‘Wanted to grind them out’

Definitely. I think me getting out towards the end tipped the scales a little bit

Craig Ervine

ZIMBABWE CAPTAIN

Zimbabwe's Craig Ervine notched a cool and composed hundred against Bangladesh in a wicket he said was 'surprising'. He marked his debut innings as captain by carrying his side throughout Day One of the one-off Test while the other batsmen failed to apply themselves and play a longer innings.

Runs were hard to come by. In fact, the tourists had not scored their first runs till the sixth over. The Bangladesh pacers started off on the right foot and maintained pressure with Abu Jayed swinging the ball both ways. He soon gave Bangladesh the breakthrough, picking up the wicket of Kevin Kasuza.

From that point on, Ervine carried the innings, finding the right balance between attack and defence and always showing great patience.

"Upfront they bowled very well and they hit the areas. It's Test cricket, it's five days so there isn't any rush to score. To basically grind the opponent out was our plan," he said about the slow build-up and having to come in and settle down before starring in a 111-run partnership with Prince Masvaure.

His record against Bangladesh away had not been very uplifting before yesterday. That challenge was made harder after the batting crumbled against Nayeem Hasan late in the day. Ervine held his own, even as he found rotating the strike difficult against some disciplined bowling.

"Any hundred away from home is special. I always struggled a bit in Bangladesh but to be able to play an innings like today, I am obviously very chuffed," he said.

"The wicket was pretty good today and Bangladesh bowled really well and consistently bowled a very tight line. For me it was just a case of being patient and there wasn't too much happening with the wicket but they were hitting good areas. I was just trying to apply myself," he surmised.

Ervine looked like he would carry on till stumps before he was bamboozled by a fine delivery from Nayeem just two overs before stumps. His departure, coupled with Zimbabwe's slow run-scoring, meant Bangladesh had a slight upper hand at the end of day one.

"We would have liked more runs today since we lost six wickets. We're surprised as the wicket was quite good. Generally, in Dhaka, people say they don't expect what's going to happen. I think it was a good wicket and maybe that's why Bangladesh are a bit ahead. We probably lost two or three too many wickets.

"Definitely. I think me getting out towards the end tipped the scales a little bit," he added.