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In their hour of need, Zimbabwe turned out to be a tottering opponent as they were never in the contest, losing by 124 runs in the third One-Day International against Bangladesh, yesterday. After winning the toss at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka and opting to bowl first, Zimbabwe hoped the trio of Neville Madziva, Timycen Maruma and debutant Peter John Moor — in for the injured Sikandar Raza Butt and the dropped Tendai Chatara and John Nyumbu — would ignite some spark that would induce a stronger challenge.

Alarmingly, from the onset Zimbabwe adopted a defensive approach founded upon fear, with fielders posted in the deep meaning there were plenty of singles on offer.

Bangladesh’s openers were alert to this fear and seized the initiative to plunder the Zimbabwe attack to all parts of the ground, batting for 36 overs in the process. Anamul Haque and Tamim Iqbal shared a 121-run opening stand, their successive century opening partnership of the series.

Anamul Haque posted his third successive half-century of the series. So many of his shots got to the boundary until, five runs shy of triple figures, he lofted a Hamilton Masakadza slower ball to Timycen Maruma in the deep.

Tamim Iqbal was run out on 40 for the second time in the series and for the 14th time in his career.

Shakib Al Hasan (40) and Mushfiqur Rahim (33) added 72 runs off just 48 balls and made sure the good start from their openers did not go to waste.

Bangladesh’s combined efforts earned them 297 runs on the board for the loss off six wickets.

The Zimbabwe attack lacked penetration and was mostly inconsistent, affording the hosts plenty of opportunities to score. Surprisingly, captain Elton Chigumbura persisted with his part-timers with Vusumuzi Sibanda finishing his full quota of 10 overs. Tinashe Panyangara was the only bowler who kept it together, finishing with figures of 2 wickets for 54 runs in his 10 overs.

The Zimbabwe run-chase followed a similar script to the last two matches, with the top order unable to occupy the crease for any length of time.

This time it was not the pitch because it looked full of runs. Sibanda was elevated to open and never looked like he actually wanted to be out there, eventually falling into a clear short ball trap with deep square leg positioned on the fence, for nine.

Hamilton Masakadza got a rough call from the umpire as replays clearly showed the ball came off his thigh pad and went through to the wicket-keeper.

Masakadza was unhappy and he did not hide it.

Timycen Maruma gave it away cheaply, playing a tame pull short straight to mid-on.

At 39 for three and with a lot of overs to bat, Brendan Taylor and Solomon Mire attempted to put the past behind them to formulate a partnership. The two added 41 for the fourth wicket partnership. Still, the asking rate kept creeping up and Mire (12) advanced down the track in an attempt to do something about it, only to walk straight past Arafat Sunny’s delivery and by the time he looked behind, Mushfiqur Rahim had already dislodged the bails.

Taylor never got any rhythm, and scratched around for 28, before failing to negotiate a full and straight delivery from Shakib Al Hasan that smashed his front pad half-way up.

By then it was only a matter of time before the verdict was delivered. Elton Chigumbura did all he could to delay the inevitable, making sure there was time for his 18th half-century.

Arafat Sunny picked up four wickets that were responsible for the hosts reading the rights to Zimbabwe on the day.

Mindful of the two games left in the series plus the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup on the horizon, the hope is that the Zimbabwe players will improve their output in time.

Bangladesh – 297 for 6 in 50 overs ( Anamul Haque 95, Tamim Iqbal 40; Tinashe Panyangara 2-54)

Zimbabwe – 173 all out in 39.5 overs ( Elton Chigumbura 53*; Arafat Sunny 4-27, Rubel Hossain 2-22, Mashrafe Mortaza 2-24) — zimcricket