Sports
Shakib, Mustafizur star on comeback as Bangladesh go 4-0 up against Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe again got close to Bangladesh’s total but couldn’t quite get the job done. This time in Dhaka, Bangladesh beat them by five runs to extend their lead in the T20I series to 4-0. With big hits towards the end, tailenders Wellington Masakadza and Blessing Muzarabani got everyone excited and nervous – depending on which side you were supporting.
Then Shakib Al Hassan took the two remaining wickets in the last over, but not before Muzarabani struck him for a straight six when 13 runs were needed. Shakib finished with 4 for 35 in his first T20I in ten months. Mustafizur Rahman also returning to the side, took three wickets, while Taskin Ahmed took two and Rishad Hossain one.
Bangladesh had given Zimbabwe a massive lifeline when they collapsed from 101 for no loss to be bowled out for 143. The last ten wickets fell in 8.4 overs as the hosts failed to last all 20 overs. Luke Jongwe led the visitors’ fightback with the ball, taking 3 for 20. His third wicket got him to 64 wickets in the format, as he beat Tendai Chatara to become Zimbabwe’s highest wicket taker in T20Is.
But before all that, Tanzid Hasan and Soumya Sarkar kept the home side on top.
Tanzid went after the bowling almost on his own in the powerplay. He reached 40 off 27 balls with seven fours, leaving Soumya with little to do at the other end. Soumya faced just nine balls during the powerplay, before he opened up in the next two overs. He reverse swept Brian Bennett in the seventh over before lofting Jongwe over the covers.
At the end of the ninth over, Tanzid reached his second fifty in the series with a single off Faraz Akram, as he continued to impress in his debut series. Soon after, Tanzid and Soumya reached their hundred stand, the third by a Bangladsh opening pair in T20Is. That partnership from the openers suggested Bangladesh would get a big score. But it all went downhill pretty soon.
Both openers fell in the 12th over when Johnathan Campbell took a good catch to remove Tanzid, before Soumya missed Jongwe’s slower yorker and was trapped lbw for 41. Despite the solid platform, the rest of the batters simply didn’t give the big crowd a chance to cheer for the rest of the innings.
Towhid Hridoy, the Player of the Match in the last two matches, slogged Sikandar Raza towards deep square leg where, Bennett took a fine catch. Bennett then got into the act with his offspin in the following over. He got the ball to sneak through Shakib’s bat and pad with his first ball, before Najmul Hossain Shanto played all around a tossed-up delivery off the last ball.
Richard Ngarava removed Jaker Ali in the 17th over, before a mix-up between Rishad and Taskin. Taskin hared out of the crease but Rishad sent him back, pointing towards the midwicket fielder; but by then it was too late, and Taskin couldn’t return to his crease in time.
Jongwe, Ngarava and Muzarabani took the last three wickets to fall. In the last over, though, Zimbabwe missed a run-out chance. As Bangladesh’s last pair Tanvir Islam and Mustafizur tried to take an extra run from an overthrow, Mustafizur was well short at the non-striker’s end. Campbell, however, couldn’t parry the ball on to the stumps, much to the packed house’s amusement.
In the chase, Zimbabwe once again failed to get off to a good start. Bennett couldn’t replicate his bowling effectiveness with the bat when he fell in the first over. Taskin hurried him into a pull shot, resulting in Shakib taking the catch at mid-on. Sikandar Raza, promoting himself to No. 3, struck four boundaries in the first two overs but lasted only till the fourth over. With Raza on 17, Taskin removed him with a good-length ball that uprooted his middle stump.
Tadiwanashe Marumani, who struck Shakib for two fours in the third over, followed Raza back to the dugout in the fifth over. Shakib trapped him lbw when Marumani missed an attempted slog sweep. When Madande fell in the tenth over, missing his reverse sweep, Rishad got him lbw for 12.
Bangladesh dropped two chances after they had Zimbabwe on the ropes in the tenth over. But Hridoy dropped Campbell on 12, before Jaker spilled Ryan Burl’s skier when he was on 1. The pair combined to take 20 runs off Tanzim Hasan in the 13th over. Campbell struck a six and a four, before Burl’s clip sent the ball high into the stands above square leg.
But their brief resistance ended with Mustafizur bowling the 15th over, where he struck twice. Soumya took a fine running catch from long-on to end Burl’s stay on 19. Jongwe guided his second ball to Rishad at point to make it 94 for 6. Shakib removed Campbell in the 17th over, with Shanto taking the skier at mid-off.
In the same over that Campbell fell, Masakadza struck Shakib for a four and six. But Tanzim brought things back with six runs in the 18th over, before Mustafizur conceded just seven runs in the penultimate over, where he also removed Akram.
Tanzid, who took a good catch to remove Akram, then dropped an easier chance of Masakadza off first ball of the last over. Muzarabani struck the big six next ball, but Shakib cleverly bowled a wide one to him as Muzarabani advanced, and Jaker completed the stumping. Ngarava then got bowled next ball to relieve the home crowd.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 143 in 19.5 overs (Tanzid Hasan 52, Soumya Sarkar 41; Sikandar Raza 1-24, Blessing Muzarabani 1-30, Richard Ngrava 2-27, Brian Benett 2-20, Luke Jongwe 3-20) beat Zimbabwe 138 in 19.4 overs (Johnathan Campbell 31; Taskin Ahmed 2-20, Shakib Al Hasan 4-35, Mustafizur Rahman 3-19, Rishad Hossain 1-06) by five runs
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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