[Match Thread] Bangladesh v Zimbabwe: 3rd ODI

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

Zimbabwe v Bangladesh: 3rd ODI
6 December 2010, Day/Night at Dhaka



Zimbabwe Squad: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Tatenda Taibu (wk), Brendan Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Shingi Masakadza, Regis Chakabva, Chamu Chibhabha, Raymond Price, Ryan Butterworth, Craig Ervine, Prosper Utseya, Graeme Cremer, Keith Dabengwa, Chris Mpofu, Keegan Meth
Bangladesh squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain

The series is virtually 3 match affair now. The big question looming is whether common sense will prevail or Zimbabwe continue to surprise their fans by axing Hamilton and not picking Cremer in helpful conditions.

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

Conditions key as sides aim for lead

The Big Picture

Bangladesh rectified their errors after the reversal in the first match to put up a clinical batting performance to complement the spinners and level the series. Watching their unit in the second match suggested they were putting in an extra effort to please Shakib Al Hasan after he had ripped into them following the shoddy show in the series opener. With the momentum back in their favour, the home side will fancy their chances of taking the lead in the third match, but an afternoon start and potential late-evening dew could add more variables to the contest.
The opening exchanges in the first two matches followed strikingly similar scripts: Bangladesh fielded under foggy skies in both games, but their seamers wasted the conditions to gift Zimbabwe good starts. The spinners then quelled the visitors' momentum and restricted them to gettable targets, which Bangladesh failed to reach on the first occasion and cantered to in the next. This time there won't be overcast conditions for the fast bowlers to exploit, and spinners could struggle to grip the ball under the lights. Zimbabwe rely on spin almost as heavily as their opponents, and Monday's toss could be the most important one of the series before it moves to Chittagong.

Form Guide

(most recent first)
Bangladesh: WLWWW
Zimbabwe: LWLLLL
Watch out for …

The time has come for Elton Chigumbura to deliver. Twice in two games, he has been guilty of exacerbating batting collapses by attempting careless shots against the spinners early in his innings. A batting strike-rate of 84.06 suggests that Chigumbura is capable of increasing the tempo if he is at the crease for a considerable period of time, so the challenge for the Zimbabwe captain will be to play within himself until he can get accustomed to the conditions.
Don't bet against another strong performance from Abdur Razzak. Nine wickets in two matches, including a hat-trick, make him Zimbabwe's biggest worry for the rest of the series. Will they look to hit him out of his stifling rhythm? Brendan Taylor is one of their most aggressive players against spin and, having got off to starts in both matches so far, he will look to kick on and combat Razzak and co. this time around.

Pitch conditions

So far, the Mirpur pitch has played true to history, slowing down and affording spinners assistance right through the game. While the advent of dew will reduce the spinners' dominance, under lights it could also help the batsmen with the ball coming on better than it normally does.
Teams

Shakib got the changes he wanted after the first match, and the men who came in - Raqibul Hasan and Naeem Islam - played key roles in the turnaround. It is unlikely that Bangladesh will break the winning combination, though they will want Mashrafe Mortaza and Shafiul Islam to get into the game with the new ball.
Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Raqibul Hasan, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Naeem Islam, 8 Suhrawadi Shuvo, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Abdur Razzak, 11 Shafiul Islam

Keegan Meth has been unimpressive and may struggle to keep his spot for the third match. Shingirai Masakadza will be a like-for-like replacement but, given their batting woes, Zimbabwe could consider bringing Hamilton Masakadza back into the top order.

Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Brendan Taylor, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Regis Chakabva, 4. Keith Dabengwa, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 7 Craig Ervine, 8 Shingirai Masakadza / Keegan Meth, 9 Prosper Utseya, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Chris Mpofu

Stats and Trivia

The average runs scored per wicket at the Shere Bangla National Stadium jumps from 23.75 in day matches to 35.86 in day-night games
The team fielding first has won 10 out of the 11 day-night games here. Bangladesh have won only two of those matches
Abdur Razzak's hat-trick in the second match was the 27th in one-day history and Bangladesh's second. Shahadat Hossain got the previous one, also against Zimbabwe, and Prosper Utseya was a part of the hat-trick on both occasions.
Quotes

"I need some time to get my rhythm back and I believe things will get better only if I keep playing matches"
Mashrafe Mortaza asks for patience as he struggles for rhythm
"The batsmen applied themselves, the bowlers were good today and everyone chipped in, the fielding has also improved, we are playing good cricket, we are confident now."
Shakib Al Hasan is no more the grumpy man he was after the first match

Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

BREAKING NEWS

The match is exclusive full day now as the flood lights are not working. Good in the sense that match is more even now as the dew factor and the team batting first-loosing-all thing is out of the window now

[Dr_Situ(ZimFanatic)]

BREAKING NEWS

The match is exclusive full day now as the flood lights are not working. Good in the sense that match is more even now as the dew factor and the team batting first-loosing-all thing is out of the window now

And now CricInfo has changed their preview as well

The third match was originally scheduled to be held under lights, but was shifted back to a morning start on Sunday once it was found that the stadium's new floodlights were not yet fully functional.

[jimbo]

Never know might see Butterworth in this match as Chigumbura is injured!!

[CrimsonAvenger]

http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=20091&cat=5

Chigumbura out of ODI match

From Robson Sharuko in DHAKA, Bangladesh

ZIMBABWE captain Elton Chigumbura will miss today’s crucial third tie of the five-match Micromax One-Day International cricket series against Bangladesh at the Share Bangla National Stadium and his availability for the remainder of the tour remains in doubt.

The visitors badly need a win in this match to seize back the advantage after the Tigers rallied from their first game defeat to storm to a comfortable victory in the second match and level the series.

Today’s game was originally set to be a day/night game and the Zimbabweans trained under lights yesterday but last night it was announced that it would be a day game because of concerns over the poor lighting at the Share Bangla National Stadium.

There had been concerns within the Bangladesh camp that they would play the match without practicing under the lights.

The Tigers were scheduled to train under lights on Saturday but that session was cancelled because of technical problems related the newly-installed floodlighting system.

Bangladesh are preparing to host the 2011 World Cup finals where day/night matches will be played and have installed a new floodlighting system ahead of the tournament.

But the Zimbabwean players and technical team were concerned yesterday, when they trained under lights, about the lights because of dark spots in some areas.

Team manager Lovemore Banda then announced last night that the game had been switched into a day tie.

Chigumbura has been suffering from a groin injury, which has restricted him to batting only on this tour where he is yet to bowl a ball, but the courageous Chigumbura has been playing through the pain as he put the interests of his team and country ahead of anything else.

He dropped a sitter in the second match on Friday, which could have changed a lot, but the serious nature of his groin injury has helped to provide an explanation to the shocker he brewed when he put down a gift that came to him at around waist high.

Chigumbura hasn’t scored much with his bat either, struggling to get into double figures, on this tour and an inside edge in the first game signaled the end of his innings in the first game, something which he described an unlucky, before promising to do better in the second game.

He dropped down the order in the second game but was gone for seven in the second match when he was bowled out by Shakib al Hasan.

After having courageously tried to influence the game from the pitch, despite the injury setback, Chigumbura could only go so far and yesterday it was revealed that the all-rounder will miss today’s game and, crucially, his availability for the rest of the tournament was in doubt.

The skipper is now set to be replaced by Hamilton Masakadza, whose form (or rather lack of it) had led to him being dropped in the first two matches, in what could mean another reshuffling of the order with Masakadza set to come in at number three.

But there is a problem because Masakadza was injured in the gym and will have to pass a late fitness test if he is to take his place in the team.

