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four-wicket win over Bangladesh in the opening One-Day International at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
This ensured that Vitori became the first Zimbabwean to take five wickets on his ODI cricket debut after Zimbabwe restricted Bangladesh to 184.
Supported by a mature batting exhibition by Sibanda, who was able to deal with the Bangladesh spin, Zimbabwe then had an easier chase despite suffering an early scare.
Zimbabwe lost captain Brendan Taylor in the fifth over but Sibanda struck a respectable 96 from 102 balls to take his side close to victory.
But it was Foster Mutizwa’s composed unbeaten 27 that took Zimbabwe to their win over Bangladesh with 8.4 overs to spare.
With the hosts winning the toss and deciding to field, the visitors crumbled to 43-5 as Vitori – who finished with 5/30 from his 10 overs – ripped through the Bangladesh top order.
It was the sixth wicket partnership between captain Shakib Al Hassan (53) and Mushfiqur Rahim (59) that solidified the Bangladeshi innings as the stand yielded 105 runs.
Shakib and Rahim’s century partnership for the sixth-wicket breathed life back into the Bangladesh defence as they came together at 43-5 in the 17th over to reach 148-6.
Bangladesh could not last their allotted 50 overs as they were all out, with eight balls to go, as Shakib and Rahim were the only ones who managed half centuries.
However, Zimbabwe survived an early scare when captain Brendan Taylor (10) was bowled in a 26-run opening partnership with Sibanda.
Hamilton Masakadza, coming in at number three, contributed 41.
Vitori’s first scalp was Tamim Iqbal who was out for four after he mistimed his shot and he fell victim as he was caught by Elton Chigumbura at mid-on.
Shahriar Nafees (14) was next to fall, bowled by a delivery that uprooted his leg stump as he tried a straight drive, and two quick wickets saw Mohammad Ashraful (2) and Imrul Kayes (11) taking the long walk back to the pavilion.
Kayes was trapped lbw with a full delivery giving Vitori his fourth wicket of the day.
Zimbabwe were probably ruing Tatenda Taibu’s stumping miss on Shakib, while he was still on 17, when he hesitated midway through his run and the wicket-keeper fluffed his chance.
Shakib then used his life and punished the Zimbabwe attack as he continued with a good scoring rate, having fun in the sun for his half century.
Masakadza was brought in the 36th over and he broke the sixth wicket partnership, removing the dangerous Shakib, with Utseya completing the dismissal.
Mishfiqur presented Utseya with his 100th ODI wicket and the tail, try as it did, could not wagger.
There was always a danger that with Abdur Razzak and Shakib in the attack, the Zimbabweans could struggle to chase down the low total.
Shakib introduced himself as early as the fourth over and got the key wicket of fellow skipper Taylor.
But the second wicket partnership of Sibanda and Masakadza gave Zimbabwe the shoulder they needed to lean on.
The partnership was broken when Masakadza was run out after he hesitated for a single that Sibanda did not offer.
Hossain’s two quick wickets, Taibu for a duck and Craig Ervine, brought some jitters into the Zimbabwe chase.
But Sibanda was doing well and should have gone on to get his 100 when he fell at 96, a hurried stroke that looped to Mahmudullah at square leg off Rahim.
Mutizwa was there to complete the run chase although, in the end, Zimbabwe made a mountain out of a mole and even lost Chigumbura cheaply along the way.
Scorecard
Bangladesh Innings
Iqbal c Chigumbura b Vitori 4
Kayes lbw b Vitori 11
Nafeez b Vitori 14
Ashraful c Mpofu b Vitori 2
Al Hassan c Utseya b Masakadza 53
Mahmudullah c Masakadza b Chigumbura 5
Rahim c Masakadza b Utseya 59
Sohrawardi not out 20
Razzak c Taylor b Price 0
Islam c Sibanda b Vitori 8
Hossain run out (Utseya/Taibu) 1
Extras (3lb, 4w) 7
Total 184
F-o-W: 1-7 (Iqbal), 2-28 (Nafeez), 3-32 (Ashraful), 4-33 (Kayes), 5-43 (Mahmudullah), 6-148 (Al Hassan), 7-161 (Rahim), 8-162 (Razzak), 9-180 (S. Islam), 10-184 (Hossain)
Bowling: Mpofu 8.4-2-20-0, Vitori 10-0-30-5 (2w), Chigumbura 7-0-33-1 (2w), Utseya 10-0-45-1, Price 10-0-44-1, Masakadza 3-0-9-1
Zimbabwe Innings
Taylor b S. Al Hassan 10
Sibanda c Mahmudullah b R. Hossain 96
Masakadza run out (Mahmudullah) 41
Taibu b R. Hossain 0
Ervine c Rahim b R. Hossain 0
Mutizwa not out 27
Chigumbura c Iqbal b R. Hossain 3
Utseya not out 0
Extras (2lb, 7w) 9
Total 186
F-o-W: 1-26 (Taylor), 2-112 (Masakadza), 3-124 (Taibu), 4-124 (Ervine), 5-175 (Sibanda), 6-182 (Chigumbura)
Did not bat: Price, Mpofu, Vitori
Bowling: S. Islam 2-0-13-0; R. Hossain 10-1-26-4 (1w); A. Razzak 7.2-1-40-0 (2w); S. Al Hassan 10-0-48-1 (4w); Sohrawardi 8-0-38-0; Mahmudullah 4-1-19-0
Bongani Ndlovu