Series win is the goal

WILL THE BAT TALK? (L) Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal checks his bat prior to a practice session while (R) Zimbabwe's physical trainer Lorraine Chivandire (L) leads the players in a jogging session at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Cricket Stadium in Chittagong yesterday. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe meet in the fourth one-day international here today.

Bangladesh is all set to retain their winning combination when they take on Zimbabwe in the 4th ODI of the grameenphone series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chittagong today.
The Tigers need a victory in the ODI to be held at the port city to confirm their third successive series success over the Zimbabweans and their third series victory on the trot after inspiring successes in the Caribbean and Zimbabwe.
"We don't want to break the winning combination. We will continue with it," said Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons hinting that they would stick by the four specialist spinners approach that they adopted in the last game.
However, there is a slim chance that Shahadat Hossain may be called up for his first appearance in the series, if the pitch is deemed to be pace worthy in the morning.
The onus is on the Tigers to close out the series today and Siddons for one seemed confident that his charges would continue the momentum they had built from the last two victories.
“I am always a little bit nervous thinking whether the boys would perform to their ability. As I had said at the start of the tour that we'll get better as the series goes on. I expect that to continue. We think we have done that so far. We weren't quite ready in the first game but we'll continue to get better,” he said.
There has been questions raised over the form of opener Zunaed Siddiqui but Siddons backed the young left-hander.
“I don't have a problem. We were none for 50 in the second game. That was perfect. He [Zunaed] is not performing but the team is winning so why change a winning combination?” he said, stating that Zunaed's problem was that he was hitting the ball in the air too often.
Another player, who has always been the subject of much debate is Mohammad Ashraful. The explosive right-hander admitted yesterday that he is consciously trying to adapt his approach to the game, and hoped it would prove successful in the long run.
“I am trying to change my game a bit. My focus now is to settle down first and then make up later on. I admit this is not what the crowd wants but for greater consistency I have to adapt. I had consciously started slowly in the last match and plan to play the same way in the remaining matches as that approach has brought be runs in the West Indies and Zimbabwe also,” he said.
Zimbabwe will be buoyed by the news that captain Prosper Utseya, who had sat out the last two games with an ankle injury, is all set to take the reigns for this game having made a swift recovery. Wicket-keeper batsman Tatenda Taibu is also a doubt.
"They are not fully recovered. It's not sure if they can play. But, we will wait for them till the match starts," said vice-captain Hamilton Masakadza yesterday.
Today is a do-or-die affair for the Africans and Masakadza admitted that they would try their best to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
"We will try to win today and equal the series to turn the 5th match into the deciding one," he said.
The match will be a special one for the venue as the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium is waiting for ICC recognition as one of the venues for the World Cup 2011 to be held in the sub-continent.
And one man who will understand that value more than most is local boy and dashing opener Tamim Iqbal.
“I always look forward to playing at home and it will be a fantastic thing for Chittagong if the World Cup comes here,” he said.
“It will be a renaissance for cricket here and youngster will have renewed enthusiasm to become cricketers. Remember there was a time when there were as many as nine players from Chittagong in the national team. Now I am the only one. So the World Cup could be a massive boost. "