6th November 2018 is a memorable day for Zimbabwe cricket. From early 2000 the cricket in Zimbabwe was not in a good shape. There were issues within the board and good players retired or in exile and the overall country was in doldrums. All the promises they showed in the period between 1997-1999 were gone and they had to struggle a lot for their existence in world Cricket.
From the start of the new millennium, Zimbabwe won only eight Test matches. Before this day, their last away Test victory came in 2001. They also did not qualify for the 2019 World cup only a few months back which was absolutely heartbreaking for their players. However, they still managed to pull themselves and delivered an astonishing victory.
By this time Bangladesh proved to be one of the strongest outfits in the home. Although Test was their least preferred format, they had memorable wins against Australia and England in the recent past. Hence it was not easy for Zimbabwe. They were without their best spinner Graeme Cremer and both their spinners were making their debuts. However, the leg spinner Brandon Mavuta and slow left-arm orthodox spinner Wellington Masakadza along with batting all-rounder
Sikandar Raza bowled their hearts out.
On day one Zimbabwe put up a strong batting performance to score 282, thanks to 88 for Sean Williams and unbeaten 63 from Peter Moor. The captain Hamilton Masakadza also provided a good start with a fifty. Their bowlers completed brilliantly and bowled out Bangladesh for just 143 runs in the first innings. Their fast bowler Tendai Chatara took 3/19 and Raza scalped 3/36.
Zimbabwe could score only 181 runs in their second innings in a rapidly deteriorating wicket but thanks to their 139 run lead the fourth innings target for Bangladesh was 321. Bangladesh failed miserably. Mavuta took four wickets for 21 runs, Raza took three more wickets for 41 and Wellington Masakadza took two for 33. Bangladesh were all out for 169 and conceded the victory around the Teatime on day four. It was an absolutely brilliant performance by Zimbabwe
which meant a lot for the players. This gave hope to a new dawn in Zimbabwe cricket but things again went downhill in 2019.
This was Zimbabwe’s first win in an away Test in 17 years and only third overseas Test win overall.