century from Hamilton Masakadza.

Bangladesh won the toss, but elected to field first, giving Zimbabwe the first use of the wicket and the hosts gave themselves every chance of a victory as they posted an imposing score.

The hosts did not start well with Mahbubul Alam striking twice early on to reduce Zimbabwe to 17 for two. It was looking like business as usual for Bangladesh and one half expected the home team to collapse under the pressure of Bangladesh with big name players such as Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan still to come on to bowl.

This was not the case though, as Hamilton Masakadza and Brendon Taylor set about rebuilding the innings. They did so in spectacular fashion. Masakadza hit only his second ODI hundred in a partnership of 142 with Taylor to put his side in a very strong position. Taylor was joined at the crease by the big hitting Elton Chigumbura after Masakadza eventually fell, bowled by Syed Rasel.

Chigumbura, as he has done in the previous two matches, hit a number of huge blows as he made 61 from just 33 deliveries. Taylor fell just six runs short of a deserved century as he was run out, but it did not stop Zimbabwe posting an imposing score of 323 for seven from their fifty overs. Bangladesh will have to bat well if they are to win the series with two matches to spare.

Bangladesh did not look like getting close to Zimbabwe’s target after they lost four early wickets to reduce them to 39 for four. After this early collapse, due to two wickets from both Mupariwa and Chigumbura, there was very little hope of getting back into the game as the required run rate rocketed up.

Raqibul Hasan stuck around to make 78 from 83 deliveries but he was lacking in support as Mushfiqur Rahim (33), Mahmudullah (14) and Mehrab Hossain (25) all got starts but failed to make a telling contribution. However Mahbubul Hossain came in and looked to equal what Elton Chigumbura had achieved earlier in the match and he came out swinging.

Mahbubul hit 59 from just 43 deliveries to push Bangladesh’s score up to 254, but after he was ousted to give Mupariwa his third wicket, his team’s fate was sealed and Zimbabwe won by 69 runs.

That defeat ends Bangladesh’s winning streak and leaves the series poised at 2-1 with two games still left to play, and another win for Zimbabwe would set up a very interesting finale in the last match.

© Cricket World 2009

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