Zimbabwe have finally something to cheer in the one-day international series against Bangladesh despite a narrow 21-run loss in the fourth match at Dhaka on Friday.
The visitors were competitive for the first time in the five-match series and with little luck could have won the game after Solomon Mire put in a fine all-round performance.
Mire and fellow medium pacer Neville Madziva burst in their opening spell to help Zimbabwe reduce Bangladesh to 32-4 before Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah took the momentum away with an epic 134-run stand.
Mire, who finished with 3-49, later scored 52 runs and shared 106 runs with Brendan Taylor (63) for the fourth wicket to give them a realistic chance of overhauling Bangladesh’s 256-8.
They finally ended up with 235-8 with the visitors crossing 200-run mark for the first time in the series.
Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura was left ruing the absence of a quality fifth bowler with Hamilton Masakadza, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Timycen Maruma and the skipper himself staging a failure in the role.
Chigumbura also held their batting after a positive 48-run opening stand responsible for the defeat.
‘Our fifth bowler did not manage to break the partnership,’ said Chigumbura. ‘If the fifth bowler bowled well it could have been a different story.
‘They had a big partnership. I thought if we could break the stand with another guy, it could have been a different story chasing a lower target,’ he said.
The dismissals of Mire and Taylor to Jubair Hossain and Rubel Hossain in successive overs respectively were the turning points in the match, pointed out the Zimbabwean skipper.
‘They were the match-changing situation,’ he said. ‘We lost two guys, who were set, just before the powerplay. If we had at least one of them in the wicket, it would have made it easier for the guys coming in.’
Chigumbura was still searching for some positives in the defeat which took them 0-4 down in the series.
‘There are positives from this game if you compare to the other three games that we played,’ he said. ‘Having a good start with the bat than before, and having a good start with the ball again were all positives.’
‘The hundred run partnership between Taylor and Mire, there is a lot that we can take. Hopefully we can continue with the improvement into the last game.
‘We had a good opportunity, but we didn’t grab it with both hands. We just need to learn from it. Hopefully more positives will come from the last game,’ he said.
-With New Age input
