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Having not played ODIs since the 2015 World Cup, Sri Lanka’s new captain couldn’t have asked for a better initiation again

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-May-2019Sri Lanka’s less-heralded players helped ease through the side’s first test in the UK, as they beat Scotland by 35 runs via the DLS method.Opener Avishka Fernando, who had had a poor tour of South Africa earlier this year, produced 74 off 78 balls, while Dimuth Karunaratne, on ODI captaincy debut, made 77 off 88. The pair put on 123 runs for the first wicket. Kusal Mendis also contributed 66 off 56 balls through the middle overs, but it was bowler Nuwan Pradeep who impressed most of all, taking 4 for 34 in the rain-shortened second innings.For Karunaratne, the match was not only a test of his leadership, but also an examination of his batting. Having not played ODIs since the 2015 World Cup, there have been doubts over whether he could score quickly enough in this format. He was dropped twice before eventually being caught at long-on, but in making a half-century, and providing the middle order with a good platform, Karunaratne suggested he was not completely out of place in ODIs.”Playing an international one-dayer after such a long time is not easy,” Karunaratne said afterwards. “I was under pressure early on and was struggling a little bit. But once I got set and thought about how to play – which bowlers I should target – I felt better. Fortunately, I got a couple of chances. But thanks to the runs I got, I got some confidence.”Avishka was excellent as well. We know how capable he is. He can hit hard and rotate the strike as well. We talked to him about what we needed from him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a hundred, but I think he can get a big hundred in the World Cup.”Sri Lanka made 322 for 8 in their 50 overs, but had seemed set for a score of over 350 at one point, before they experienced a serious middle-overs stutter. Having been 203 for 1 at the end of the 33rd over, Sri Lanka mustered only 19 more runs in the next seven overs, as they lost three quick wickets. While that slowdown was not ideal, it was important that Mendis and Lahiru Thirimanne stabilise the innings at that stage, Karunaratne said. Sri Lanka later made 99 runs in the final ten overs.”We planned to bat out 50 overs, so when we were struggling in the 33rd over – we had lost a couple of wickets, in Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera – we were trying to make sure we batted long. Kusal Mendis was playing well, and Lahiru Thirimanne went in and did a good job. When you have wickets in hand, you can go for it at the end. We were struggling through that period, but we rotated the strike, and in the last ten overs we went for our big shots.”Although they had a substantial score to defend, the arrival of rain partway through Scotland’s innings had complicated the task of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, who were visibly struggling to grip the ball. Pradeep, though, was able to maintain excellent control, and was rewarded with the Player of the Match award for his returns.”When Scotland were going quite well, I spoke to Nuwan Pradeep and asked him to try a couple of bouncers,” Karunaratne said. “He did that really well and we were able to squeeze them through that middle period. It’s not easy to bowl yorkers, especially with the ball getting wet because of the rain. If you don’t execute it well it will go for a six. But Pradeep knows how he has to bowl, and he went for the straight yorker. I hope he takes that confidence into the World Cup.”

The visitors in Bengaluru will be looking for their first win in IPL 2023

Deivarayan Muthu14-Apr-20234:50

Moody: Harshal Patel needs to step up for RCB at home

Big picture: Delhi Capitals look to snap losing streak

Two weeks into IPL 2023, Delhi Capitals are the only winless team in the tournament. Anrich Nortje threatened to put them on the board with his pinpoint yorkers in their last match against Mumbai Indians, but a wayward throw from David Warner in the outfield and Tim David’s big dive on the last ball consigned Capitals to their fourth successive defeat.Royal Challengers Bangalore were also on the wrong side of a last-ball finish earlier this week, but they’re better placed than Capitals on the standings and will be bolstered further by the return of Wanindu Hasaranga, who is one of the top wristspinners in T20 cricket right now.However, there are some concerns around RCB’s middle order and their batting approach in the middle overs, particularly against spin. Left-arm spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav offer Capitals a favourable match-up against Royal Challengers’ right-hander heavy top five. Nortje and Mustafizur have been formidable at the death, but Warner’s go-slow at the top has left them playing catch-up. Mitchell Marsh’s return and an easy-paced hit-through-the-line Chinnaswamy track, though, could free him up.

