2nd Test: Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Chittagong, 15-19 Nov 2001 CricInfo Live Report

2nd Test: Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Chittagong, 15-19 Nov 2001
Shahryar Khan

Zimbabwe 1st innings: Before Lunch, Before Tea, End of Day 1,

TREVOR GRIPPER STEALS THE DAY

Grant Flower hit the first four off Enamul Haque through deep extra cover. Gripper, on the other end, was firmly holding the ground. Grant, after a few over, started to coming out of his shell and smashed a couple of boundaries.

Gripper was taking on Ashraful well and reached 98 hammering the prodigious kid a four to deep mid-wicket. He survived a run-out when he attempted to take a quick single pushing the ball to deep point and the fielder there picked up and a straight throw broke the stumps when he was just in.

Gripper found it hard to get his first Test century as Sharif sent him a lethal Yorker. Luckily he stopped the ball with the bottom of his bat that went to point and he picked up his 100th run.

It was Enamul to strike again, a big one of Grant Flower at 33. The famous Zimbabwean tried to play a drive, which took an edge of his bat and Naimur didn’t miss the catch at slip.

A few minutes later, Trevor Gripper got himself run out attempting to take a chicky single. The mid-wicket fielder broke his stumps before he reached the crease, but before that he bagged 112 runs.

At the end of the last session Zimbabwe piled up 236 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Andy Flower and Garry Brent were two not out batsmen.

BOWLERS KEPT THE ZIMBABWEANS RATHER QUIET

Mashrafe was called on to bowl the following over after lunch and he looked confident in his second spell bowling with three slips. Enamul Haque, on the other end kept his line and length steady giving no space for the batsman to play ambitious shots. He bowled several flighted deliveries to entice the Dion Ebrahim, who played him very patiently.

Gripper showed brilliance in ball selection and his innings went on superbly. The way he played Mashrafe, who received some punishment from the same batsman earlier, and struck him to score his 11th boundary, enchanted everyone.

At last Mashrafe brought back some smile for his squad as he shuttered Dion Ebrahim’s middle stump when the set batsman attempted to go for a wild shot that he missed completely. Ebrahim managed 41.

Carlisle, the captain joined Gripper and both carried the bat rather patiently as they played Enamul and Sharif defensively. They broke silence when Gripper greeted Naimur with a four down to deep square leg and took the score to 132 for 1.

Enamul, the left arm offie, was bowling superbly with a close attacking fielding. This brought the result when Carlisle was trapped lbw for 14. The Zimbabwean skipper missed a lower one from Enamul, which hit his pad. That was the last delivery before tea and Zimbabwe were comfortably placed to 145 for 2.

GRIPPER AND EBRAHIM IN STYLE

M A Aziz stadium is watching the proceedings of the second Test of Coca Cola series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Under a clear blue sky in a sunny morning, Bangladesh won the toss and skipper Naimur sent the opposition to bat first; probably he was thinking of taking the early moisture on the track that could favor the pace bowlers.

Mashrafe-Bin-Mortaza delivered the first ball to Dion Ebrahim, who angled it down to third man to take a couple. The next ball was cut away by the batsman to take another two and everyone was sure about the nature of the pitch, which is flat and would speak for the batsman without a shred of doubt.

Mohammed Sharif began the next over and Trevor Gripper welcomed him with a boundary at third man. Sharif gained his composure in the following deliveries pitching the ball right on to the off stump to keep Gripper quiet.

Both batsmen were dealing the not-so-lethal overs from the Bangladeshi pace due with ease and finding the gaps quite often. Bangladesh missed their first chance to get a breakthrough when keeper Khaled Masud dropped Ebrahim off Mashrafe.

Ebrahim struck Sharif back past the bowler to hit the fence and in the following over he took an upper hand on Mohammed Sharif to smash successive boundaries. Zimbabweans were looking comfortable with the pitch as long as the Bangladeshi pacers were bowling.

Enamul Haque came in the 12th over to stop the flowing of run with his left arm off break and skipper Naimur opted to bowl himself at the other end. Enamul managed to make the batsmen quiet but Naimur, at the other end, looked unconvincing.

Trevor Gripper paled with flair and notched up his fifty by hitting Naimur to long on for a four. At the end of the session Zimbabwe were 92 without any damage.