Bangladesh

[Nottsboy118]

The Tigers

For my first foray into ICC 2018 I've chosen Bangladesh, a cricket mad country of over 150 million people.

Under the tutelage of Chandika Hathurusingha they finally began to fulfil the enormous potential they have: Test wins against England & Australia, an ODI series win against South Africa. However question marks still remained over their consistency and ability to travel. Towards the end of Chandika's tenure results worsened and he promptly left following a bruising tour to South Africa.

Now I'm in charge and the next step along the journey of Bangladeshi cricket begins. Can we gain positive away results? Can we consistently beat the big boys? Can we stay competitive post Tamin, Shakib, Mustifiqur? Who knows?

So where are we? What lies ahead? We currently have the following rankings 9^th, 7^th, 9^th across the three formats. And we have the following series? this year:

• Away T20I series in Afghanistan
• Away Test, ODI & T20I series in the West Indies
• Home Test, ODI & T20I series against the West indies
• Home Test & ODI series against Zimbabwe
• Away Test & ODI series against New Zealand

Out of the 8 Test Match points, 8 ODI points and 6 T20I available to us we're only defending 2 Test Match points, 4 ODI points and 1 T20I points. That is a lot of available ranking points. And given the opposition the potential to scale the rankings appears reasonably high.

However it won't be easy, West Indies appear to be showing tentative signs of a revival, Afghanistan have a certain Mr Rashid Khan, Zimbabwe can now call on the services of Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis again and New Zealand are just a very very good team.

[Nottsboy118]

Before any internationals were played a few decisions were made:

• Mahmudullah was appointed captain and promoted to number 3, in all formats
• Mushfiqur was appointed vice-captain and relieved of wicket keeping duties, in all formats

The captaincy was given to Mahmudullah as the goal was to have a multi-format captain. Added to that that Mahmudullah is perhaps the lowest profile of the 'Big Four' it was decided he had the calmness and the least distractions to perform the role. The promotion was simply as I personally feel he's far too a talented batsman to be a 'finisher' or bat 6 or below.

The wicketkeeping decision was straightforward, Rahim was to concentrate on scoring runs for Bangladesh and the talented group or young wicketkeepers (Das, Ali, Hasan) could compete for the gloves.

First up on the season's itinerary for us was an away T20I series against Afghanistan, maybe an easy series 5 years ago but no longer.

The squad selected was: Mahmudullah, M (c); Al Hasan, S; Ali, M (wk); Das, L (wk); Hasan, A; Hasan, M; Haque, A; Hossain, A; Hossain, R; Islam, N; Iqbal, T; Jayed, A; Rahman, M; Rahim, M (vc); Sarkar, S

Most of the players picked themselves, although there were some surprise inclusions and exclusions.

There were no places for Sabbir Rahman, Mossadek Hossain and Taskin Ahmed, for example, all of whom have tremendous natural ability but have not been able to consistently showcase this at the national level. As such they have been dropped and told to go and produce at the domestic level and force their selection.

There were places for Mithun Ali, Abul Hasan, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Islam and Abu Jayed, for example, who have been rewarded for good domestic form in the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League. Abul Hasan in particular a player of interest to the management as someone who can bring balance to the side batting at 7 and being a sixth bowling option.

[ZH8]

The Tigers

For my first foray into ICC 2018 I've chosen Bangladesh, a cricket mad country of over 150 million people.

Under the tutelage of Chandika Hathurusingha they finally began to fulfil the enormous potential they have: Test wins against England & Australia, an ODI series win against South Africa. However question marks still remained over their consistency and ability to travel. Towards the end of Chandika's tenure results worsened and he promptly left following a bruising tour to South Africa.

Now I'm in charge and the next step along the journey of Bangladeshi cricket begins. Can we gain positive away results? Can we consistently beat the big boys? Can we stay competitive post Tamin, Shakib, Mustifiqur? Who knows?

So where are we? What lies ahead? We currently have the following rankings 9^th, 7^th, 9^th across the three formats. And we have the following series? this year:

• Away T20I series in Afghanistan
• Away Test, ODI & T20I series in the West Indies
• Home Test, ODI & T20I series against the West indies
• Home Test & ODI series against Zimbabwe
• Away Test & ODI series against New Zealand

Out of the 8 Test Match points, 8 ODI points and 6 T20I available to us we're only defending 2 Test Match points, 4 ODI points and 1 T20I points. That is a lot of available ranking points. And given the opposition the potential to scale the rankings appears reasonably high.