Form guide (most recent match first)

RCB: LLW
Delhi Capitals: LLLL

Team news: Wanindu Hasaranga, Mitchell Marsh return

Related

• Waiting for the real David Warner

• Kohli and du Plessis' slowdown against spin proves costly for RCB

• Watson: I'll be blown away if Warner doesn't set the IPL alight

Hasaranga has linked up with Royal Challengers and is available for selection after having completed his national commitments in New Zealand. The Sri Lanka legspinner will slot into the XI in place of David Willey or Wayne Parnell. This will result in another swap: Akash Deep for Karn Sharma. Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is expected to arrive in India on Friday and will finish his rehab with Royal Challengers. It is understood that he’s unlikely to play against Capitals on Saturday.

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Anuj Rawat might be used as a floater in the middle order to counter Axar and Kuldeep if Royal Challengers bat first. Seamer Akash Deep is likely to come in as an Impact Player when they bowl.Mitchell Marsh is back in the IPL after leaving to get married•BCCI

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Bat-first XI (possible): 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Anuj Rawat, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 David Willey/Wayne Parnell, 11 Mohammed SirajBowl-first XI (possible): 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mahipal Lomror, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 David Willey/Wayne Parnell, 10 Akash Deep, 11 Mohammed SirajDelhi Capitals
Marsh, who had missed Capitals’ last two games for his wedding, has rejoined the squad and is set to return to the starting XI in place of Rovman Powell.Capitals are likely to bring in Mukesh Kumar or Chetan Sakariya as their Impact Player, when they bowl. Prithvi Shaw might make way for one of the two seamers.Bat-first XI (possible): 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Yash Dhull/Aman Khan, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Lalit Yadav, 8 Abhishek Porel (wk), 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Mustafizur RahmanBowl-first XI (possible): 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Mitchell Marsh, 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Yash Dhull/Aman Khan, 5 Axar Patel, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Abhishek Porel (wk), 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Anrich Nortje, 10 Mukesh Kumar/Chetan Sakariya, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

Another Chinnaswamy belter is on the cards. A total of 1161 sixes have been hit at this ground in the IPL which is the second most behind Wankhede (1349) in the competition. The weather is expected to be fine for the duration of the game.

Stats that matter

• Glenn Maxwell vs Kuldeep promises to be an intriguing match-up. Maxwell has hit the wristpinner for 59 runs in 21 balls while being dismissed three times in the IPL.
• Dinesh Karthik has a strong head-to-head record against Mustafizur in T20 cricket: 46 runs off 23 balls with just one dismissal.
• Royal Challengers (9.51) and Capitals (9.18) have the worst economy rates in IPL 2023.

Fleming is now the head coach at all three CSK teams, in the IPL, at the SA20, and at the MLC

ESPNcricinfo staff and PTI22-Mar-2023Stephen Fleming will be the head coach of Dallas-based Major League Cricket (MLC) team Texas Super Kings (TSK), who have a partnership with IPL side Chennai Super Kings.Fleming has been the long-serving head coach at CSK, and has guided the team to four IPL titles. He was also the head coach at Joburg Super Kings, a team owned by the same owners as CSK, for the inaugural season of the SA20 league in South Africa.Super Kings joined Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians to make it four out of six MLC teams to have owners connected with the IPL – the tournament is scheduled to begin on July 13.Related

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• Ali Khan and Unmukt Chand snapped by LA Knight Riders

• Finch first overseas signing, named SF Unicorns captain

• Hales hopeful of featuring in MLC amid NOC doubts

The six MLC teams are San Francisco Unicorns, Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington DC. Capitals, co-owned by GMR Group, are partnering with Seattle Orcas.All six MLC teams completed the domestic player draft at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they selected nine players each from more than 100 eligible to represent the “US cricket community”. The rest of the players are going to be filled later.”Cricket is the second-most popular sport in the world with a global fan base of around 2.5 billion followers, but there has not been an opportunity for the sport to grow in the US,” Anurag Jain, co-owner of TSK, said. “We look forward to having a professional team in Texas for the passionate local cricket community to root for and to introduce the sport to new fans across the country.”

