Zimbabwe fall agonisingly short after Williams-led fightback

Bangladesh – 150-7 in 20 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 71, Afif Hossain 29, Shakib Al Hasan 23; Blessing Muzarabani 2/13, Richard Ngarava 2/24, Sean Williams 1/10)

Zimbabwe – 147-8 in 20 overs (Sean Williams 64, Ryan Burl 27*, Regis Chakabva 15; Taskin Ahmed 3/19, Mustafizur Rahman 2/15, Mosaddek Hossain 2/34)

Bangladesh won by three runs

Zimbabwe fell agonisingly short after a spirited fightback led by Sean Williams’ brilliant innings had taken their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh to a dramatic finale at the Gabba in Brisbane on Sunday.

Needing five runs off the final delivery to win this Super 12 encounter, Blessing Muzarabani swung at the ball and was stumped – or so it seemed.

However, replays indicated Bangladesh wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan had taken the ball in front of the wicket, meaning the delivery was a no-ball and Muzarabani had been given a second bite at the cherry.

At that stage many of the players had already shaken hands and left the field and they had to be called back.

Now, with only four runs needed off the free hit, Muzarabani swung and missed again, and Zimbabwe fell short by three runs.

Zimbabwe had made one change to their winning team against Pakistan, bringing back pace bowler Tendai Chatara in place of Luke Jongwe.

Bangladesh won the toss and batted first.

Najmul Hossain Shanto’s fine half-century was the backbone of an innings that reached 150 for seven wickets.

Muzarabani struck early, as in the second over he removed Soumya Sarkar, who was beaten by a fine delivery that lifted and moved away, to be caught at the wicket by Regis Chakabva without scoring.

Litton Das made 14 off only 12 balls before Muzarabani struck again, the batter scooping a ball to be caught at third man, which made the score 32 for two in the sixth over.

There followed two fine partnerships with Shanto that were to play the major part in the eventual Bangladesh total.

First the captain, Shakib Al Hasan, played well for 23 off 20 balls in a stand of 54 for the third wicket before Muzarabani featured again, this time by taking an excellent catch.

Shakib (23) tried to hit a ball from Williams over midwicket for six, but skyed it towards square leg, where Muzarabani ran to take a very difficult skyer.

The score was now 86 for three in the 13th over, and there followed another good stand for Bangladesh as Afif Hossain hit out well.

Shanto continued to attack the bowling successfully until he had scored 71 off 55 balls out of 122 on the board, when he sliced a drive off Raza to Craig Ervine at mid-off – 122 for four in the 17th over.

The remaining overs saw runs come quickly as wickets fell.

Richard Ngarava took two wickets, including that of Hossain who was lbw to the last ball of the innings for 29 off 19 balls.

More wickets could have fallen, but a couple of catches went down in the final overs.

The innings closed at 150 for seven.

Muzarabani took two wickets for 13 runs in two overs, while Ngarava had two for 24 off his four overs.

Zimbabwe made a disastrous start to their chase from which they were never able to recover.

Wessly Madhevere cut the second ball of the innings for four off Taskin Ahmed, but tried to do the same with the third, and lofted a catch to third man.

In the third over, with the score 17, Ahmed struck again when Ervine slashed at a ball outside the off stump and was caught at the wicket for eight.

Then two more wickets fell on 35 in the sixth over, when Milton Shumba miscued a drive off Mustafizur Rahman and was caught at mid-off for eight.

Three balls later and without addition, Zimbabwe lost the big wicket of Sikandar Raza without scoring, as he miscued a pull and skyed a catch.

Williams was batting well, and Chakabva gave him useful support in scoring 15 before Ahmed returned and had him caught at the wicket playing a stroke outside the off stump.

This made the score 69 for five in the 12th over, and defeat by now looked almost inevitable.

At this vital time the sixth-wicket pair of Williams and Ryan Burl put up a fight, attacking the bowling, but never quite able to keep up with the required run rate.

After 17 overs they had taken the score to 111 for five, with 40 runs needed off the last three overs.

Williams went to a fighting fifty off 37 balls, and 14 runs came off that over, leaving 26 for victory off the last two.

Seven runs came off the first three deliveries, but then tragedy struck, as off the fourth ball Williams was brilliantly run out by a direct hit from the bowler, Shakib, as the batters went for a quick single.

This proved to be the decisive moment of the match in the end.

Williams’ outstanding innings ended for 64 runs off 42 balls, with eight fours, and he left with the score 132 for six wickets.

Evans joined Burl at the crease now, and 16 runs were needed from the final over, bowled by Mosaddek Hossain.

Evans (2) hit the second ball powerfully, but as fortune would have it, he was caught deep at midwicket on the edge of the long boundary.

But the match was not over yet, as with good fortune the next batter, Ngarava, gained four leg-byes and then hit the following ball for a big leg-side six.

Five runs were needed of two balls, but Ngarava, leaping down the pitch to hit, missed the ball and was stumped.

Burl was stuck at the non-striker’s end with 27 as Muzarabani came in for the final ball, and in a dramatic finish he took a swing at the ball and was also stumped – or so it appeared.

But when the third umpire checked on the replay, it was seen that the wicket-keeper had taken the ball in front of the stumps, so Muzarabani was not out, a no-ball was scored and Zimbabwe still had one ball to face with four runs now needed for victory.

However, it was all in vain for Zimbabwe, as Muzarabani swung and missed again, and Zimbabwe went down by three runs.

Ahmed, who had done the early damage, finished with three wickets for 19 runs, while there were two wickets each for Hossain and Rahman.

It was nevertheless a wonderful recovery for Zimbabwe, who had been behind for most of the match and before the Williams-Burl partnership had looked to be dead and buried.

ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP – GROUP 2 POINTS TABLE