Zimbabwe open with heavy loss

The visiting Zimbabwe team started their tour of Bangladesh with a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat despite skipper Hamilton Masakadza's hundred, which was upstaged by BCB XI skipper Soumya Sarkar's ton and Ebadat Hossain's five-for in the one-day tour game at BKSP yesterday.

After Zimbabwe were bowled out for 178, Bangladesh lost the wickets of Mizanur Rahman (11) and Fazle Rabbi (13) early. But skipper Soumya grabbed the opportunity and remained unbeaten on 102 off 119 balls with 13 fours and a six while Mosaddek Hossain added 33 runs to overhaul the target with 11 overs to spare.

Zimbabwe kept losing wickets after electing to bat and at one point they were struggling on 47 for five inside 16 overs. But Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura added 124 for the sixth wicket before the latter was dismissed for 47.

Masakadza was the ninth wicket to fall for the visitors after scoring 102 off 138 balls with 14 fours and a six.

Pacer Ebadat bagged five wickets for just 19 runs from his nine overs. At one stage the right-arm seamer picked up two wickets in consecutive deliveries and was eyeing a hattrick. Another seamer  and Banglades squad member, Mohammad Saifuddin, took three wickets.