There was optimism in the Zimbabwean camp that the batsman should make it for today’s game but, in the event that he fails, it would mean that Ryan Butterworth would be handed his ODI debut in the colours of his country, at the age of 29, in today’s big match.

Should that happen, it would again mean a change in the batting order, given that the selectors want Butterworth to bat at number seven.

Butterworth was one of the star players of the Stanbic Twenty20 series back home but, as he probably realised in the warm-up match against the BCB XI, it’s a different ball game at this level and in these conditions facing spinners like Abdur Razzak.

Keith Dabengwa keeps his place but it’s now certain that he will not come in at number four after that experiment backfired terribly in the game on Friday.

The unavailability of Chigumbura means that Prosper Utseya will be the stand-in skipper for today’s match and, if the captain doesn’t recover, for the remainder of the tournament.

Utseya was the skipper before he was replaced by Chigumbura.Craig Ervine, who has been a success story with the bat on this tour so far, has finally been promoted up the order and will come in at number five.

Ervine scored 41 runs, in 59 balls, in the first game and helped anchor the innings as the Zimbabweans were dismissed for 209 before they turned the game around with a brilliant show in the field, to squeeze life out of the Tigers, and win by nine runs.

Then he was left stranded at 42 in the second game, after running short of partners, as Zimbabwe were dismissed for just 191.

Ervine has simply stuck to the basics and Zimbabwe assistant coach Steve Mangongo said there was need for his team to be patient on the slow surface and try and bat their entire 50 allotted overs.

Ervine was struggling with a flu bug but team physiotherapist Amato Machikicho revealed last night that he will be ready to play today.

The bug has been haunting the Zimbabwe team and Dabengwa was the first to be struck.

The Zimbabweans were dismissed in 46.2 overs on Friday and it meant that they donated 22 balls to the opposition and Mangongo said it makes a big difference in such tight matches.

But can the Zimbabweans play the Tigers’ spinners who appear to have won the mental battles against the visitors? Mangongo believes they can if they apply themselves to the task.

"They (Bangladesh spinners) don’t turn the ball the way Muttiah Muralitharan does and if we apply ourselves we can play them," said Mangongo.

"We have players who can play spin bowling and Tatenda Taibu is one of them and all that is needed is for us just to regain our confidence."

Zimbabwe will also need a big score from one or a number of their key batsmen if they are going to grab the initiative in today’s game.

Zimbabwe

Brendan Taylor, Chamu Chibhabha, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu, Craig Ervine, Regis Chakabva, Keith Dabengwa, Proper Utseya, Keegan Meth, Raymond Price, Chris Mpofu.

Twelfth Man — Graeme Cremer.

Note — Masakadza will have to pass a late fitness test. If he fails he will be replaced by Ryan Butterworth.

So, Chiggs is out with Groin injury.
Hamilton set to comeback, but has to prove fitness just before the match after he was injured in the gym.
Butterworth comes in if Hamilton is not fit.
Cremer still on sidelines.
Ervine recovering from flu, to bat higher up the order.
Prosper to be stand in skipper.

[eugene]

Probably just as well Chigumbura is out. We can't afford to be carrying any passengers in the side. We need everyone to contribute if we are going to win this match. I think if Zimbabwe loses today, the series is gone.

[eugene]

Zimbabwe have won the toss and elected to field. Great toss to win. 3 changes to the side. Chigumbura, The Meth, and DABENGWA!!!!!! are out. H Masakadza, S Masakadza, and Graeme Cremer are in. Finally the selectors making some decent decisions. Perhaps they have been reading this forum as I think apart from Chigumbura's injury, most of us would agree this our best side out of the current squad.

[eugene]

Great start for Zimbabwe with Mpofu getting a dodgy lbw decision against Tamim Iqbal who is out for a duck. Bangladesh 0/1. Great to see Mpofu bowling well in this series.

[zimfan1]

6/2 for two great catch by Utseya, need to make the most of the overcast conditions hear