However it won't be easy, West Indies appear to be showing tentative signs of a revival, Afghanistan have a certain Mr Rashid Khan, Zimbabwe can now call on the services of Brendan Taylor and Kyle Jarvis again and New Zealand are just a very very good team.


বাংলাদেশে আসুন - 'Come on Bangladesh'

Hey, are you Banglaeshi? Its really sad to see horrible batting form of B'desh in Windies btw Im Bangladeshi.

[Nottsboy118]

Hey, are you Banglaeshi? Its really sad to see horrible batting form of B'desh in Windies btw Im Bangladeshi.

I'm not. I am finding the tour interesting though. West Indies finally seem to be on the up - which is great - but sadly Bangladesh seem to be stalling, and I think they're looking like they may really struggle in 5 or so years when the big guys retire.

[Nottsboy118]

- The XI for the first game was: Ali, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hasan, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Rahman.

Tamin was initially selected in the squad with a niggle and was subsequently ruled out of selection for the first game leaving Mithun Ali and Sarkar to battle it out to open with him on his return.

Afghanistan won the toss and batted reaching 150-7 a solid if unspectacular total. The wickets were shared evenly with Jayed's figures of 4-0-25-2 being the best on show.

We then put in a truly terrible chase never looking likely to chase down what was a modest target with only Al Hasan managing to time the ball on the surface. A dismal performance was only slightly improved by some lower order hitting to reach 137-9, a loss by 13 runs.

- The XI for the second game was: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hasan, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Rahman.

Tamin returned to the XI, in the only change, at the expense of Mithun Ali.

We won the toss and batted producing a significantly improved batting effort that saw Iqbal out early on his return before everyone else in the top 5 contributed as we reached 196-3, with Rahim top-scoring with 73*.

We then put in a solid bowling performance as we never looked in danger of having our score chased down, restricting them to 172-7 and a 24 run win.

- The XI for the third game was: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hasan, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Rahman.

No changes to the XI after we levelled the series and now sought a victory to gain our first ranking points of the year.

We lost the toss as Afghanistan batted and got off to a very strong start with an opening partnership of 83 in quick time. We fought back very well though eventually keeping them to 155-8 with Nazmul Islam waking 3-13 in his four overs.

We chased it down with ease in the end reaching 159-2 in 18.5 overs, with Sarkar top-scoring with 72*.

- And thus we won our first series with a 2-1 victory over Afghanistan. Not a perfect set of matches from us at all but some positive performances and importantly we came out on top in all the big pressure moments.

[Nottsboy118]

A tour to West Indies was to follow our successful start in Afghanistan. First up was a 3 day tour match followed by a two test match series, the squad selected was:
Mahmudullah, M (c); Al Hasan, S; Das, L (wk); Jayed, A; Kayes, I; Haque, M; Hasan, M; Hasan, N (wk); Hossain, M; Hossain, N; Hossain, N; Hossain, R; Islam, k; Islam, T; Iqbal, T; Rahim, M (vc); Roy, S; Sarkar, S

No real surprises here - Mustifizur Rahman was injured so not available for selection, Nural Hasan came in as our back up wicketkeeper in the longer format and there was a place in the squad for young Nazmul Hossain who at 20 looks like a real player for the future so the experience of an overseas tour should be great for his development.

The XI for the tour match was: Iqbal, Haque, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Roy

It was a predictably boring match that was never likely to have a result as a result of the pitch and the length of game. However valuable information was still gained, our fast bowlers looked seriously unthreatening and it became clear to me that an extra spinner, even if just to hold up an end, would be preferable to a third seamer.

[Nottsboy118]

- As a result of the lessons learnt from the warm-up our first XI for our first Test Match of the year was: Iqbal, Haque, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Roy
One change from the warm-up XI sees Taijul Islam come in for the ineffectual Kamrul Islam. There are only three things of note in our XI in my opinion:

• Mominul Haque opening with Iqbal. This is a bit of a square peg and a round whole situation but with positions 3-6 decided and me wanting him to play, but not at 7, this was the only option so hopefully it pays-off.
• Mossadek Hossain being selected and batting at number 7 after being let out the T20I squad. It is likely he won?t make any limited overs appearances for a period in the hope he nails down a Test position and starts to realise his undoubted potential.
• A Debut for Abu Jayed after showing good domestic form.

