B’desh win one-off Test by 220 runs

HARARE, July 11: Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 220 runs in the one-off Test in Harare, the visitors’ patience paying off after the hosts’ nightwatchman Donald Tiripano led a rearguard action with his 144-ball 52. Zimbabwe’s last three wickets took up 34.4 overs, but they had lost four wickets in 19 balls in the day’s first session.
The win capped off a fine farewell for Player of the Match Mahmudullah, who announced his retirement from Tests on the third day.
The eventuality of the Test was decided when Mehidy Hasan Miraz removed Richard Ngarava to finish with match figures of 9 for 148, the best returns in an overseas Test by a Bangladeshi bowler.
Taskin also took his career-best innings figures of 4 for 82 in Bangladesh’s second dig.
The win – Bangladesh’s first one on foreign soil since 2017, having lost ten out of eleven of those matches – didn’t come easy for them on the final day. Dion Myers and Tiripano put up a resistance that lasted 17 overs, but the visitors bounced back with a four-wicket burst that signaled a swifter finish to the Test match.
Bangladesh could have finished matters much earlier had they held on to three chances. Myers was dropped by wicketkeeper Liton Das and first-slip Shakib off Miraz’s bowling, while Taskin grassed Tiripano off his own bowling. Shakib dropped a second chance when Muzarabani edged to him off Miraz. (Agencies)
Brief Scores
Bangladesh 468 (Mahmudullah 150, Das 95, Muzarabani 4-94) and 284/1 (Shanto 117*, Shadman 115*) beat Zimbabwe 276 (Kaitano 87, Taylor 81, Miraz 5-82) and 256 (Taylor 92, Tiripano 52, Miraz 4-66, Taskin 4-82) by 220 runs.