Zimbabwe Thrash Bangladesh

Zimbabwe recorded a huge, significant victory against Bangladesh in the first Test at Harare Sports Club.

It was all set up by two captain’s innings from Brendan Taylor who scored 171 in the first innings and 102 in the second. It was the skipper’s third century against the tigers in two tests.

In a series in which Bangladesh walked in as favourites – Zimbabwe having come off the back of a hiding at the West Indies and Bangladesh credible in their first Test against Sri Lanka – it was the hosts who took the game by the scruff of the neck and never looked like losing it.

We would like to believe the influence of Grant Flower and Heath Streak being on hand during a tour had a lot to do with the performances as both the batting was a lot more composed and the quicks dangerous.

While caretaker coach Stephen Mangongo’s decision to bat again surprised many it would seem as if he retained confidence in charges to carry Zimbabwe to victory. As it stands, given the two totals by Bangladesh (134 & 147), we didn’t mathematically need to bat again as the win would have still been by an innings. What batting again did was to give time in the middle to build confidence for the players and the margin of the victory will force the Tigers into introspection.

Said a delighted Taylor who was also unsurprisingly Man of the Match:

I couldn’t be happier today We showed a lot of character, we like playing at home and we understand the conditions well. It was good to win this after an average performance in the West Indies. There were some stern words from the coach after the second day, and we turned it around the next day. We put up a very tough total to chase down. Extremely happy, we do bat down, Cremer and Masakadza at eight and nine have got first-class hundreds. I’m sure the top order will work harder.

It’s congratulations to the boys then and the hope is that this is the beginning of the turnaround.