We won the toss and opted to bat. 10 of our players struggled, with our 2^nd top scorer being our number 8 and our 3^rd top scorer being our number 9, luckily Shakib Al Hasan did not hitting a truly masterful 187 to help us get up to 389.

Al Hasan then decided he didn't want to give up the limelight as he proceeded to take show-off the second string to his bow taking 5-61 as we restricted them to just 289.

Our third innings was then all about setting up the match and some faster scoring and riskier batting meant there were no high scores as a team effort saw us post a fast 275 leaving the West Indies needing 375 for victory on a pitch taking turn and offering uneven bounce.

They started well but it was always going to be an extremely tough chase and Islam's 6-62 broke the back of it before Roy mopped up the tail taking 3 of the last 4 wickets as we claimed a 108 run win.

This was a game won in the first innings and to that end, this was a game won by Shakib Al Hasan who put in one of the truly great Test Match All-round peformances. He finished the match with 230 runs and 6 wickets. Truly outstanding.

- After such a brilliant performance we opted for the same XI for the final test of this two match series: Iqbal, Haque, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Roy

We again won the toss and duly batted first. And we struggled to a below par 272 all out, with Shakib again top scoring, blown away by the young quick Keemo Paul who was having a fine series.

However we then responded brilliantly with Shakib and Mehedi sharing 9 wickets, the other being a run-out, as we restricted them to just 240 gaining a slight first innings lead.

The positivity didn't last long however as we meekly batted to 135 all out, leaving the door wide open for West Indies to level the series. However it wasn't to be an easy chase on a surface beginning to break up.

Or so I thought, West Indies romped home inside 50 overs scoring the required runs for the loss of a single wicket.

And so we drew the series, a result that we may well have took at the outset and one that probably reflects the series as a whole, yet we are left with the feeling of 'what could have been'. Ultimately though it has been a positive first series for the Test side, a ranking point gained and something for us to improve on next time we tour the Caribbean.

[Nottsboy118]

After the Test matches the limited overs aspect of the tour was to begin; a One day tour match, 3 ODI and then finally 3 T20I.

The squad for the ODI was: Mahmudullah, M (c); Al Hasan, S; Ali, M (wk) Das, L (wk); Jayed, A; Hasan, A; Hasan, M; Hossain, M; Hossain, N; Hossain, R; Iqbal, T; Islam, N; Mortaza, M; Rahim, M (vc); Sarkar, S

- The XI for the warm-up match was: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Mortaza, Islam, Rahman

As expected at the start of the save the core team remains the same for us across all three formats. A few things to note about the likely XI to start our first ODI game of the season:

• Mashrafe Mortaza plays, Mortaza is now only available for ODI games for us so gets the chance to prove his worth to the team heading into the 2019 World Cup, it seems very unlikely at this stage he'll feature past that tournament.
• Nazmul Islam is selected in the squad after a fine T20I series and appears likely to make his debut against the West Indies.
• Nasir Hossain is picked in the squad and is likely to battle it out with Abul Hasan for a spot in the team at number 7.

We batted poorly in the warm being bowled out inside 47 overs for just 221, however we responded with a great all-round bowling performance to still come out of the game with a 46 run victory. With a triumvirate of good spinners, the experience of Mortaza, the X-Factor of Rahman and a few decent part-timers to get through a few overs if necessary, the bowling attack looks very exciting.

- The XI for the first game of the three match series was unchanged from the warm-up side, thus: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Mortaza, Islam, Rahman

A brilliant bowling effort led by Mustafizur, with 4-47, saw West Indies restricted to 238-9. The only dark spot on the bowling performance was Mortaza putting in an expensive and wicketless 9 overs, but we can put that down to rust.

A modest target and a modest run chase to be honest, never out of control but never truly in it either, but in the end we got home with 5 wickets to spare thanks to an unbeaten century from Sarkar.

- We opted not to change a winning team for the second game, again fielding: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Mortaza, Islam, Rahman

Again we bowled first and again we were very good as West Indies could only manage 248-7. Shakib and Mehedi excelled claiming figures of 10-1-30-2 and 10-0-26-0 respectively.

Faced with a second modest target in a row we put in out second modest chase in a row and this time came up short by 15 runs. A Rahim 127* was only enough to get us to 233-8 as West Indies tied the series leading to a decider.

