Match report: Zimbabwe A v Bangladesh A 3rd match day 1 by John Ward

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Scorecard:

Zimbabwe A v Bangladesh A

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DateLine: 2nd March 2005

 

Toss: Zimbabwe A (decided to bat)
Lunch: Zimbabwe A 68/4 off 37 overs (Ebrahim 8*, Blignaut 4*)
Tea: Zimbabwe A 174/6 off 75 overs (Ervine 45*, Dabengwa 20*)
Close: Zimbabwe A 266/8 off 110 overs (Ervine 68*, Macmillan 6*)

 

"They let them off the hook." This is an accusation often levelled at Zimbabwean teams, but this time it applied very definitely to Bangladesh A. Superb bowling against weak batting had given Bangladesh five top Zimbabwean wickets, after losing the toss and been put in the field, for just 88 runs. But then, instead of driving home their advantage, Bangladesh unaccountably rested their frontline bowlers and allowed the home side to make an excellent recovery to 266 for eight at the close.

 

Zimbabwe A made five changes to their team after two successive defeats. Out went Kuda Samunderu, Greg Strydom, Tafadzwa Mufambisi (who was injured), Graeme Cremer and Waddington Mwayenga. In their places came the controversial Andy Blignaut (a rebel player returned), Craig Ervine (restored), Wisdom Siziba (who would open the batting and keep wicket), Keith Dabengwa and Hilary Matanga.

 

Bangladesh A gave a first match to Sanuar Hossain and also restored Enamul Haque, who had both been injured, in place of Shamsu Rahman and Shahadat Hossain, the latter resting a minor strain that should be healed in time for the one-day series.

 

The match began with much more atmosphere than in Bulawayo – and certainly more than would be found in Harare. There were more than 50 enthusiastic, chanting schoolchildren present, thanks to the enterprise of Midlands general manager Admire Marodza, whose administration is always superb.

 

Zimbabwe A chose to bat on winning the toss, but their openers, Terry Duffin and Wisdom Siziba, must have had reservations when the two Bangladeshi left-arm seamers fund considerable swing with the new ball. They began with four maiden overs before Duffin drove Syed Rasel straight for two to get the scoreboard moving for the first time. Then Siziba clipped Rasel wide of mid-on to the boundary, a shot with a touch of desperation to it.

 

The scoring rate gradually improved and the openers successfully saw off the new-ball attack, although scoring at less than two an over overall. Bangladesh A were only playing two frontline seam bowlers, so Shakib ul Hasan came on to bowl the 12th over. The first ball of the 13th over, bowled by Rasel, was comic: Duffin slashed at a ball outside the off stump, and it flew overhead to gully, who got his hands to it; it bounced off and backward point grasped at it, only for it to fly off his hands as well! So Duffin had the rare experience of being dropped twice off the same ball – and as if that was not enough, the throw to the keeper was wild and he picked up a single from an overthrow!

 

After exactly an hour at the wicket, having done a sound job in laying the foundation, Siziba got himself out to an appalling shot. He tried to flick al Hasan away to the leg side, choosing a ball outside the off stump and spinning away, and skyed a catch on the off side than any one of at least five fielders could have taken easier. The wicketkeeper, Mushfiqur Rahim, took it, although he was almost barged out of the way by one of his team-mates. Siziba scored 11 and Zimbabwe A were 29 for one.

 

Vusi Sibanda played some fluent strokes, scoring 13 before he groped down the pitch to al Hasan, but was deceived by the arm ball, which went between bat and pad for the wicketkeeper to bring off a smart stumping. Zimbabwe A were 48 for two, and worse was to follow. Within minutes Duffin, the backbone of Zimbabwe’s innings in this series, was also on his way, for 24, deceived and bowled by a beautifully flighted delivery from Haque; 50 for three.

 

Dion Ebrahim, battling for form, almost joined him with only a single to his name, as the keeper missed an awkward stumping off al Hasan. All four Bangladeshi bowlers at this point had been left-armers, and all had bowled superbly – as they were allowed to by the batsmen. The bowlers now had six fielders round the bat, but the batsmen were quite unable to get them away. Then Cham Chibhabha (1) lost his patience, tried a wild heave to leg against the spin and skyed a catch that was taken by Mahmud Ullah Riyad running in from mid-on; 59 for four. Duffin alone could escape real blame for his dismissal.

 

Then came the eagerly awaited arrival of Blignaut at the wicket. He began with a nudge down the leg side off al Hasan, which was obligingly misfielded by short fine leg and went for four. He and Ebrahim then stood firm until lunch.

 

After lunch the batsmen accumulated steadily, with Blignaut occasionally showing flashes of power and his true ability. Then, as if to confuse the batsmen, Bangladesh A brought on their first right-arm bowler of the day, off-spinner Sanuar Hossain; Blignaut tried to turn his third ball gently on the leg side but got a leading edge, to present the bowler with a simple return catch. He scored 10 and Zimbabwe A were 88 for five.

 

Then Ebrahim and Ervine began to fight back, using the time-honoured method of waiting for the loose ball and hitting it hard. Ervine played some good drives, while Ebrahim found the occasional short ball from Hossain lucrative, pulling a four and then a six. Ervine then took to the off-spinner, with a pull and an extra-cover drive for fours off successive deliveries, followed by another pulled by two balls later. This led to the return of Rasel to the attack, along with al Hasan, and runs again were at a premium.

 

The batsmen always found scoring difficult off the four main bowlers, but were far more confident against the occasionals, like Tushar Imran, the next to be given the ball. He conceded some runs and the fifty partnership came up, but he got the wicket, as Ebrahim, having battled manfully, pushed forward and was caught at bat-pad on the off side. He scored 33 off 130 balls, and Zimbabwe A were 141 for six.

 

Keith Dabengwa, another left-hander, settled in steadily, and the team had a bonus just before tea when reserve wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh came on to bowl. Dabengwa gratefully hit each of his first three balls for four, 13 coming off the over. By using their part-time bowlers so much when their four main bowlers were causing so much trouble, Bangladesh A certainly, and puzzlingly, relaxed the grip they had held on the Zimbabwe A innings.

 

When their frontline bowlers, all left-arm, returned, the batsmen were well set and confident, and Bangladesh A were to rue letting Zimbabwe A off the hook. The stand was finally broken with the return of Zabir; Dabengwa fenced at a ball outside the off stump and, after a vociferous appeal followed by a pregnant pause, umpire Graham Gilmour gave him out caught at the wicket. Dabengwa, very reluctant to move from the wicket, made 52 off 73 balls, and the team was 218 for seven.

 

Ervine after reaching his fifty became strangely becalmed, but next man Blessing Mahwire played his strokes with confidence against the frontline bowlers, although the old ball was still in operation after more than 100 overs. He made 29 off 30 balls, out of a stand of 36 with Ervine, before he chipped a ball from Hossain to Ahmed at midwicket.

 

The orders were now apparently to play for the close, as Ervine continued his long dormant spell - he scored only 23 runs in the 140 minutes after tea - and the normally aggressive Campbell Macmillan hit the odd loose ball but otherwise stayed quiet. They succeeded in their aim, and Bangladesh A must have left the field ruing the fact that they had thrown away the opportunity to take an iron grip on this match.

 

Another strange decision by the Bangladesh A captain, Nafees Ahmed, was his refusal to take the second new ball before the close of play, when the old one and its users were clearly ineffective. But they had bowled 110 overs in the day, thanks to generous use of spinners, and shown that an acceptable over rate really is possible after all.

 

(Article: Copyright © 2005 John Ward)