Story by Lawrence Trusida, Sports Editor
ALL roads lead to the Harare Sports Club this Sunday as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh renew one of Test cricket’s closest rivalries, with history, pride, and a new era for the Chevrons set to take centre stage.
Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have built one of Test cricket’s most evenly contested rivalries over the years.
In 20 previous meetings, Bangladesh hold a slender advantage with nine victories, while Zimbabwe have claimed eight wins with three matches ending in a stalemate, leaving Sunday’s one-off Test perfectly poised for another memorable chapter.
The match also marks the beginning of a new era for Zimbabwe, with fast bowler Richard Ngarava becoming only the third black Zimbabwean to captain the Chevrons in a Test match, following in the footsteps of Tatenda Taibu and Hamilton Masakadza.
Ngarava says his side is eager to make a positive start and crown the occasion with a winning performance.
“It is always an honour to lead your nation, Taibu and Masakadza are heroes of cricket in Zimbabwe and we look up to those names and to be mentioned in the same paragraph it’s an even greater honour however we have a match to pay and we need to do the basics right and make sure we come up with a win, the wins will be the most important thing for us not personal milestones,” he said.
Bangladesh arrived in Harare buoyed by encouraging performances in the One-Day International format and is determined to carry that confidence into the longest version of the game.
“It is always important to keep the momentum, yes, it was a different version, but the confidence rubs off, and we are expecting a tough match, but we should come up good,” Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said.
For Zimbabwe, the Test also signals the start of a busy season, and the Chevrons are eager to start on the right foot.