- We made two changes to the XI - Nazmul Islam and Mortaza came out, Abul Hasan and Abu Jayed came in. Whilst the bowling efforts as a whole had been good, Mortaza and Islam were both a bit too expensive without posing too much of a wicket threat for my liking so the team was shaken up a bit to give us: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Hasan, Jayed, Rahman

We were put into bat for the first time this series and got off to a flyer reaching 205-2 at one stage, but then a truly horrendous collapse followed as we were bowled out for 255 - Sarkar again top scoring.

Neither of the changes were resounding successes to be honest but luckily between Al Hasan, Rahman and Hasan we defended 255 comfortably enough winning by 37 runs in 43.4 overs. The combined figures of the three players mentioned was 28-0-122-6, so you can see where the damage was done.

All in all a very successful series, which soon put the drawn Test series out of our minds. Now all three of our teams have had an outing and all three appear similar, and not just in personnel. Average team performances masked by individual moments of brilliance, potential for great performances if all XI players showed up and more importantly showing an ability to win even if not at their best.

[Nottsboy118]

We wrapped up the tour with three match T20I series.

The squad chosen was: Mahmudullah, M (c); Al Hasan, S; Ali, M (wk); Das, L (wk); Hasan, A; Hasan, M; Haque, A; Hossain, N; Hossain, R; Islam, N; Iqbal, T; Jayed, A; Rahman, M; Rahim, M (vc); Sarkar, S

There was a single change to the squad that toured Afghanistan as Nasir Hossain came in after a positive ODI series, Al-Amin Hossain dropped out.

- Our XI was unchanged from the Afghanistan tour: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hasan, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Rahman.
A real team effort saw us, after losing the toss and being asked to bowl, restrict them to 161-5 and then chase them down relatively comfortably. I say 'team' as there were no real stand-out performance for us here, which is in many ways a positive as I want to develop this team to the point where we don't need our star men to deliver all the time to win games.

- Same XI for the second game after a positive first match: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hasan, Hasan, Islam, Jayed, Rahman.

Consistency is clearly still proving an issue as we delivered a terrible bowling showing as West Indies, led by Chris Gayle, sauntered past 200 eventually posting 206-4.

It was always likely the total would prove too steep to chase and it did end that way. However the batsmen put in a great effort as we missed out narrowly, reaching 200-5. Iqbal and Rahim both hitting brilliant 74s.

- And so again there is no dead rubber against West Indies with all to play for in the third and final game. We refreshed the team by making two changes, Nasir Hossain came in as did Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Islam and Abu Jayed being left out. Hossain was therefore given his first chance of the season after the best part of two tours of carrying drinks. The team was therefore as so: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Hasan, Hossain, Rahman.

Would we be nervous? Could we match the big game effort of the ODI team? Step forward Mustafizue Rahman, 5-18, as he blew away the West Indies line-up. Others chipped in, but the damage was one man's creation as West Indies were all out for 92.

We stuttered a bit, but ultimately the result was never in doubt. A 6 wicket win bringing to the end a very successful tour.

[GrahamB]

Looking forward to the next series.

[Nottsboy118]

Now a home series against the same opposition again, beginning with a two match test series.

We trimmed our previous squad from 18 (with the addition of previously injured Mustafizur Rahman) to 13 to return the following players:

Mahmudullah, M (c) , Al Hasan, S; Das, L (wk); Haque, M; Hasan, M; Hasan, N (wk); Hossain, M; Hossain, N; Islam, T; Iqbal, T; Rahim, M (vc); Rahman, M; Roy, S;

This series presented a real chance to gain ranking points and hopefully begin a dominant spell at home as we look to make Bangladesh a fortress, particularly against non-sub-continent teams.

[Nottsboy118]

- Our line-up for the first game of the series was:

Iqbal, Haque, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Rahman, Roy

Just a single change from our last test as Jayed is dropped for the returning Mustafizur Rahman.

We won the toss, batted first and posted 306. A slightly below par score with only Das, 82, making a telling contribution. It still gave the bowlers something to work with, and the hope was on a home surface the three spinners should really be able to wreak havoc.

Sadly they didn’t, although they did claim all 10 wickets to fall between them, as thanks to Blackwood’s brilliant 100 they too reached 306 all out.

