‘We want a whitewash’

series win over Bangladesh but the coach believes the hosts should remain focussed on their remaining two games.
Butcher’s men sealed the ODI series following a dramatic five-run victory over Bangladesh at Harare Sports Club in their third game on Tuesday.
But the British coach wants Zimbabwe to complete a whitewash in the remaining two games in Bulawayo.
It was a historic feat for the Zimbabweans who took a 3-0 lead in the five game series to win their first ODI series against a Test playing nation in five years.
The win put the icing on the Zimbabwe Cricket cake having recently won their one-off Test that marked their return to the longer version of the game after six years.
Zimbabwe have been in top form in the series winning all encounters from the warm up games, Test match and the three ODIs they have played so far.
But Tuesday’s game was pretty much different as Zimbabwe were sent into bat first having won the toss in the previous two games they chose to chase.
However, they proved equally a good side chasing after Bangladesh put up a much-improved performance compared to the first two ODIs they had played.
Having been put to bat first, Zimbabwe reached 250 for the loss of seven wickets but Bangladesh were 245 all out in reply, failing to get the much needed win as they required eight runs from the final over.
Butcher was impressed with the way his players absorbed the pressure to pull a win with four balls to spare, saying it was a major boost for his side.
“It is pretty significant for everybody. From the players’ point of view, they’ve had a tough time, getting better and to win a series, it helps boost your confidence.
“We won a Test and three ODIs but there are areas of improvement.
“We knew that from the first two games that Bangladesh were capable of playing better than they did. And they showed it. We’d really love to have a 5-0 win,” said Butcher.
Former captain and wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu top scored with 83 and it was his third wicket partnership with Hamilton Masakadza (74) that gave life to Zimbabwe.
At the same time Taibu was celebrating his 20th ODI half-century while Masakadza marked his 17th half-century in the one day version of the game.
Spinner Prosper Utseya was the pick of the Zimbabwe bowlers as he grabbed three wickets for 47 while Elton Chigumbura’s 31 with the bat added weight for Zimbabwe.
But it was towards the end of the game that seamers Kyle Jarvis and Christopher Mpofu rose to the occasion and nailed Bangladesh in the final two overs of the game.
Brian Vitori gave problems to the Bangladesh defence while Jarvis picked up two wickets in the penultimate over claiming the scalps of Islam and Robiul Hossain and Mpofu was responsible for Mushfiqur Rahim (101) in the last over.
“A year ago we never heard of Brian Vitori – well that is not true. But he was coming through the franchise.
“Kyle was struggling with a back injury and he has come back to put a good performance, we were not sure when he was going to come back.
“Those two have really come forward.”
Captain Brendan Taylor believes his bowling attack worked hard for the victory.
“I thought we had done about enough, the ball doesn’t do much in the afternoon, but we had the bowlers, the guys kept their heads together and pulled it off.
“I just thought I would keep changing my bowlers around.
“With no Price to contain the bowlers, Jarvis showed a mature head,” said Taylor.
But Mushfiqur presented Zimbabwe with a golden opportunity to win the game when he took a hurried shot that was caught by Vusimuzi Sibanda at the boundary.
However, Bangladesh coach Stuart Law feels it would not be fair to put the blame on Mushfiqur as he failed to get the support from the mid order and the tail enders.
“You can’t blame him.
“He’s played one of the best innings of his career.
“It’s just a shame that a guy who plays an innings like that ends up in the losing team. He’s absolutely distraught in the dressing room.
“If some of the batsmen who got out before him did things differently, it would’ve been a different story,” said Law.
Law feels that his side made “too many mistakes and were punished for their poor fielding.
“I still can’t get out of the head the four catches we dropped today, that probably cost us,” he said.
On his way to his maiden century Mushfiqur partnered Tamim Iqbal (44), Shakib Al Hasan (19), debutant Shuvagoto Hom (22) and Mahmudullah (14)
Bangladesh collapsed easily from 229 for 6, to 245 all out.
Law said Zimbabwe’s performance in this series was as a result of the fact that the hosts prepared well for the games while his side had problems with the monsoon rains back in Bangladesh.
“Zimbabwe have had fantastic preparation; they played tough cricket against Australia A and South Africa A, leading into the series.
“Our preparation probably wasn’t ideal with monsoon at home.
“We played games against our Academy, probably not the sternest test before we come here and play a team that has played tough cricket,” Law said.