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Don Makanyanga Sports Reporter
IT was a case of so near yet so far away for Zimbabwe as the Chevrons lost the fourth T20I match against Bangladesh by five runs at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur last night.
The defeat left the Chevrons facing a possible whitewash as they now trail the series 4-0 ahead of the last match of the series tomorrow.
After winning the toss yesterday, Zimbabwe elected to bowl first and managed to restrict the hosts to 143 runs in 19.5 overs.
The bowling innings became a tale of two halves for the Chevrons, with the first 10 overs being a struggle for Sikandar Raza and his men.
Bangladesh put 100 runs on the board after 12 overs without losing a wicket. But they went on to crumble as they lost 10 wickets in the last eight overs of their batting innings.
The openers Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Soumya Sarkar provided the hosts with a flying start after putting 101 runs on the board.
But Zimbabwe got their first wicket at the start of the 12th over when Hasan (52) was caught out by Jonathan Campbell off a Luke Jongwe delivery.
Jongwe was to strike again four balls later, in the same over, dismissing Soumya Sarka (41), which also proved to be a vital wicket for the visitors.
The two wickets marked the start of the collapse of the Bangladesh batting line up as they went on to lose eight more wickets for meagre returns.
Jongwe bagged his third for the day with Richard Ngarava and Brian Bennet each claiming two wickets apiece while skipper Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani got a wicket each.
Eventually, Bangladesh were bowled out for 143 runs.
Zimbabwe had an awkward start chasing their first win in four matches, as Bennet was dismissed with the fourth ball of the innings.
Raza was the next to be dismissed in the fourth over for 17 runs off 10 balls. At the half-way mark, chances for Zimbabwe’s first win still looked probable despite the setbacks, as the Chevrons stood at 58 runs for the loss of four wickets.
The fourth and fifth wicket partnerships of Clive Madande and Campbell, and Ryan Burl and Campbell gave Zimbabwe some hope before a characteristic Chevrons collapse set in.
Wellington Masakadza who has had a good time with the bat in the series, put up another good performance as he scored an unbeaten 19 off just eight balls.
His efforts were not good enough for the Chevrons as they went on to lose the match by five runs after the tail was cleaned up for 138 runs in 19.4 overs.
Online Reporter