Mission Zimbabwe starts today

FE Team | Published: August 09, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

On Sunday, England and Australia take the field for the third day's play in Headingley while Sri Lanka and Pakistan square off at the Premadasa in Colombo.
Miles away from both those storied venues, the minuscule environs of the Queens Sports Club will host the first of five ODIs between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
The ground is unlikely to be the centre of much attention, yet fans of cricket on both sides will hope that the situation is far better than when Zimbabwe and Bangladesh last kicked off a series in the country.
On that day, February 4, 2007, the match was played out in virtual secrecy. There was no television coverage, no media updates, no live scores. The only people who knew what was happening were the few hundred die-hards inside Harare Sports Club. The situation has improved since then, with Sri Lanka's tour earlier this year getting decent coverage, and this series deserves to be broadcast. For the millions of Bangladesh supporters around the world, this game will hopefully be watched with reinvigorated zest because their team beat West Indies in the Tests and ODIs recently. For fans in Zimbabwe, this is a rare home series to take in.
Zimbabwe won their last low-profile series against Kenya 5-0 but their best player, Tatenda Taibu, is not available after being handed a ten-match suspension. Their opponents this time are undoubtedly favourites after their exploits in the Caribbean and their recent record over Zimbabwe - they beat them 2-1 earlier this year. Bangladesh's players have much more international experience and have been playing more cricket lately. Zimbabwe are up against it and will need to play out of their skins to beat Bangladesh. A victory for Zimbabwe will give them their first notable ODI series win since July 2006, and augur well for their future as an international team after an encouraging performance against Sri Lanka in the last three ODIs at home.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (Capt), Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Enamul Haque jnr, Syed Rasel, and Rubel Hossain.
Zimbabwe: Prosper Utseya (Capt), Hamilton Masakdaza, Keith Dabengwa, Vusi Sibanda, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Sean Williams, Elton Chigumbura, Forster Mutizwa (wk), Graeme Cremer, Ray Price, and Ed Rainsford. (Match starts at 2.30pm)
-Cricinfo