Bangladesh win second Test

For Bangladesh, this was obviously a huge achievement as it was only their first win against the hosts in Zimbabwe having lost the previous five Tests and drawing the other.

Man-of-the-Series, Rubiol Islam, dedicated their victory to the more than 300 people who perished when a building collapsed in Bangladesh last week.
Having been thrashed in the first Test, the tourists were more assured in the second, scoring 391 and 291 for 9 declared in their two innings and the hosts struggled to 282 in their first innings and Hamilton’s milestone could only give Zimbabwe 257 more runs in the second innings.

The win here also ends a run of nine straight series defeats after Ziaur Rahman took 4-63 in Zimbabwe’s second innings as the home team ended well short of a huge target of 401.

Most of the individual awards went to Bangladesh as Mushfiqur Rahim was been named Man-of-the Match while Hamilton walked away with the highest number of sixes award.
Zimbabwe failed to continue with the momentum they showed in the first Test and Bangladesh took advantage as they managed re-organise themselves and they were helped, to some extent, by some cheap dismissals from the hosts whose top order, once again, failed.

It meant that the heroics of Shingi Masakadza, impressive with the bat and also very impressive as a nightwatchman who did everything for the cause of his team but eventually came short, were overshadowed.

The visitors got the breakthrough when Mohammad Ahsraful trapped Shingi whose 24 was a display of the dogged approach needed, as it took some 90 balls, and on the occasions he chose to go for adventure, which were few and far between, he was rewarded with three fours.

If Shingi had shown the way, and provided hope, Elton Chigumbura did exactly the opposite when the occasion needed more from him as he was dismissed cheaply.
In the end it was left for Hamilton and no one man has saved a Test on his own on the fifth day.

There was defiance, though, in the way Zimbabwe surrendered the contest as the last wicket pairing of Hamilton and Kyle Jarvis added 38 more runs and coach Steve Mangongo knows that could have done the trick if the others had put such a shift.

Zimbabwean captain Brendan Taylor said he was disappointed with the loss but said he expected a Tigers’ backlash.
“We expected them to come back strongly, we let ourselves down on the first day and that set the tone,” said Talyor.

“The wicket played a little bit better than we thought it would on day one. There were some quality performances from them and they deserve the win.
“But we are fairly pleased with some of our own performances and can be proud with a drawn series.”

Tigers’ skipper, Mushfiqur, said it was a huge achievement for their side.
“A Test win is a big achievement for us and after the first Test all the pressure was on us,” said Mushfiqur.
“The boys have stuck their hands up, especially the senior guysm who all played well. That shows the character of our team. Hopefully we can take this momentum into the one-dayers.”