Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh for first Test win in four years

Sylhet, day four of the first test

Bangladesh 191 (Monimul 56) &amp, 255 (Shanto 60, Muzarabani 6-72)

Zimbabwe 273 (Williams 59, Mehidy 5-52) &amp, 174-7 (Bennett 54, Mehidy 5-50)

Zimbabwe won the two-match series by three wickets and won it.

With a three-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Sylhet, Zimbabwe won their first Test match in four years.

The visitors endured a nervous finish before Wesley Madhevere tied the game with a four after going from 95-0 to 161-7.

Bangladesh fell from 194-4 to 255-4 in the final day’s morning session, with player of the match Blessing Muzarabani taking 76-72.

With the second ball of the day, the former Northamptonshire seamer defeated Mehidy Hasan Miraz (44) and Jaker Ali (58), who had already taken the crucial wicket from Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto for 60.

After a strong start, Brian Bennett (54) and Ben Curran (44) lost to all-rounder Miraz, who finished with match stats of 10-102.

Bangladesh’s off-breaks threatened to rematch the match, but Zimbabwe’s total proved too low as a result to claim their first Test victory since beating Afghanistan in March 2021.

In the second and final Test, which will start in Chattogram on April 28 (05:00 BST), Zimbabwe will now attempt to win the series.

Since defeating Bangladesh in a one-off Test in August 2011, they would have won the previous series against the same opponents that had won the previous two-game series.

Following this tour, they will travel to England to play a unique Test match at Trent Bridge starting on May 22.