The West Indies allrounder sees a lot of promise in his team-mates in the Test arena

Firdose Moonda09-Mar-2023Jason Holder believes the West Indies Test side will improve if they can stick together and get more game time.West Indies are currently playing their sixth Test this season and Holder’s unbeaten 81 has put them in a position to challenge for a second victory. With batting collapses becoming a familiar feature of their scorecards, there is a growing sense that they will continue to lag behind teams in the top half of the World Test Championship (WTC) table, something that Holder thinks can only change with more game time and more backing.”We have been a little bit slow, we’ve been a little bit inconsistent but I think we just need to support people,” Holder said. “You see the talent that we have in the dressing room. We’ve got Test hundreds from No. 1 down to down to No. 8, with the exception of Raymon [Reifer], who has just come in.”We’ve got to have that patience and build a strong core group of players. The more we chop and change in cricket, the worse results we will probably get because we need to give people opportunity. The urge for me and everybody else within the group is just to keep getting the opportunities and taking them with both hands.”Last week, after Holder became the second West Indies player to take 150 Test wickets and score 2500 runs, he lamented the dearth of fixtures for West Indies in the Future Tours Programme, a topic which the MCC has also expressed concerns over. From July-August this year, they will play 26 Test matches until 2027, fewer than South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Australia, India and England, which will not give them as much opportunity to gel a unit as Holder would like.Despite that, he hopes this group of players can continue taking the field and growing together. “I love playing cricket with this group and I think we’ve got the talent in the dressing room to produce [results]. We will have some slow days but we are only day two of this Test match and I have no doubt our players can come in and show their worth and class in the second innings.”Related

• Holder: Every team apart from big three barely playing any Tests

• Mathews says SL not getting enough Tests, especially this year

• Full Members to play more internationals in ICC's 2023-27 FTP

• FTP takeaways: Bangladesh the busiest, and T20 windows aplenty

On a pitch that both teams expect will start to take more turn as the match wears on, Holder believes that batting last “you can easily get 300-plus” but acknowledged “it won’t be easy”. As things stand he admitted South Africa have the advantage but “more often than not, we tend to play well coming from behind”. That much was evident at SuperSport Park, where West Indies dismissed South Africa for 116 in the second innings to set themselves a gettable target of 247.Kagiso Rabada’s six-for played a big role in them not being able to get there but two of the other three South Africa bowlers who were part of that defence are not in this Test. Anrich Nortje was ruled out through injury and Marco Jansen was rested in favour of allrounder Wiaan Mulder, who was tasked with sharing the new ball and put in a solid but not outstanding effort to take 1 for 40. Asked about the advice he could give to Mulder, who is his team-mate at Durban’s Super Giants, Holder reiterated his rhetoric about giving players time to settle into the international arena and a decent run in a team.”Test cricket is a massive step up from first-class cricket. I think any individual needs time. We tend to critique people very quickly, which is fair, but people need an opportunity and people need time and support,” he said. “Once you have the support and good people around you then you will get the results. Sometimes we just get too critical, too fast, of people and we don’t give them enough time to actually show what they’re made of. It’s hard in losing sides and sides that haven’t had success. But more often than not, I think you need to stick behind your players, keep a strong pool of players together and back them.”South Africa’s new red-ball coach Shukri Conrad intends to do exactly that. He has used all 15 squad members in this two-match series and said he hopes to use a lean winter for South Africa to work with a core group of players who will all be part of the next WTC cycle. After this match, South Africa will not play Tests until December but they are aiming to find what Conrad called “content” in terms of A-team cricket in order to put together their strongest squad to host India at the end of the year.While South Africa’s lack of Tests is a cause for concern for their players, they also see the unplanned hiatus as a way to do what Holder suggested and develop players in the same way they have one with someone like Gerald Coetzee. The 22-year-old quick travelled as a reserve bowler to Australia, where he observed the intensity of international training sessions and readied himself to make a debut, as he did last week.He was South Africa’s second-change bowler in a four-strong seam attack there and is now the third-prong in an inexperienced pace pack, and he has enjoyed the challenge. “What you learn is you still want to bowl the best ball possible. If you bowl one that isn’t your best but still get a wicket, it’s always a bonus. It does happen and it can happen at any moment because there is pressure over a long time. Suddenly there’s a release shot, which might go to the boundary but might also lead to a wicket because he hasn’t received a bad ball for a while,” Coetzee said. “However, at this level, the more you ‘miss’, the better you are. If you look at the best bowlers in the world, they can do the same thing over and over. That’s what we all strive for.”

