Bangladesh v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

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Bangladesh v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

Okay, I take one day off and no one picks up the slack?

Anyway, the final match for these two teams was today. Going into the match, it was more than just a battle for last place in this tournament. They were tied for 9th and 10th place in the ICC ODI standings with 32 points each. The winner today would get sole possession of 9th place.

Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to field.

I woke up and started watching a little after the tenth over. Bangladesh had started off slow, losing two wickets, but Nafees and Saqibul were just getting started on what would be an important partnership. Together they lasted for 83 runs. It could have actually been more, but from what I saw of it, the Zimbabwe fielders were doing an excellent job of stopping the ball and preventing more runs from being scored.

After Saqibul was out for 36, Bashar came on and put together an 80 run partnership with Nafees. Nafees actually lasted all the way to the end, finishing 123 not out, his second ODI century, and the highest ever score for a Bangladeshi in ODI's.

Bangladesh finished 231-6 after their 50 overs.

 

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Re: Bangladesh v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

Zimbabwe came in to bat with a reachable target of 232, but were foiled by the Bangladeshi bowlers at just about every turn. Taylor was their top scorer with 52, but by the time he was out at 88-5, the required rate was up to 6 per over, and from there it quickly got out of hand. Chigumbura and Brent actually were able to make their partnership last 14 overs after that, but they failed to score many runs during it. By the time they were both out at 127, the match was out of reach.

Zimbabwe finished all out for 130 after 44.4 overs.
Bangladesh won by a large 101-run margin.

The Bangladeshi bowlers almost all looked good, with perhaps the most notable contribution coming from Saqibul Hasan. The 19-year old took 3 wickets and allowed only 18 runs during his 10 overs. Add the 36 runs he contributed with the bat earlier today, and it's clear why he was one of the top performers for Bangladesh during the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka earlier this year. (Though just about all of Bangladesh's bowlers look good today.)

In the Sri Lanka match, Saqibul finished 67 not out. In the West Indies match (when their bowlers couldn't break the partnership of Gayle and Chanderpaul), he was their most economical bowler, allowing only 12 runs in his 5 overs. Let's hope he can keep this form up.

So Bangladesh can now claim sole possession of 9th place on the ODI table, ahead of Zimbabwe. They can also take a small bit of solace in that they scored 265 against Sri Lanka, and at least made that match look respectable.

Bangladesh are due to host a 5-ODI series against Zimbabwe in late November, so they will have a further opportunity to solidfy their position ahead of the Zimbabweans.

 

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Re: Bangladesh v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

With their 3-match cameo done, Zimbabwe can lick their wounds and head for home. At least their fielding today was superb. That's about it though.

Taylor got 52 today, on top of the 30 he scored against Sri Lanka. Nice batting. Unfortunately, his running was terribly today, and he seemed to be at fault for both of the run-outs that eliminated Masakadza and Matsikenyeri. In the opeing West Indies match, Taylor was also in a bad run out that cost his wicket. He needs to work on his running, no doubt about it. Or maybe not his running, but he needs to start paying attention and using his brain. Zimbabwe obviously needs his bat, so they certainly won't even consider dropping him, but his running may cost them more matches in the future.

On the bowling side, Kamungozi caught my eye today. He was the one who got Saqibul, and was their most economical bowler, allowing only 38 runs for his 10 overs. He also got 2 wickets against Sri Lanka, though it was the lower part of the order.

 

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Re: Bangladesh v Zimbabwe: Champions Trophy

Bangladesh have much more they can take from this tournament. They actually got a win, and kept the Sri Lanka match respectable. A number of their batsmen scored well, including Saqibul, Aftab Ahmed, and of course Nafees setting the new Bangladesh ODI high mark of 123.

On the bowling side, Razzak picked up 2 wickets against Sri Lanka, had an economy rate of only 3.1 in his 9.4 overs against West Indies (and it was only that high because Gayle wanted to finish it in Razzak's final over, Razzak had only given up 24 runs in his first 9 overs), and took 2 more wickets today with an economy rate of only 1.8. It was a good tournament for Abdur Razzak, and combined with the above-mentioned numbers from Saqibul, the future for Bangladesh only continues to look bright.

When will the future become the present? Well, I think Nafees is here already. And some of his teammates are very close to joining him as legitimate contenders on the world stage. They'll certainly go into the World Cup next year believing that they can compete with India and Sri Lanka.