Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE captain Sikandar Raza says the Chevrons were about five to ten runs short of a total which would have helped them complete a series sweep of Bangladesh.
The Tigers won a thriller yesterday to complete a 2-1 come-from-behind T20I series win at Queens after winning the decider with just two balls remaining in their chase.
Bangladesh closed on 144/6 while chasing the hosts 143/7.
Dion Myers, with a 73, and Brian Bennett’s 47 were at the heart of the hosts’ total.
“I thought 155. We realised that this is a typical Bulawayo wicket that’s going to get harder to bat on, and it did,” said Raza.
“I just think we were maybe five to 10 runs short as well. But having said that, I still think had we fielded a little bit better, it has been our Achilles’ heel, we could have made a game out of it anyway. If you look at the dropped chances and the misfields and all those things that we did on the park, they could have been needing 15 runs to win the game in the last over, but unfortunately it was not to be.
“In the field there was a lot of misfields. There was a lot of twos that shouldn’t have been. We spoke about it. Some of the lack of awareness from the boundary riders suddenly cost those runs as well.
“A lot of the twos straight to fielders as well. So you know, all those things just contributed. I think our game awareness today in the field was quite poor.”
Brad Evans bowled the last over but despite his best efforts, the Tigers found a way to squeeze a win.
“Suddenly we backed Brad, and it would have been a great game had we won it.
“But still a good game of cricket as well, and credit to Bangladesh for winning. Having five fielders inside, it was always tough, but credit to Brad that he showed a lot of character and heart there as well.
“Unfortunately, when the margins are very small, a full toss that you middle is a four, so you know these things go, these things matter”
Scores
Zimbabwe 143/7 (Myres 73, Bennett 47, Mohammad Saifuddin 2-35)
Bangladesh 144/6 (Tanzid Hassan 66, Parvez Emon 24. Nharava 2-20, Evans 2-26, Raza 2-38). — Sports Reporter/Cricinfo
