Abu Jayed struck early to send back Kevin Kasuza © AFP
Bangladesh 25 for 1 (Tamim 10*, Nyauchi 1-11) trail Zimbabwe 265 all out (Ervine 107, Nayeem 4-70, Abu Jayed 4-71) by 240 runs
A career-best innings haul of 4 for 71 from seamer Abu Jayed helped Bangladesh keep Zimbabwe to 265 on the second morning in Mirpur. On a hazy winter’s morning, with a relatively new ball in his hands, Jayed found plenty of swing to lead Bangladesh’s effort with the ball, Taijul Islam backing him up with two wickets to help wrap things up. Bangladesh, in response, lost Saif Hassan early, but Tamim Iqbal settled in to guide them to lunch at 25 for 1 with no further drama.
Though never bowling at much more than a medium pace, Jayed maintained an impeccable seam position that brought with it consistent shape through the air. Having beaten Donald Tiripano’s outside edge a handful of times, and watched as an edged drive flew through the vacant third slip first thing this morning, he kept the ball up to the bat, searching for swing. The tactic quickly bore dividends, Tiripano feathering another flat-footed drive and Ainsley Ndlovu playing around a full one that rapped him on the front pad in front of the stumps in consecutive Jayed overs.
Chakabva continued to show trust in the tail, taking whatever singles were on offer, but that quickly exposed Zimbabwe to danger: a single off the first ball of an over gave Bangladesh almost a full over at Ndlovu, though Abu Jayed needed only three balls to get rid of him. Another single, early in a Taijul over, turned the strike over to Charlton Tshuma, on his Test debut. Crowded by fielders all around him, Tshuma poked nervously outside the line of an arm ball to give Taijul his first wicket of the innings. At 245 for 9, Zimbabwe were tottering.
With only No. 11 Nyauchi for company, Chakabva started to farm the strike, keeping the scoreboard ticking over with the odd big shot, sweeping Taijul Islam and pulling Abu Jayed to the boundary. But it was just such a shot that brought the innings to an end, Chakabva bending low into a slog sweep at Taijul, only to top edge the attempt out to deep midwicket, where Nayeem Hasan held a simple catch.
While most of Zimbabwe’s top order had taken time to open their accounts yesterday, Bangladesh’s openers were a little more proactive. A flick and a sumptuous straight drive brought two boundaries for Saif Hassan in Nyauchi’s opening over, while Tamim threw his hands into a pair of rasping drives at Tiripano soon afterwards as the runs flowed.
Nyauchi struck back for Zimbabwe, getting a length ball to hold its line and kiss the outside edge of Saif’s bat to complete a wicket maiden in his second over, and that forced the batsmen back into their shells somewhat. Tamim shelved the big shots, while Najmul Hossain Shanto also opted for patience with an eye on the impending lunch interval.
Liam Brickhill is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo