[kalpurush]

An interesting read from Zimbabwe Cricket:

Zim, Bangladesh hunt for more records

NOONE in the touring Bangladesh cricket team enjoys playing against Zimbabwe more than Shahriah Nafees Ahmed- the opening batsman who has scored three centuries against them in the same calendar year. Nafees is in the Bangladesh squad awaiting the first of the four-match Croco Motors One-Day International (ODI) series with Zimbabwe on Sunday. Mehrab Hossain, who is also in the side, is the only other Tiger to have scored an ODI century against Zimbabwe. In the current Zimbabwe side, noone has scored an ODI century against Bangladesh: a feat recorded previously by Grant Flower, Dion Ebrahim and Alistair Campbell. Stuart Matsikenyeri, however, is the overall third leading run-scorer between the two countries in ODIs. He lies third after Nafees and current Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar. The best ODI partnership involving a player in the current Zimbabwe squad is 95 runs for the third wicket by current Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor, who shared the stand with Barney Rogers in Dhaka in the 2004/05 season. Matsikenyeri and Elton Chigumbura hold the highest stand for the sixth wicket, a 114-run partnership in Harare, also in 2006. Taylor was back in the thick of things again in November last year, getting involved in the thrilling series-clinching 85-run partnership for the eight wicket with Tawanda Mupariwa. Taylor lofted a six over mid-wicket to snatch a dramatic win for the hosts at Harare Sports Club. In ODI bowling records between the two countries, Bangladesh has recorded eight four-wicket hauls, left-arm spinners Manjural Islam Rana and Abdur Razzak grabbing two each. Razzak is in the Zimbabwe touring party. Veteran spinner Mohammed Rafique and promising pace bowler Masrafe Bin Mortaza, who are also in Zimbabwe for the Croco Motors series, are the other four-wicket takers in ODIs against Zimbabwe. In the current Zimbabwe side, three bowlers, all seamers, have taken four-wicket hauls. Two of the records were on the end-of-year tour to Zimbabwe in Bangladesh when Gary Brent took four for 22 runs in Dhaka, and Christopher Mpofu ended with four for 42 in Bogra.