A blockbuster of an innings from Charles Coventry, the joint-highest individual score in ODIs, raised Zimbabwe's chances of leveling the series against Bangladesh. Coventry was involved in two substantial partnerships, with Hamilton Masakadza and Stuart Matsikenyeri, on either side of a middle-order collapse to power Zimbabwe to their second consecutive 300-plus total.
It was a superbly paced innings from Coventry; he provided the impetus after the early dismissal of Mark Vermeulen, then tempered his aggression when the wickets tumbled around him in the middle overs, before finishing off with an awesome display of powerhitting. What made it even more astonishing was that the next highest score was 37, 157 less than Coventry.
On a track with little in it for the bowlers, Charles Coventry's typically aggressive knock put Zimbabwe on their way to a competitive total in the fourth ODI. A steady Hamilton Masakadza played second fiddle to Coventry in the pair's quick 82-run second-wicket association, which put Zimbabwe well on top until Bangladesh's spinners struck thrice to pull the visitors back into the game.
Zimbabwe got off to their usual poor start; this time it was Mark Vermeulen falling early in a manner reminiscent of his dismissal in the third ODI, chipping an innocuous leg-stump delivery to short midwicket in the second over.
Masakadza and No. 3 Coventry were watchful early on, heeding their captain Prosper Utseya's advice to "apply themselves in the first five overs". Despite a massive blow over mid-on from Masakadza, Zimbabwe had crawled to 21 for 2 after six overs. "Good areas" was the frequent cry from the vocal wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, and that was where the Bangladesh new-ball bowlers generally landed the ball in the early stages.
After that, though, it started to go wrong for the Bangladesh quicks. The torrent of runs started with Masakadza glancing a short, leg-stump ball to the fine leg boundary to end the seventh over. Coventry lofted the first ball of the eighth over the sightscreen, before another heave was spilled by Syed Rasel at deep square leg. Coventry bashed one past mid-off to make it 16 runs in the over, and then slashed a couple more boundaries in the next to push Zimbabwe's run-rate above six.
Shakib Al Hasan, expectedly, turned to his spinners to staunch the flow. They were initially not successful as both Coventry and Masakadza used their feet well to pick off the singles, complemented by the odd boundary. Even Enamul Haque jnr's tactic of firing the ball into middle and leg didn't stop the runs, and Zimbabwe sprinted to 87 for 1 after 15.
It was part-timer Mohammad Ashraful who got the breakthrough. He had struck first ball in the first ODI; it took two to get a wicket today, Masakadza lofting the ball straight to long-on. With new man Brendon Taylor struggling against the slow bowlers, the runs were hard to come by. He survived several close lbw calls before misreading one from Enamul to be hit in front of off and middle.
Worse followed for Zimbabwe when Sean Williams inside-edged Naeem Islam onto the stumps. The good news for them is that Coventry remains unbeaten, keeping their hopes of making a big score and leveling the series.
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It was a superbly paced innings from Coventry; he provided the impetus after the early dismissal of Mark Vermeulen, then tempered his aggression when the wickets tumbled around him in the middle overs, before finishing off with an awesome display of powerhitting. What made it even more astonishing was that the next highest score was 37, 157 less than Coventry.
On a track with little in it for the bowlers, Charles Coventry's typically aggressive knock put Zimbabwe on their way to a competitive total in the fourth ODI. A steady Hamilton Masakadza played second fiddle to Coventry in the pair's quick 82-run second-wicket association, which put Zimbabwe well on top until Bangladesh's spinners struck thrice to pull the visitors back into the game.
Zimbabwe got off to their usual poor start; this time it was Mark Vermeulen falling early in a manner reminiscent of his dismissal in the third ODI, chipping an innocuous leg-stump delivery to short midwicket in the second over.
Masakadza and No. 3 Coventry were watchful early on, heeding their captain Prosper Utseya's advice to "apply themselves in the first five overs". Despite a massive blow over mid-on from Masakadza, Zimbabwe had crawled to 21 for 2 after six overs. "Good areas" was the frequent cry from the vocal wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, and that was where the Bangladesh new-ball bowlers generally landed the ball in the early stages.
After that, though, it started to go wrong for the Bangladesh quicks. The torrent of runs started with Masakadza glancing a short, leg-stump ball to the fine leg boundary to end the seventh over. Coventry lofted the first ball of the eighth over the sightscreen, before another heave was spilled by Syed Rasel at deep square leg. Coventry bashed one past mid-off to make it 16 runs in the over, and then slashed a couple more boundaries in the next to push Zimbabwe's run-rate above six.
Shakib Al Hasan, expectedly, turned to his spinners to staunch the flow. They were initially not successful as both Coventry and Masakadza used their feet well to pick off the singles, complemented by the odd boundary. Even Enamul Haque jnr's tactic of firing the ball into middle and leg didn't stop the runs, and Zimbabwe sprinted to 87 for 1 after 15.
It was part-timer Mohammad Ashraful who got the breakthrough. He had struck first ball in the first ODI; it took two to get a wicket today, Masakadza lofting the ball straight to long-on. With new man Brendon Taylor struggling against the slow bowlers, the runs were hard to come by. He survived several close lbw calls before misreading one from Enamul to be hit in front of off and middle.
Worse followed for Zimbabwe when Sean Williams inside-edged Naeem Islam onto the stumps. The good news for them is that Coventry remains unbeaten, keeping their hopes of making a big score and leveling the series.
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