There was no Aaron Finch-Jason Roy show this time but it did not matter against an Essex side that have been very poor this season

Daniel Norcross at Chelmsford05-Aug-2018Surrey 159 for 4 (Maddinson 49*, Clarke 37*) beat Essex 157 for 5 (Chopra 52) by six wickets
ScorecardWhat neutrals there were in a packed house at Chelmsford had mostly come to watch Aaron Finch and Jason Roy, the most explosive opening pairing in domestic T20, probably anywhere in the world, continue their devastating form.On Friday against Middlesex they had combined for 194 runs in a barely credible 13.5 overs. Before today Finch had scored 462 runs in this season’s tournament at an average of 154. Roy, back from England duty, had started to find form in the last couple of matches.This time they were both out within 3.2 overs. Roy managed the philosophically challenging task of getting stumped for a duck without facing a ball, as he overbalanced to a wide speared down the leg side by Ashar Zaidi in the first over of Surrey’s reply to Essex’s below par 157 for 5. There are diamond ducks and golden ducks, but this was neither. Or both. Schrodinger’s duck, maybe?Finch showed glimpses of his excellent form in a ten-ball 16 before he was brilliantly caught by Michael Pepper hurtling in from the midwicket boundary to snaffle the chance inches above the ground.But Surrey’s line-up is packed with international riches. While the Australian Nic Maddinson bedded in at one end, Ben Foakes and Ollie Pope stroked attractive but all too brief cameos at the other.Pope last week told ESPNcricinfo that he looks to get to 15 off ten balls. He got there in nine balls this time, then smashed Bopara for two fours over the top of mid-off (a shot he also said he’d been working on) and promptly got out mishitting a thigh high full toss from Zaidi straight into the hands of deep midwicket for 24 off 13 balls. He may have been anointed by Ed Smith’s selectorial conclave a few hours earlier, and looks set to make his test debut against India on Thursday, but he’s not infallible after all, it would seem.In fact, when he was out Surrey were in danger of throwing away a certain win, teetering as they were on 95 for 4, but they bat deep. Maddinson and Rikki Clarke established themselves before charging home with 33 runs in their last nine balls to ease to a regulation victory by six wickets with 21 deliveries remaining.This season Surrey have scored their runs at an average of 10.48 per over; the highest in the land. This is in part due to their depth of batting riches, but also hanks to a dynamic, carefree approach.In contrast, Essex possess one of the country’s more slothful line ups. Their innings failed to get started until the 20th over, when Zaidi, criminally held back while Pepper, Paul Walter and Ryan ten Doeschate scratched around for a combined 51 runs from 53 balls, plundered Tom Curran for a couple of fours and a towering six in an over that cost 23 runs.It encapsulated everything that’s wrong with Essex’s thinking in this competition. With their captain out of form, and lacking power hitting in the middle order, they still left Ravi Bopara to come in at No. 5 at the end of the 12th over, giving him neither the time nor licence to build a match winning innings.As for Zaidi, his eight-ball 24 showed a packed house at Chelmsford what might have been had Essex shown a bit more flexibility. With 38 balls left in the innings, the orthodox Pepper was sent in in front of him. Against a side like Surrey, 170 was going to be the bare minimum requirement. They had to go for broke.Instead they allowed Surrey’s seamers, led by the remarkable Clarke, who in another era could well have got the nod to replace Ben Stokes at Lord’s ahead of Chris Woakes, to strangle the life out of the innings. Given Essex’s parlous state at the foot of the South Group, needing as they do to win pretty much every game they play to have even a chance of qualification, the lack of invention and risk taking was baffling.As for Surrey, they stride on, but in all likelihood will have to negotiate the sharp end of the group stage without two of the most gifted young cricketers in the land. Fortunately for them, they have some of the most gifted old cricketers in the land as well.

