Zimbabwe fall to Bangladesh

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Dhaka — Bangladesh yesterday clinched a win over Zimbabwe in their first warm-up match for the ICC T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, reaching the target 135 with five wickets to spare.

Dhaka — Bangladesh yesterday clinched a win over Zimbabwe in their first warm-up match for the ICC T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, reaching the target 135 with five wickets to spare.

Report by cricinfor.com Zimbabwe gave the target losing 6 wickets in their designated overs after being sent to bat by Mushfiqur Rahim, who won the toss at Colombo’s Colts Cricket Club Ground.

  It was Zimbabwe’s second warm defeat after falling to Ireland by 54 runs during midweek ahead of the T20 World Cup. Opener Mohammad Ashraful scored the highest, 38 runs off 25 balls, with three sixes and two fours, before being bowled out by Zimbabwean spinner Graeme Cremer. The other opener, Tamim Iqbal was caught out by Malcom Waller off a ball by Brian Vitori after scoring five runs off eight balls.

  Shakib Al Hassan played a responsible 28-run innings off 17 balls with five fours, before being caught by Waller off a ball by Ray Price.

  Skipper Mashfiqur Rahman’s toil added only 3 runs off 7 balls and Nasir Hossain scored 1 off two balls.

  The next highest scorers were Ziaur Rahman, who scored 26 off 20 balls and Mahmudullah Riyad, 23 off 32 balls with one four. The duo held the pitch until the end.

  Cremer gave the Bangladeshi batsmen a run for their money, taking two wickets bowling four overs and giving 10 runs.

  Vitori, Chigumbura and Price each claimed a single wicket.

  The onslaught of the Tigers’ bowling at Colombo’s Colts Cricket Stadium, especially their spinners, had the Zimbabweans struggling for runs since the start.

  The 28-year-old Zimbabwean opener, Vusi Sibanda, was the batsman who held the leash for his team scoring 40 runs off 47 balls before being sent back to the pavilion through a catch by Abdur Razzak off Mashrafe Mortaza’s second ball in the 19th over. He had only two fours in the innings. His partners, Hamilton Masakadza went off at 12 runs, skipper Brendan Taylor at 21, Stuart Matsikenyeri at 9 and  Waller went off at 18.

  Nearing the end, Elton Chigumbura’s undefeated nine runs off 4 balls and Craig Ervine’s 19 run off seven balls stabilised the final score.

  Razzak took two wickets for 21 runs while Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmuddullah Riyad, Mashrafe and Elias Sunny took one wicket each.

Zimbabwe T20 Fixtures Zimbabwe V Sri Lanka (18 September) Zimbabwe V South Africa (20 September)

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