Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AFTER watching his side blow a chance to win their first Test series in 14 years, Zimbabwe head coach Justin Sammons believes they only have themselves to blame for the innings defeat suffered against Bangladesh in the second and final Test match of the series on Wednesday.
The Chevrons went into the final Test leading 1-0, having won the opener in Sylhet, but were outplayed by the hosts in the series decider, losing the match by an innings and 106 runs, effectively sharing the trophy.
Zimbabwe, who won the toss and elected to bat first, were bowled out for 227 runs, collapsing from a strong position at 162/2. Bangladesh responded with a mammoth 444 to take a first-innings lead of 217 runs, before Zimbabwe crumbled to 111 all out in their second innings.
While conceding that conditions were somewhat tricky, Sammons insists they should have applied themselves better with the bat.
“Day one is no excuse, actually. Day one and day two were really good batting wickets, and we didn’t take advantage of the situation we were in. We have ourselves to blame and not the conditions, because had we batted properly on day one, it would have put Bangladesh in a different position coming in to bat under more pressure and it’s a different ball game.
“We were completely outplayed in this match, in a massive way. Fair result. We played good cricket in Sylhet and poor cricket in this game. We had an opportunity at tea on day one, being two down, that’s the disappointing factor. We had a chance to put Bangladesh under pressure by the end of day one, and we didn’t take it,” said Sammons.
The coach said they would take lessons from this match and hope to improve going forward, especially when playing on slower wickets like the one in Chattogram.
Quizzed on which wicket was better, Sylhet or Chattogram, Sammons said both were good cricket wickets, but the biggest takeaways came from the second Test.
“If conditions suit us, we definitely match up, that’s for sure. In conditions like we found in this game, we still have a long way to go, and we’ve seen that particularly in how we played spin. We still have a lot of improvement to do. We’re certainly on the right track, we’re seeing a lot of improvements, and hopefully we continue taking lessons from experiences like this, playing in these conditions.
“Sylhet was a good cricket wicket, there was something in it for the seamers, and if you applied yourself with the bat, runs were available, as shown by Bangladesh in their second innings. The same applied here in Chattogram. They applied themselves to the conditions and scored runs, while there was something on offer for the spinners.
It’s a challenge, there’s something for the bowlers in terms of spin, but if you bat properly and apply yourself, there are runs. So both wickets were good wickets.
“The biggest lessons will come from Chattogram. This is where we gained more experience and grew as a team. That’s what we want to do, we want to challenge ourselves,” he said.
Next up for Zimbabwe is a historic one-off four-day Test match against England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, before returning home to face South Africa and New Zealand.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz single handedly routed Zimbabwe on the third day of the Chattogram Test. He scored 104 to help Bangladesh post 444, then took five wickets to bundle Zimbabwe out for 111, handing his side an emphatic innings victory.