Holder then tore through our top order and it was only thanks to Mossadek Hossain brilliantly shepherding the tail with a 75* that we got up towards 226 all out.

And so a very gettable total for the West Indies but it wasn’t an easy surfact to bat last on so the game was far from over. And as hoped the spinners took control, well two of them, Shakib taking 6-42 and Mehedi 4-68 as West Indies were all out for 148 in 61.1 overs, of which 53.1 were delivered by the two spinners.

- After a first game win meaning we only need a draw to win the series and with the batting line-up not looking overly robust we make one change to the XI: the young Nazmul Hossain comes in to be a specialised batsman at number 8 with Subashis Roy dropping out. Thus the XI was:

Iqbal, Haque, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Rahman

Again we won the toss and again we batted first. We took our time playing very conservatively to reach 449 in 183.2 overs. There were contributions across the team but Iqbal’s 117 and Nazmul Hossain’s 49* were the standouts.

In response West Indies reached 521-5 declared as we looked bereft of ideas with a four-man attack. There were three centurions in the West Indies in the XI: Lewis (118), Hope (190) and Hetmyer (130).

With a win a near impossibility, we played out a cautious inning reaching 205-7 at the close of play, thus securing a draw and therefore a series win.

All in all a series win, two rankings points gained, I can’t complain. But again we are often relying on a few players to deliver and not enough players are offering the consistency I want. Also the fast bowling issues are proving to be very significant, it’s something we can mask at home but touring New Zealand later in the year may prove very difficult.

[Nottsboy118]

The squad was unchanged from the away series winning squad as we look to do the away/home double over the West Indies, thus the squad is:

Mahmudullah, M (c); Al Hasan, S; Ali, M (wk) Das, L (wk); Jayed, A; Hasan, A; Hasan, M; Hossain, M; Hossain, N; Hossain, R; Iqbal, T; Islam, N; Mortaza, M; Rahim, M (vc); Sarkar, S

- The XI for the first game is: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Hossain, Rahman. There were two changes from our last ODI as Nazmul Islam and Rubel Hossain came in with Abul Hasan and Abu Jayed dropping out. Islam comes into to hopefully exploit the extra turn available on home pitches and Hossain is in after impressing domestically and in his T20I outing.

We are put into bat in the first game and reach a very respectful 280-7 in the 50 overs. Mahmudullah led the way with 109 but there were good supporting roles from most of the XI.

In response West Indies never got going as a brilliant bowling performance gave us an emphatic 99 run win. Shakib yete again led the way with 4-44 from his 10 overs as we continued our fine limited overs form.

- There was one change to the XI for the next game as Mortaza came back into the fold in place of the underperforming Islam who seems to be ill suited to the longer format of ODIs. The XI was thus:

Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Mortaza, Hossain, Rahman

Again we batted first this time struggling to 173-9 as Narine bagged 5-47 on a spinning pitch. No-one took control and played a sensible knock to get us towards 250, which would have been a competitive score as our naivety showed.

A few late wickets improved the scoreline but it was still a relatively comfortable chase for the West indies as they won by 3 wickets in 35.1 overs.

- And so we move on to yet another decider with the West Indies. Abul Hasan comes in for Mortaza in the only change, giving:

Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Hasan, Hossain, Rahman

For the third time this series we batted first and for the second time this series we were very underwhelming as we made just 217-4 in the 50 overs, with plenty of wickets in hand the cautious nature of the batting effort seemed likely to come back to haunt us.

And it did, the West Indies took the game, and thus the series, with a 6 wicket win. The result was never in doubt sadly, and our run of no series defeats comes to an end.

Hopefully the loss will act as a wake-up call and result in the team pushing themselves and improving as the talent is this team is far higher than what we saw in this series.

[Nottsboy118]

The T20 squad has to be trimmed by for the home series, Ariful Haque and Abu Jayed drop out, leaving:
Mahmudullah, M (c); Al Hasan, S; Ali, M (wk); Das, L (wk); Hasan, A; Hasan, M; Hossain, N; Hossain, R; Islam, N; Iqbal, T; Rahman, M; Rahim, M (vc); Sarkar, S

There is only one game in the series and we enter it with the same XI as our previous game, the series deciding victory in the Caribbean.
Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hasan, Hasan, Hossain, Rahman.

We put the West Indies in to bat and restrict them to 139-8 with both Mehedi Hasan and Rubel Hossain taking 4-22 from their four overs.