Gareth Harte’s maiden first-class century has put Durham in line for an improbable victory over Derbyshire in their Specsavers County Championship Division Two match

ECB Reporters Network11-Jun-2018
ScorecardGareth Harte’s maiden first-class century has put Durham in line for an improbable victory over Derbyshire in their Specsavers County Championship Division Two match at Emirates Riverside.The home side looked down and out in the contest at 159 for 7 and a lead of only 50 at the start of day three, after losing Cameron Steel in the second over. However, Harte battled with the tail to guide Durham to a total of 376, leaving Derbyshire 268 to win the match.Matt Salisbury and Chris Rushworth took quick wickets to leave the visitors four down, although Ben Slater remains at the crease giving Derbyshire hope of one final momentum swing to turn the match back in their favour on the final day, when they will need another 199 for victory.The home side began the day in dire need of a special innings, holding a lead of only 46 with four wickets remaining, but Steel lasted only three more balls as he edged behind. Durham would have been fearful of a collapse, but Rimmington held firm alongside Harte at the crease.Harte and Rimmington had a to deal with a hostile spell of bowling from Duanne Olivier and Hardus Viljoen, which resulted in Harte receiving a blow to the head. However, he held his composure at the crease, while the accuracy of Derbyshire’s two South African bowlers failed them, allowing the extras total to build beyond 50 runs.Durham’s batsmen picked their moments to find the boundary, with Harte notching his maiden fifty in first-class cricket off 120 deliveries. Rimmington provided an excellent foil at the other end as the duo put on 100 for the eighth wicket to defy the visitors before lunch. The stand was broken just before the interval when Matt Critchley pinned Rimmington in front of his stumps for 42.Harte and Salisbury put forward a faultless effort to see off the threat of the new ball from Olivier and Viljoen, blunting the visitors’ attempt to regain their grip on the contest. Harte was fortunate in the 90s when an outside edge off Olivier just went wide of second slip. He knocked off the final two singles to secure his maiden ton off 218 deliveries.The partnership was ended on 99 when Salisbury was bowled by Olivier, who notched his fifth wicket and 10th in the match. Harte cut loose to add quick runs, but was the final wicket to fall to Wayne Madsen, leaving Derbyshire 268 runs to win following a costly effort in the field, conceding 81 extras.The visitors were under pressure from the off as Salisbury struck to remove Billy Godleman, bursting through his defences. Madsen followed for a second-ball duck, receiving a vicious bouncer that offered a simple return catch to Salisbury.Rushworth then piled on the agony with two wickets in two deliveries, removing Alex Hughes and Critchley lbw. Slater was defiant late in the day, scoring 41 out of his side’s 69, to give Derbyshire a glimmer of hope.

Essex had made hard work of their three-wicket win after apparently cantering at the halfway stage of their pursuit of 180 to win.

ECB Reporters Network06-Jul-2018
ScorecardSimon Harmer pulled Dwayne Bravo to the boundary from the penultimate ball of their Vitality T20 Blast clash at Chelmsford to give Essex their first victory of the campaign.Essex had made hard work of their three-wicket win after apparently cantering at the halfway stage of their pursuit of 180 to win. They started the final over requiring eight runs, and had whittled that down to four from three balls, and three from two before Harmer became the hero of a dramatic night.Middlesex, who chose to bat, owed much to a 91-run fourth-wicket stand in nine overs between captain Stevie Eskinazi and wicketkeeper John Simpson. The batsmen were dismissed within three balls by Matt Coles, both on 46. Eskinazi faced 31 deliveries with two sixes and four fours, and Simpson’s innings lasted 34 with three sixes and a four.

