Unheralded Bangladesh Cricket Board XI bowlers showed that there is nothing to be panicked about the Zimbabwe cricket team as they rattled some of the top batsmen from the visiting side to earn a draw in the three-day warm-up match that ended at Fatullah on Wednesday. The two teams accepted the draw after Zimbabwe reached 201-5 in 50 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 85 from Craig Ervine, who faced 98 balls and struck 11 fours and four sixes.
However, the most encouraging sign for the home side was the struggle of some top Zimbabwean batsmen in Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda, who forms the backbone of their batting line up.
Taylor, who scored a century in each innings during the first Test of their previous series against Bangladesh, could add just four runs in the second innings to his 19 in the first before he was dismissed by part-timer Shadman Islam.
Dewan Sabbir, who took the catch of Taylor, earlier bowled Sibanda for 22 and Brian Chari for a duck while Rony Talukdar removed Masakadza for 31 runs.
The BCB XI skipper Naeem Islam took the opportunity to rotate his bowlers, using as many as 10 options which also included wicketkeeper Jasim Uddin.
Ervine was the prime beneficiary of the casual bowling, hitting all around the park to strengthen his chance for a Test comeback after 18 months.
Sabbir finished with 2-17 bowling just six overs.
Earlier Test contender Shubhagata Hom missed a chance of completing a deserving century as he ran out of partners after BCB XI late order failed to deliver.
Resuming the third day’s play on 252-6, the hosts were finally bowled out for 297 in 102.5 overs, adding 45 runs to their overnight score.
Shubhagata remained unbeaten on 75 runs to take some confidence with him as he is vying for a place in Bangladesh’s starting lineup during the three-Test series.
The first Test match will begin at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on October 25.
-With New Age input
