Sports Reporter
In a solitary preparatory T20 match before the tri-nation T20 series, Zimbabwe beat BCB-XI with a comprehensive margin of 7 wickets at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah yesterday.
First team players Sabbir Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim played for BCB-XI. However, they couldn’t make any significant impact as both scored 30 and 26 respectively, giving Zimbabwe a low total of 143 runs to chase.
Than with an inexperienced bowling lineup BCB-XI couldn’t upset the Zimbabweans, consisting of veterans Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza. Chasing 143, Taylor and Masakadza set the tone as they picked up 42 within 5 overs.
Masakadza was the first to get out in spinner Afif Hossain’s ball, after his stormy 23-ball 31, with 6 fours. After Masakadza’s dismissal, Bangladesh got two more wickets in quick succession. Afif was the man with the bowl again as he removed Craig Ervine and Sean Williams for 4 and 2 respectively, leaving Zimbabwe at 66/3 after 8.1 overs.
However, that was the last wicket that fell of Zimbabwe. After that, veteran Taylor and Timycen Maruma took Zimbabwe to victory with 16 balls to spare. Taylor played and unbeaten innings of 44-ball 57 with 2 fours and 3 maximums. Maruma’s stormy unbeaten 28-ball 46 included, 5 fours and 1 maximum. For hosts, Afif Hossain was pick of the bowlers as he scalped 3 wickets by giving away only 19 runs in 4 overs. Mohammad Saifuddin gave 20 runs in 3 overs and newly called pacer Yeasin Arafat gave away 22 runs in 2 overs. Earlier, after winning the toss and batting first BCB-XI scored 142/7 in 20 overs. Sabbir (30) and Mushfiqur (26) scored highest individual total in the team. However, their performances were disappointing by their standards. Mushfiq’s 26 came off 26 balls and Sabbir 31-ball 30 had only one maximum. Apart from them, openers Saif Hassan scored 19-ball 21 and Mohammad Naim scored 14-ball 23. Zimbabwe used seven bowlers. From them, spinner Sean Williams stole the limelight with his brilliant spell of 18/3 in 4 overs. Apart from him, pacer Neville Madziva grabbed two wickets, to restrict BCB-XI to a low total.