Bangladesh crush Zimbabwe by 121 runs in 1st ODI

Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe by 121 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series at Bulawayo on Friday. Medium pacer Ziaur Rahman’s five-wicket haul ensured a comfortable victory after they posted a target of 270 for the hosts.

Zimbabwe never looked like making a match of it right from the start. Regis Chakabva was dismissed in the second over by Shafiul Islam, who removed Sikandar Raza as well in his next over. Hamilton Masakadza and skipper Brendon Taylor tried to revive some hopes but the dismissal of Taylor (33) first, followed by Masakadza (38) virtually sealed the fate of the game in the visitor’s favour.

Taylor was beaten by an arm ball from Abdur Razzaq, while Masakadza was caught plumb in front off  Rahman.

At 93 for five, after the fall of Masakadza’s wicket, it seemed the Zimbabwe innings would fold up quickly. However, his brother, Shingi Masakadza who picked up four wickets earlier in the day, put up a strong resistance along with Malcolm Waller to delay the visitor’s victory. Rahman eventually went through the defence of Waller who managed to score a rusty 19 fron 38 balls. Robiul Islam completed the formalities with the wicket of Shingi Masakadza who scored 33 runs.

Earlier in the day, skipper Brendon Taylor won the toss and invited Bangladesh to bat. The visitors put up a decent performance on a batting-friendly wicket. Their middle-order though put them in a spot of bother but a solid innings of 68 runs from Nasir Hossain along with useful contributions from Monimul Haque (38) and Tamim Iqbal (31) at the top followed by a Mahmudullah’s 36 runs down the order helped them reach the eventual total.

The two teams will play the remaining two ODI’s at the same venue on May 5 and May 8 respectively.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 269 for 7 in 50 overs (Nasir Hossain 68, Mominul Haque 38; Shingi Mazakadza 4 for 51) beat Zimbabwe 148 all-out in 32.1 overs (Hamilton Masakadza 38, Shingi Masakadza 33; Ziaur Rahman 5 for 30) by 121 runs