STANFORD JONI, HARARE
A crucial wicket by Tuskers bowler Chris Mpofu in the final over help to Zimbabwe clinch the UCB ODI series after beating Bangladesh in a nail biting encounter in Harare yesterday. Zimbabwe now lead three nil and this is their first series win in five years.
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to field. Zimbabwe opened with Captain Brandon Taylor and Vusi Sibanda amid an overcast sky. The visitors were off to a busy start as they quickly removed Taylor off the bowling of Shafiul Islam. He was caught at first slip by Junzed Siddique after failing to deal with the morning movement of the new ball; he had faced 20 balls and did not do much to trouble the scores as was on four runs.
Vusi Sibanda soon followed after contributing 27, he was caught by Imrul Kayes off the bowling Rubel Hossain. Hamilton Masakadza was then joined by Tatenda Taibu and the two were left at the crease to e control the damage as Zimbabwe had crumbled to 39 for 2 in the 14th over. They had an amazing 143 run partnership. They batted with easy and showed great composure with a high level of maturity being evident in the two veterans. Masakadza however departed after making 73 runs after facing 100 balls after being bowled by Hossain .
After being dropped at mid wicket, at the covers and behind by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim ,Taibu went on to make 83 runs of 103 balls and eventually went out off the bowling of Nazmul Hossain. He was caught by Hossain deep on the leg-side after attempting a pull shot in the 46th over .
The hard hitting Elton Chigumbura came in with a whooping display of two sixes and one four and he made a comfortable 31 off 21 balls before he was caught by Hossain again on the leg side off the bowling of captain Shakib Al Hasssan.
Bangladesh restricted to 250 for seven. Ruebel Hossain was the pick of the bowlers getting two wickets for 41 runs while Nazmul and Mamadullah picked up a one wicket each.
Bangladesh seemed to have finally learned from the lessons of matches past and the Zimbabwe innings earlier and decided not to go for broke upfront. With Brian Vitori and Kyle Jarvis opening the bowling, the Bangladesh openers were even more watchful and put on their best partnership of the series. Vitori did not get the same movement he did in the first two ODIs and was seen off carefully and even the pace of Jarvis was dealt with in composed fashion.
Vitori was taken off after a short spell of three overs and replaced by Chris Mpofu. Tamim Iqbal's first attacking shot came off Mpofu, a blistering stroke that was creamed past mid-off. He followed it up with two cracking shots through the covers, showing glimpses of the prowess that he is so well known for. Imrul Kayes acted as a foil to Tamim, absorbing the pressure and letting it off only slightly to rotate strike. He survived one close lbw shout off Prosper Utseya but when the second one came, Imrul was given his marching orders.
Junaid Siddique made his first appearance in the series on a precarious note, getting an outside edge for four. He didn't look entirely in control in his brief time at the crease, lofting a length delivery to the boundary off Mpofu with some circumspection. He departed after pushing a tossed up ball straight back to Utseya, who was rewarded for flighting it.
With Utseya the only frontline tweaker in the attack, Brendan Taylor had a tricky task of managing his four seamers and brought Vitori back in the 18th over, with Chigumbura bowling at the other end. Although Vitori did not get a wicket in his first seven overs, he was difficult to get away. Chigumbura struggled against the right/left combination of Tamim and Mushfiqur Rahim at first, but soon found his rhythm.
Zimbabwe edged ahead at the halfway stage when Tamim was run out by Mpofu after attempting a second while chancing the fast-bowlers arm. Tamim was without his bat, which he dropped midway and failed to make his ground.
The two sides clash in two more dead rubber in the city of kings on Friday and Sunday to round off the series.
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