Visiting Zimbabwe A team captain Vusi Sibanda thinks that the wicket of the Cox’s Bazar Stadium during their first four-day match against the hosts was under-prepared and inappropriate for hosting first-class cricket. Bangladesh A team registered a six-wicket win over their Zimbabwe counterparts in a low-scoring game to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series on a wicket where the visitors had no answer to left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib, who finished with a record breaking 15-wicket haul in the match.
Saqlain grabbed nine wickets in the first innings and followed that with six-wickets in the second as the visitors were booked for 208 and 105 runs respectively, giving the hosts a morale-boosting win.
But Sibanda thinks otherwise. He thinks the bad wicket of the Sheikh Kamal International Stadium played a key role in their loss to Bangladesh.
‘Wicket played a big part in making it a low scoring game. To be honest, we both sides thought that it wasn’t a first-class wicket. It did behave awkwardly and it was more than what we were expecting,’ Sibanda told New Age at the BCB Academy premises at Mirpur on Friday.
‘Of course the wickets in the sub-continents help the spinners but it was behaving weirdly, which aren’t good for any sides. But we had to accept the conditions,’ said Sibanda.
Sibanda added that though he was disappointed with their loss, his side were taking some positives from the match as they also made the Bangladesh A team sweat to earn their victory.
‘The series so far is not good for us. Obviously it was not the result that we would have wanted,’ said Sibanda.
‘But we had a lot of positives to take out of it and hopefully, we can try and take them into our next match,’ he said adding that his guys are looking forward to staking a claim for a place in the Test squad in the forthcoming series against the Tigers.
‘So, pretty much it is like the dress-rehearsal for the Test series. The guys are trying to get accustomed to the conditions and get some games under their belt. They are trying to spend some more time in the middle and hopefully they can do that on the field,’ he added.
‘In the first game’s first innings I would have liked to score big but unfortunately that did not happen which is part of the game. Hopefully in the second game I take it from the first game and do well as far as I can get,’ he said.
Zimbabwe A team are not leaving any stone unturned in terms of training by doing nets followed by fielding practice to make a comeback against their opponents.
While Bangladesh A team arrived in the morning and left the ground after one-and-a-half-hour gym session as the players did not take to the field due to rain but honed their skills in the indoor net.
The second and final four-day match of the series between the two sides begins on September 21 in Fatullah.
-With New Age input
