BULAWAYO: Under-pressure Bangladesh won the toss and skipper Shakib Al Hassan decided to field in the fourth one-day international against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club here on Friday.
The Asian tourists have suffered five consecutive defeats to a country just re-instated to Test cricket and which is therefore rejuvenated and highly motivated. If Bangladesh also fail in the remaining two internationals they will be embarrassingly whitewashed.
It has happened to them before when playing against Zimbabwe. In 2001 they not only lost two Tests and three ODI's here, but returned home six months later for a replay series, losing one Test and three ODI's - nine matches in all.
On the present tour they have been defeated in a three-day warm-up against a Zimbabwe XI, the one-off Test that brought Zimbabwe back into the top echelons of the sport and the first three 50-overs matches.
Zimbabwe's successes have centred principally on three batsmen and one bowler - Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu and seamer Brian Vitori. All indigenous Africans, indicating the extent of player development here in recent years.
For Zimbabwe, Malcolm Waller comes in for Craig Ervine and Ray Price returns at the expense of Kyle Jarvis. Abdur Razzak returns to the Bangladesh side.
Teams
Zimbabwe - Brendan Taylor (capt), Vusi Sibanda, Hamilton Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu (wk), Malcolm Waller, Forbes Mutizwa, Elton Chigumbura, Prosper Utseya, Ray Price, Chrisopher Mpofu, Brian Vitori.
Bangladesh - Shakib Al Hassan (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrun Kayes, Shafiul Nafeez, Mushfiqur Rahman (wk), Shivagoto Hom, Mahmadullah, Rubel Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Judiad Siddique.
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Owen Chirombe (ZIM).
TV Umpire: Jeremiah Matibire (ZIM).
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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