Bangladesh Vs Zimbabwe Vitori rips Tigers UCB ODI Series -2011

Bangladesh batsman Shahriar Nafees (R) finds his castle uprooted by an inswinger from Zimbabwe seamer Brian Vitori in the first match of the UCB ODI Series at the Harare Sports Club on Friday. (INSET) The wrecker-in-chief Vitori proudly shows taking a five-for on his debut.

Brian Vitori's excellent debut act exposed the Tigers' myth about themselves and their lack of staying power as Zimbabwe cruised to a four-wicket victory by reaching their target in 41.2 overs, with 52 balls to spare in the first one-dayer at the Harare Sports Club yesterday.

The victory was largely due to the left-arm paceman's opening burst that saw him bowl eight overs and pick up four important wickets.

The Tigers only recovered through the century fifth-wicket stand between skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim but were bowled out for 184 in 48.4 overs.Vitori became the first Zimbabwean to take a five-wicket haul on debut in ODIs when Shafiul Islam gave a simple catch to Sibanda at mid-off. Overall, he's the seventh man to do so including Tony Dodemaide, Shaul Karnain, Alan Donald, Charitha Buddhika, Austin Codrington and Fidel Edwards (only one to take six on debut).

Aided by the metronomic Chris Mpofu, Vitori's classic left-armer's angle, movement and bounce had Tamim Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful and Imrul Kayes, who all departed off his bowling by the 14th over.

After a tight opening five overs, Tamim's first attempt at a big shot fell as far as mid-on hands, Vitori picking him up twice in the space of three innings on the tour.Imrul Kayes, whose attempt cleared Elton Chigumbura soon after, brought a semblance of poise to the Tigers' top-order but Shahriar Nafees couldn't work out Vitori's angular delivery, his leg-stump clattered, much like the left-hander's last dismissal in the one-off Test. The Kyle Jarvis delivery had then cut through his bat and pad and rammed into the stumps.

Mohammad Ashraful fell into his own ways of scoring once and then failing twice as his miscued pull shot off Vitori went straight to fine leg where Chris Mpofu took an easy catch.A ball later, Vitori took his fourth when he trapped Imrul Kayes for an hour-long eleven, making it 33 for four. It was soon 43 for five when Mahmudullah Riyad guided a wide Elton Chigumbura delivery to Hamilton Masakadza at backward point.

Thankfully, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim were the next men in. The duo, like they have done on five previous occasions, added more than 50 runs for the fifth wicket. The pair batted with more patience than the dismissed five showed together, hammering seven boundaries between them.

But their second hundred stand ended when Prosper Utseya took a good reflex catch at cover as Shakib fell to Masakadza for 53 off 63 balls. The captain fell at a crucial juncture as ten overs remained. Razzak failed to show his Test pyrotechnics and a few minutes later, Mushfiqur drove one straight at long on to give Utseya his 100th ODI wicket in 128 games.

Mushfiqur made 59 off 91 balls with the help of five boundaries and it was clear that the wicketkeeper is a form batsman and feels comfortable batting with old mate Shakib.Sohrawardi Shuvo remained not out on 20 in the end as the Tigers continued to be humbled by the hosts.

Zimbabwe's reply, especially the second wicket stand of 84 runs between Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza, gave the Tigers very little chance.Apart from Shakib's continuous 10 overs and Rubel Hossain's two wicket burst in the 25th over and a good spell overall in which he picked up the four wickets, the rest of the bowling was ordinary with Abdur Razzak who was brought into the attack in the fourth over.

Sibanda made an entertaining 96 off 102 balls with the help of eight boundaries and two sixes in an innings that offered very few chances and dominated the Tigers from the word go.

Still, Vitori remained the match-winner.

SCORES IN BRIEF

BANGLADESH: 184 (Imrul 11, Nafeez 14, Shakib 53, Mushfiqur 59, Sohrawardi 20 not out; Vitori 5-30)

ZIMBABWE: 186 for 6 (Taylor 10, Sibanda 96, Masakadza 41, Mutizwa 27 not out; Rubel 4-26)

Result: Zimbabwe won by 4 wickets.

Man-of-the-match: Brian Vitori.