One-off Test: Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by an innings and 85 runs to seal their biggest win

Harare: The Zimbabwe cricket team, under the leadership of Richard Ngarava, has etched its name in the history books as it registered its biggest win in Test cricket history, beating Bangladesh by an innings and 85 runs in the one-off test at the Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.

Opting to bowl after winning the toss, Zimbabwe dominated against the visitors from the outset as Bangladesh were off to a poor start and lost eight wickets for just seven runs to get bowled out for just 140 on Day 1. Mominul Haque was the lone warrior for the team as he scored 60 runs off 81 balls. Newman Nyamhuri was brilliant with the ball and took four crucial wickets. While captain Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, and Brad Evans also chipped in with two wickets each.

After the pacers’ domination, it was time for the batsman to show their class against the Asian side as Innocent Kaia hit a brilliant century and top-scored with 140, while Craig Ervine, Brian Bennett, and Wessly Madhevere chipped in with half-centuries as Zimbabwe posted a match-winning 410 runs in the first innings. Taijul Islam was the most efficient Bangladesh bowler as he took seven wickets.

The hosts also took a massive first-innings lead of 270, which proved to be too much for Bangladesh, who failed to pull off a miracle as none of their batters showed the resilience, and they were bowled out for 185 in the second innings. Zimbabwe’s pace quartet of Ngarava, Muzarabani, Evans, and Nyamhuri hunted in a pack, with none of them going wicketless in either innings.

This is also the first time Zimbabwe have won consecutive Tests in more than 25 years. In their previous Test match played in October, they beat Afghanistan by an innings and 73 runs, and have now backed it up with a victory over Bangladesh to register successive Test wins.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 140 (Mominul Haque 60; Newman Nyamhuri 4-61, Blessing Muzarabani 2-19) & 185 (Mushfiqur Rahim 34; Blessing Muzarabani 4-65, Richard Ngarava 3-32) lost to Zimbabwe 410 (Innocent Kaia 140, Wessly Madhevere*, Craig Ervine 60; Taijul Islam 7-138) by an innings & 85 runs.

IANS