Mehidy-Shahib masterclass leaves Zimbabwe sweep in a spin

Bangladesh par, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan conspired to decimate Zimbabwe’s innings on the third day of the only test at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.

red and black cricket ball on white surface — Photo by Jurie Maree on Pexels.com

Zimbabwe were threatening in the morning, stable and largely chanceless, until stand-in skipper Brendan Taylor pressed the self-destruct button, attempting a sweep shot off Mehidy, only to find to substitute Yasir Ali at square leg. At 81, he was looking good for a big century.

That brought to an end a partnership of 115 and debutant Dion Myers, joining Takudzwanashe Kaitano at the crease showed intent before lunch, pushing the score to a comfortable 209 for the loss of two wickets at lunch. This was up from 114 for one at the start of play.

After lunch is when it started faling apart, with Zimbabwe losing Myers for 27. He fell victim to Shakib, again also attempting a sweep shot that found Mehidy at fine leh.

Timycen Maruma ate up balls but departed for a duck to Shakib. Roy Kaia did not bother scorers either, falling Taskin Ahmed.

At tea, the score was 244 for five and Zimbabwe, with Kaitano and Regis Chakabva at the crease will still have felt they had a chance of doing something decent.

After lunch, Kaitano crossed Grant Flower’s score of 82 for the highest score on debut for an opener for Zimbabwe and the third most overall.

The Mehidy show was in town however as he removed the newbie for 87 before cleaning up most of the tail.

Regis Chakabva, as an increasing amount of matches recently, was left stranded on 81.

Mehidy picked his five for 82, while Mehidy was four for as many runs.

Zimbabwe were bowled out for 276 in 11.5 overs, still 192 behind on Bangladeh’s first innings.

At the end of play on day three, Bangladesh were 45 without loss, with Shadman Islam on 22 and Saif Hassan on 20.

For Zimbabwe, they will rue a massive chance missed, their batting woes rearing an ugly head, the usual stench over an innings that should not have been troubled. Even with the number of balls faced, they really should have been at least another 80 runs the to the good. While Kaitano impressed for his resilience, he holds the distinction of being the only man to face more than 300 balls on debut and not get a century.

Play resumes on Saturday, at 9.30am local time.