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Chasing 180, Essex started with confidence. They had 47 on the board after four overs, and 57 when the first wicket went down an over later. Wheater had the majority of them, including sixes off Ravi Patel and James Fuller, in addition to seven fours, but departed going for a third six when he ballooned his shot to midwicket for Eskinazi to pouch the catch. He had blitzed 45 from just 18 balls.Wheater almost lost Chopra just before his own exit when his opening partner gave what should have been a routine catch at deep square leg, but Hilton Cartwright spilled the chance under considerable crowd pressure.Chopra made the most of his reprieve, and when he lofted Fuller over long-off for six, Essex were already more than halfway to their target with only half the overs gone.Tom Westley joined the party with a switch-hit off Patel for four before being caught on the midwicket fence by Eskinazi for a 23-ball 24 to end a partnership of 52 for the second wicket. However two wickets fell in quick succession, Chopra stumped by Simpson off Patel for 38 from 37 balls and Ravi Bopara run out by Fuller’s direct throw from mid-off.When Ryan ten Doeschate was caught in the deep by Fuller, Essex were 31 runs short with three overs to go, and in danger of self-destructing. Dan Lawrence took two thick edges to third man before trying a third and falling to Paul Stirling. Essex needed 17 off the last two overs.The late collapse continued when Coles swung at Helm and was snaffled by Patel at short fine leg, but Harmer hit Helm for six to leave Essex requiring eight off the last over.Middlesex had beaten Surrey in their first game on Thursday night thanks to the efforts of Paul Stirling with bat and ball. But the Irish opener lasted just seven balls this time, one of them thrashed conclusively through midwicket for four, before he was deceived by one from Sam Cook that got up and took his glove on the way through to Adam Wheater.Max Holden, making his Middlesex debut, hit Jamie Porter for three successive boundaries before chipping Harmer to Chopra at point. Nick Gubbins was Harmer’s second victim, having just pulled him for six, he gave himself room to sweep and lost his middle stump.But Harmer went for 22 in his final over, with sixes over long-off by John Simpson and Stevie Eskinazi, to post figures of two for 43. The fourth-wicket stand reached fifty in five overs with the pair trading sixes.Coles bowled a mixed third over, the 15th of the match. Eskinazi hooked a maximum off a full-toss, and then the first free-hit was a wide. But Coles bounced back, having Simpson caught by Dan Lawrence rushing in from the square-leg boundary, and two balls later Eskinazi chipping straight to Bopara at short cover. Coles finished with two for 33.The fall of the brace of wickets put the brakes on the Middlesex scoring, with just 17 runs added in four overs. Dwayne Bravo tried to up the tempo with a mighty heave at Zampa, but only edged to Wheater. However, 21 taken off the last over by Bopara carried Middlesex from 158 to finish on 179. Cartwright hammered a six and three successful fours in that over on the way to an 18-ball 27.

Zimbabwe chased down a target of 304 with ease and ended a 19-match losing streak in ODIs against this opposition

