admin
Bangladesh by seven wickets at Harare Sports Club yesterday to take a 2-0 lead in the five One-Day International cricket series.
The 21-year-old seamer bagged another five wickets yesterday to add to his fiver on his ODI debut at the same ground on Friday.
Vitori’s performance yesterday ensured that he became the first player, in the history of ODI cricket, to grab 10 wickets in his first two matches.
Until his sensational burst yesterday, the world record belonged to South African pace legend Alan Donald who grabbed eight wickets in his first two ODIs against India.
Vitori went two better yesterday with a stunning performance with the ball as he retained figures of 5-19.
“I just stuck to the team plans and tried to hit the good areas,” said Vitori.
“Every wicket was a bonus for us. It was really just about tying them down, we knew they would crack at some point.”
That helped Zimbabwe storm to what was yet another easy victory against Bangladesh, with another commanding all-round performance.
Skipper Brendan Taylor won the toss and elected to field first as Vitori carved up the Bangladesh line-up, with his second ODI five in as many games.
“The seamers came up trumps again, Vitori was outstanding,” said Taylor.
“It made the batters’ job easier. We have won the first game in the past against Bangladesh and then lost the series, so the guys are hungry for more success.
“We used the morning conditions well and after that it flattened out.”
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hassan admitted his team were at crisis point.
“You can say that. In three games we have been outplayed. We all have to put our hands up, it is not only about me or someone else, it is about the team. We have to show the world we are good enough to compete,” he said.
“We did not bat well, simple as that. The wicket was a good one, our top order is not getting runs, it is hard for the lower order to come in and score.”
Vusi Sibanda built the foundation for the chase, before Tatenda Taibu’s half-century sealed the win.
The hosts rectified their problem of losing too many wickets in the middle order and held firm where they could have wobbled.
Bangladesh also made gains, although much smaller.
They bowled with a little more consistency, although failing to find enough bite and only managed to score four more runs than they did in the first ODI.
Their top and middle order failed to apply themselves and succumbed to poor shot selection and concentration against a particularly precise Zimbabwe attack.
Bangladesh started positively with Imrul Kayes pouncing on width from Chris Mpofu at the first opportunity.
But the encouraging start proved to be a false dawn as Vitori’s golden arm struck again.
He bowled his usual tight line and was rewarded with his fifth ball, when Tamim Iqbal tried to smack him through point without moving his feet, gifting Ray Price at first slip a catch.
Mushfiqur Rahim was promoted to No. 3 in an attempt to repair the early damage, an experiment that failed.
One ball short of completing five measured overs at the crease, he mistimed a pull to be caught at square leg. Instead of consolidating, Kayes followed Mushfiqur, trying to force a length delivery through extra cover and offering Hamilton Masakadza a simple catch.
Shahriar Nafees was dropped in the slips off the next ball, giving Bangladesh a bit of a lifeline and some time to play themselves in.
But Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful withdrew into their shells as the run-rate stagnated but they did manage to see off bounce from Mpofu and movement from Vitori, with Prosper Utseya giving them some respite.
Elton Chigumbura’s introduction offered them the ideal opportunity to forge forward, but instead, they regressed.
Nafees gave his wicket away, to the fielder in extra cover, and in Chigumbura’s next over, Ashraful, who had displayed real patience, gave up.
He hung his bat out to a wide delivery and got an edge through to Tatenda Taibu.
The wicketkeeper snapped up his second catch when Mahmudullah misread the line from Utseya and played for turn that wasn’t there.
At 58 for 6, Bangladesh were in a familiar mess, having slumped to 43 for 5 in the previous game.
Shakib Al Hasan found an unlikely but welcome partner in debutant Nasir, who had a good tour of South Africa with the A side in April.
Nasir showed the maturity that those before him should have employed. His handling of the short ball, and execution of the pull shot against Mpofu were of particular distinction.
Shakib’s ability to come to Bangladesh’s rescue is well documented and the captain’s efforts were, once again, praise-worthy.
His fault is that he hasn’t been able to convert his starts into bigger scores and he stumbled again when Vitori returned for his second spell and trapped him lbw.
Nasir was the senior partner in his time at the crease with the captain and continued in that vein when he was joined by Abdur Razzak.
Their partnership flourished at a run-rate of over six for the ten overs they were together, with both application and assurance, particularly against the spinners and found themselves needing to accelerate when Vitori returned for a third spell.
Nasir took him on, but lofted straight to the fielder at long-on.
Vitori has not yet had to wake up from his dream introduction to the international arena and capped if off with another stunning effort when he bowled Razzak with a full delivery.
