Miraz's five wickets help Tigers' fight back in first Zimbabwe Test

SYLHET, Bangladesh, Apr 21 (AFP): Bangladesh ended the second day of the first Test against Zimbabwe on Monday trailing by only 25 runs after spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz took five wickets to restrict the visitors to 273 in their first innings.

It was a comeback for Bangladesh after a disappointing first day when skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss in Sylhet and decided to bat first.

However, his batters failed to capitalise and were bowled out by an impressive Zimbabwe attack for a modest 191.

Zimbabwe then piled on the misery by racing to 67-0 by the end of play on the first day. Starting from a commanding position, both Zimbabwe openers fell early on the second day to aggressive pace bowling by Nahid Rana.

Ben Curran was the first to go on 18 and his partner Brian Bennett, who hit an aggressive 64-ball 57, was removed soon after with the score on 88-2.

Sean Williams (59) was the only other Zimbabwe batter to reach fifty. Wessly Madhevere (24), Nyasha Mayavo (35) and Richard Ngarava (28) all failed to build bigger scores.

Off-spinner Mehidy took the key wickets of Williams, Mayavo and Ngarava to finish with 5-52 on a wicket that was expected to help the pace bowlers. Nahid took 3-74 with aggressive bowling in support of Mehidy.

Starting the second innings with an 82-run deficit, Bangladesh lost Shadman Islam on 4 to Blessing Muzarabani with the score on 13. His opening partner Mahmudul Hasan Joy soldiered on to 28 in an unbeaten 44-run partnership with Mominul Haque, on 15, to end the day at 57-1. Shanto must now hope that they can make the most of the friendly home conditions to set an imposing target for the visitors.

Bangladesh have been formidable on the slow and spin-friendly home pitches but have several veterans missing.