Mohammad Isam05-Aug-2022Zimbabwe 307 for 5 (Raza 135*, Kaia 110, Mustafizur 1-57) beat Bangladesh 303 for 2 (Litton 81, Anamul 73, Raza 1-48) by five wicketsSikandar Raza and Innocent Kaia struck brilliant centuries to help Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in an ODI after nine years.The pair added 192 runs for the fourth wicket – breaking a 25-year old partnership record and becoming the new best for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh. Raza and Kaia also became only the second Zimbabwean duo to score centuries in the same ODI innings. To think they actually came together when the score was 62 for 3 and the game was almost slipping away from them.Kaia displayed a refreshing batting approach, concentrating on keeping the ball all along the ground. Still he picked up 11 fours and maintained a strike rate of 90.16 by running himself ragged for those ones and twos. He hit two two sixes over midwicket, but he never tried to out-hit the man of the moment.Raza, recently named Player of the Series at the T20 World Cup qualifier, grabbed the game with both hands and struck 14 boundaries including six sixes, the last of which was the winning hit. He had earlier been their best bowler too, taking 1-48.Bangladesh, who came into this game with a 19-match winning-streak over Zimbabwe, would rue their poor finishing with the bat as they become the fourth team in ODI history to lose a game in which they lost only two wickets.Fifties from Litton Das (81), Anamul Haque (73), Tamim Iqbal (62) and Mushfiqur Rahim (52*) had them sitting pretty, but scoring just 39 runs in the last five overs hurt them. It is only the third time that Bangladesh have lost a game scoring in excess of 300, and the fourth time for Zimbabwe have won one chasing 300-plus.Bangladesh join a forgettable list•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Things had been so different at the start of the chase. Regis Chakabva barely had any time to soak in the fact that he was the first Zimbabwean to captain, keep wicket and open the batting since Andy Flower in 1996. He chopped a Mustafizur Rahman delivery on to his leg-stump for 2. Tarisai Musakanda skied Shoriful Islam to cover in the next over, and Zimbabwe were suddenly 6 for 2.Wessly Madhevere fended Bangladesh off, with Kaia, adding 56 runs for the third wicket. But the partnership ended disastrously when miscommunication between the two, having seen a fumble out in the deep, resulted in an entirely avoidable run-out.That brought Zimbabwe’s match-winners together and though there were a few iffy moments – substitute Taijul Islam dropped Raza on 43, a simple chance at cover. Kaia was dropped twice in the same Shoriful over on 68 and 74 respectively – they soon settled into rhythm.And when they brought up their 162nd run in tandem, they broke the record for Zimbabwe’s biggest ODI partnership against Bangladesh, eclipsing the Flower brothers, Andy and Grant, effort from October 1997.Raza was the dominant one in the partnership, starting his six-hitting in the 21st over when he hammered Shoriful down the ground. He pulled Taskin over midwicket, took a five-over break between the 25th and the 30th, then smashed Mustafizur straight back over his head to reach his fifty. He thrashed his next six off Mehidy Hasan Miraz, pulled Shoriful over midwicket for good measure and finally sealed the match with 10 balls to spare by carting Mosaddek Hossain over the ropes as well.Luke Jongwe played an important hand (24 off 19) after Kaia got out for 110 in the 42nd over.Tamim couldn’t find a wicket-taker among his bowlers. To make matters worse, Shoriful looked to have hurt his knee. Their gamble to go without a left-arm spinner for the first time against Zimbabwe also hurt them.Bangladesh’s score of 303 for 2 was built around four half-centuries but it was the big partnerships that really helped them. Tamim and Litton added 119 runs, their fourth 100-plus stand as an opening pair. Tamim was the first to fifty, and shortly afterwards when he reached 57 runs, he became the first from Bangladesh to reach 8,000 ODI runs.After Tamim’s departure, Litton got to his seventh fifty, and suddenly got into a groove to hit a cluster of fours and a six to get to 81. But while taking a quick first run, he pulled his hamstring, and had to stretchered off after the second drinks break.Anamul followed the openers with his first fifty for Bangladesh in almost eight years. This was also the innings in which he struck the ball the sweetest since making his comeback this year. Anamul got into the Bangladesh side with a world record 1,138 runs in the domestic List-A tournament, the Dhaka Premier League. He continued on the same vein against Zimbabwe, hitting his tenth one-day fifty in 2022, and this was his sixth in a row in this format.Anamul added 96 runs for the second wicket with Mushfiqur, as the pair got into the last ten overs with a gung-ho approach. But after taking 51 runs between the 41st and 45th, they got only 39 runs in the last five. The Zimbabwe bowlers pulling back the scoring rate was their only success in an innings in which they took just two wickets.