Bangladesh’s innings ended limply when Rubel Hossain was run out, 15 balls short of their allotted 50 overs.
Unlike the woeful batting, Bangladesh’s effort in the field was a little more promising.
Shafiul Islam and Rubel bowled good lines and lengths, outside the off stump, getting some movement and the odd delivery to straighten.
Shafiul struck early, removing Taylor in his second over, inducing him to push outside off stump. The ball took the edge and was dying on Shahriar Nafees at second slip, who completed a good catch.
The early breakthrough gave Bangladesh something to work with, but as was the case in the first ODI, they were unable to keep applying pressure, although their use of the new ball was markedly better.
Abdur Razzak, however, had less success with his left-arm spin.
Sibanda has learnt to play Razzak’s brand of tweaking and used his feet well against him.
Shakib and Mahmudullah operated in tandem with better results. In their ten overs, they gave away only 37 runs and claimed a wicket.
Although there was not much turn on offer, the pair managed to squeeze and force the batsmen to work them around the field.
Sibanda and Masakadza were both up for the task and found the gaps without needing to play a shot in anger.
Shakib could have had Masakadza stumped when he was on 30 but Mushfiqur Rahim could not collect the ball. Mahmudullah ensured that the team only paid eight runs for their error.
He lured Masakadza forward by tossing it up, and made him play for turn that wasn’t there.
Mushfiqur didn’t repeat his mistake and took the bails off.
Sibanda struggled at times against the short ball, but his mistimed pulls did not cost him and his driving remained impressive.
His half-century came up with a lofted shot over Shafiul’s head.
Taibu took eight balls to get off the mark but when he did, with a single, it opened the floodgates and his next shot was a six over extra-cover.
Rubel was only given two overs and even Ashraful was allowed to turn his arm.
He dismissed Sibanda, who was stumped after going too far down the track.
Taibu took his time when he needed to, but showed off the footwork that he is renowned for, taking on the spinners and playing a dominant role in his partnership with Craig Ervine.
Taibu was dropped at deep midwicket on 46, a wicket that would have made no difference to the result, but it was fitting that he was there at the end.
His exquisite pull off Ashraful took Zimbabwe home with 35 balls remaining.
Scoreboard
Bangladesh
I. Kayes c Masakadza b Vitori 8
T. Iqbal c Price b Vitori 3
M. Rahim c Ervine b Mpofu 12
M. Ashraful c Taibu b Chigumbura 6
S. Nafeez c Taylor b Chigumbura 14
S. Al Hassan lbw b Vitori 26
Mahmadullah c Taibu b Utseya 3
N. Hossain c Masakadza b Vitori 63
A. Razzak b Vitori 35
S. Islam not out 3
R. Hossain run out (Chigumbura) 0
Extras (11lb, 4w) 15
Total (for all out, 47.3 overs) 188
Fall: 1-8 (Iqbal), 2-25 (Rahim), 3-26 (Kayes), 4-50 (Nafeez), 5-53 (Ashraful), 6-58 (Mahmudullah), 7-111 (Al Hassan), 8-196 (N. Hussain) 9-188 (R. Hossain)
Bowling: Vitori 9.3-0-20-5 (1w); Mpofu 9-1-42-1; Chigumbura 10-0-35-2 (2w); Utseya 10-1-42-1 (1w); Price 9-0-38-0
Zimbabwe
B. Taylor c Nafeez b S. Islam 3
V. Sibanda st. Rahim b Ashraful 67
H. Masakadza st Rahim b Mahmadullah 38
T. Taibu not out 61
C. Ervine not out 8
Extras (2b, 2lb, 10w) 14
Total (for 3 wkts, 44.1 overs) 191
Fall: 1-4 (Taylor), 2-87 Masakadza), 3-146 (Sibanda).
Did not bat: Forster Mtizwa, Elton Chigumbura, Ray Price, Prosper Utseya, Chris Mpofu, Brian Vitori
Bowling: S. Islam 9-3-32-1 (2w); R. Hossain 10-0-50-0 (3w), S. Al Hassan 8-1-31-0 (2w), A. Razzak 1-0-10-0 (1w), Mahmadullah 8-0-27-1 (2w), N. Hossain 2-0-11-0, Ashraful 6.1-0-26-1.
Result: Zimbabwe won by seven wickets
Toss: Zimbabwe
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Russell Tiffin (ZIM)
TV Umpire: Owen Chirombe (ZIM)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI) – Sports Reporter/Cricinfo/AFP
Online Reporter