We made a straightforward chase a bit more problematic than I would have liked only getting home in the final over, but a 5 wicket win is a nice way to round up our third tour of the season.

Again a successful tour, our first at home, as we won the Test and T20I series but lost the ODI series. There remains plenty to work on and plenty of scope to improve which can only be a good things given we are still performing well as things stand.

Zimbabwe come to Bangladesh next for a Test and ODI tour which should hopefully give us chance to build momentum before heading down under to New Zealand for the toughest test of the season.

[Nottsboy118]

As was said Zimbabwe visit next with three test matches followed by three ODIs. The squad selected is:

Mahmudullah, M (c); Al Hasan, S; Das, L (wk); Hasan, M; Hasan, N (wk); Hossain, M; Hossain, N; Islam, T; Iqbal, T; Mazid, A; Rahim, M (vc); Rahman, M; Roy, S

The big news being Monimul Haque’s dropping with Abdul Mazid coming in to take his place in the squad and likely in the team too. Monimul haque is a player I really like with undoubted talent but he hasn’t delivered and with nowhere else in the XI he could be moved to sadly he’s returned to the domestic game and told to score big runs. Abdul Mazid is the top scorer in the domestic competition and it is hoped that his more defensive mind-set will act extra steel to a collapse susceptible batting order.

- The XI chosen is:

Iqbal, Mazid, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Rahman

Just the one change as Mazid comes in for Haque, meaning we opt to keep the 8 batters strategy at home as things stand.

We win the toss and bat first and reach a sub-par 322, contributions from Liton Das and Mossadek Hossain help us reach this, but the poor showing from the top order means Zimbabwe are probably marginally ahead.

And they confirm this position by reaching 383 despite the best efforts of Taijul Islam and his 8-133. Moor hitting a fantastic 124 as they take a first innings lead.

Two innings late we finally start to perform like the higher ranked team compiling 401-6 declared with Shakib Al Hasan stealing the show with a wonderful 149*, being ably supported by the rest of the
batsman.

This left a very daunting chase of 340 for Zimbabwe and the team, much like me, seemed to think the victory was in the bag. A pretty average bowling display saw us sneak home by 19 runs as Mustafizur Rahman ran through their tail-enders just as they looked like they were going to earn a very famous win.

So a win is a win, I guess, but not at all convincing and much hard work lays ahead of us. Zimbabwe are not to be underestimated.

- Despite this scare we go into the second game with the same XI: Iqbal, Mazid, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Rahman

We won the toss and batted first, then produced the worst session of the season by a mile losing six wickets. There was some scraping after that but the damage had been done as we slumped to 150 all out.

Zimbabwe then piled on the runs reaching 357 as we face an enormous first inning deficit. Brandon Taylor hit a masterful 169 as our bowlers toiled for little to no reward.

A Mahmudullah 89, a Shakib 100 and a Nazmul Hossain 97 got us up towards 359 on a tricky surface giving Zimbabwe a potentially tricky chase and our bowlers half a chance.

But they couldn’t take it as Mire hammered an 89* and took Zimbabwe home with ease for the loss of just two wickets.

The series had been inexplicably levelled, and we were now up against it against a team playing far better cricket than us.

- Again no changes were made, but a lot of players were on their last life, the team was: Iqbal, Mazid, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Hossain, Hossain, Hasan, Islam, Rahman.

A third toss won in a row and a third time batting first in a row. We hit 324 with Das hitting 113 of those as we looked to recover from the 2^nd test hammering.

Zimbabwe, however, respond in kind posting 417 with Taylor again hitting a almost chanceless 130. Taijul Islam took another five-for as we stared down a 1^st innings deficit just short of 100.

We needed a big innings, something that didn’t look likely before Mossadek Hossain (102) and Nazmul Hossain (82*) compiled a Bangladeshi record 7^th wicket partnership of 181 to allow us to declare on 395-7.

Finally we managed to produce two qood innings in a row as we followed up a great batting effort in the third innings with a professional, ruthless bowling effort in the fourth. Zimbabwe were dismissed for 215 with the wickets again being spread out between the four bowlers as we scraped a series win.

This win has definitely posed more questions than answered them. A series I was confident of sealing 3-0 was, quite possibly undeservedly and definitely somewhat fortunately, won 2-1. However a win is a win and we move on to the ODI leg of the series.