Ervine’s 93 and Taylor’s 81 push Zimbabwe to 271 despite Taskin’s early blows

Zimbabwe recovered from 30 for three in the powerplay to reach 271 for eight against Bangladesh in the opening match of the tri-nation series in Abu Dhabi on October 17, after Taskin Ahmed’s early blows were followed by a 150-run stand between Craig Ervine, who made 93, and Brendan Taylor, who scored 81.

Bangladesh, led by Towhid Hridoy in place of the injured Litton Das, chose to field after losing the toss. Nurul Hasan Sohan kept wicket, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz missed out through illness, leaving the Tigers with three pacers and two frontline spinners.

Taskin needed only the sixth ball of the innings to strike, trapping Brian Bennett lbw. Bennett reviewed, but umpire’s call sent him back. Ben Curran followed in the fifth over, lbw for six after another failed review.

Debutant Tadiwanashe Sigau looked lively with three fours, but he mistimed a pull off Taskin and Sohan took the catch. Zimbabwe were 24 for three after seven overs, and the powerplay closed on 30 for three, all three wickets belonging to Taskin.

Taylor and Ervine then steadied things. Bangladesh lost a review when Hridoy challenged an lbw shout against Taylor off Mosaddek Hossain, only for the replay to show an outside-off impact. The stand reached 50 off 66 balls in the 18th over.

In the 16th over, Taylor pulled a boundary off Mosaddek to move past Andy Flower’s tally of 6,786 runs and become Zimbabwe’s highest ever ODI run-scorer. He began the day 30 runs behind Flower, whose record had stood for almost 23 years.

Taylor reached fifty off 65 balls with a single off Soumya Sarkar, his first half-century in six years. Ervine followed off 64 balls, becoming the first 41-year-old to make a fifty against a full-member nation.

Ervine was fortunate to survive on 50 when Bangladesh did not review an lbw shout against Rishad Hossain, which replays showed would have hit the stumps. He later won his own review against Shoriful Islam when the ball was shown going over the stumps.

Zimbabwe scored only 30 in the first powerplay but added 171 in the next 30 overs. The partnership passed 100 off 113 balls, and Bangladesh’s frontline bowlers could not separate the pair until Hridoy turned to Saif Hassan.

Saif struck with his second delivery, when Taylor’s reverse sweep was held by Mosaddek at point, ending a 150-run stand off 176 balls. In his next over he had Sikandar Raza caught behind for four, leaving Zimbabwe 178 for four and then 188 for five.

Wesley Madhevere hit out briskly, helped when Najmul Hossain Shanto got a hand to a chance at mid-off but could not hold it on 10. Rishad removed him for 17 off 15 balls, caught by Soumya at square leg, with Zimbabwe on 222 for six.

Shoriful then removed Ervine for 93 off 106 balls, caught behind by Sohan, who had missed a century by seven runs. He also had Brad Evans caught behind, leaving Zimbabwe on 235 for eight after 46 overs.

Wellington Masakadza and Newman Nyamhuri added 36 from the last four overs. Masakadza hit sixes off Taskin and Mustafizur Rahman, while Nyamhuri also cleared the rope, taking 20 off the last two overs.

Shanto dropped another chance off the final ball, and the batters ran three, leaving Zimbabwe on 271 for eight. Bangladesh must now chase 272 to begin the series with a win.

For Bangladesh, Taskin Ahmed took three wickets for 44 runs, Shoriful Islam two for 51 and Saif Hassan two for 27 in his brief spell, while Rishad Hossain also took one wicket.