Tour of  Bangladesh 2004-05         Captain: Tatenda Taibu

Zimbabwe’s 19th Test tour

Second Test-playing tour of Bangladesh by Zimbabwe

  (December  2004 -

                       January 2005)

After nine months' suspension from Test cricket, the ICC restored Zimbabwe's Test status in January 2005, in time for this tour.

At BCCI's suggestion the team went to Madras for acclimatisation because the climate is similar to Dhaka's.  Zimbabwe Cricket wanted the team to go to Kolkata but non-availability of a ground there forced it to choose Visakhapatnam.

Coach Phil Simmons was lambasted by Richie Kaschula, a member of the national selection panel and a former national player, in the aftermath of the Test defeat. "Phil must be held responsible for what has been happening in Bangladesh," Kaschula said. "We, as selectors, are not happy with what has been happening. He was doing his own things in selecting the teams that played, ignoring some of the things we told him."  Simmons was sacked the following August.

As well as becoming Bangladesh's first victims in Test cricket, Zimbabwe also lost the one-day series after winning the first two matches and then suffering three defeats in a row.

The touring party was very young and inexperienced.  Seven of the tour party of sixteen were aged under 20 and the squad had an aggregate of 71 Test appearances.

Bangabandhu National Stadium, built in the 1950s, officially hosted its last cricket match with the fifth one-day international; the stadium would in future host football matches.

Other Zimbabwe tours

Previous tour

Australia 2003-04

Pakistan 2004-05  cancelled

Next tour

South Africa 2004-05

Next tour of Bangladesh

2014-15

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:  Stuart Matsikenyeri, Terry Duffin, Barney Rogers

Middle-order batsmen:  Vusi Sibanda,  Hamilton Masakadza,  Brendan Taylor, Dion Ebrahim

Wicket-keeper: Tatenda Taibu

Spin bowlers:  Graeme Cremer, Prosper Utseya

Fast bowlers:  Elton Chigumbura, Douglas Hondo, Chris Mpofu, Mluleki Nkala, Tinashe Panyangara,  Ed Rainsford,

District representation  

 Logan Cup teams

CFX   

Msh Mashonaland

Mat  Matabeleland

Man  Manicaland

Mid  Midlands 

Average age of team at time of first Test match

 (6 January 2005) :

    21 years  1 month

Key to type:  

RHB Right-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off break

WK  Wicket-keeper

Test Appearances made before the tour

Ebrahim 22,  Taibu 16,  Nkala 9,  Hondo 7,  Masakadza 7,  Matsikenyeri 4,  Chigumbura 2,  Sibanda 2,  Panyangara 2,  Taylor 2,  Mupariwa 1,  Utseya 1,  Cremer 0,  Duffin 0,  Mpofu 0,  Rainsford 0,  Rogers 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Maqsood Ebrahim (convenor of Selectors),  Ethan Dube,  Richie Kaschula.

Kaschula was the only full-time paid selector;  Ebrahim and Dube were volunteers.

Selection

Unavailable:  Heath Streak, Stuart Carlisle, Grant Flower, Craig Wishart, Andy Blignaut, Raymond Price, Gary Brent, Sean Ervine, Travis Friend, Barney Rogers, Trevor Gripper, Richard Sims, Charles Coventry, Gavin Ewing and Neil Ferreira. 

Heath Streak resigned from the captaincy on 4 April 2004 because of a lack of confidence in the selectors and Tatenda Taibu was appointed.

Fifteen rebel white players demanded Streak’s reinstatement and issued an open letter with their grievances with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. This led only to the premature ending to their international careers.  They also claimed they were owed money and would not play for Zimbabwe until they were paid..

Rogers was later offered a contract by the Zimbabwe board, along with Gavin Ewing and wicket-keeper Charles Coventry, though these two were not selected for the Bangladesh tour.

Batsman Dion Ebrahim was serving a one-Test ban after showing dissent against an umpire's decision in the Test series against Sri Lanka in May 2004.

Tour Party Announced :  8 December 2004.

Hamilton Masakadza was recalled after a two-year gap while he completed his studies at university.

Not selected :   Alester Maregwede, Gavin Ewing and Blessing Mahwire.

Withdrawal   Vusi Sibanda took a place from Mark Vermeulen before the tour.

Time between selection and departure from Zimbabwe   

       2 days

(8 December   -  10 December)

Travel

Harare   Q Chennai

Mumbai    Q Dhaka

The Zimbabwe team arrived in Chennai, India, on Sunday December 11 2004.

Attended an 16-day camp at Visakhapatnam from December 12 to 28 to get acclimatised to the conditions in the subcontinent by playing two three-day practice matches.

As the team could not catch a connecting flight from Chennai to Kolkata due to the recent tsunumi, the team left Visakhapatnam on Tuesday 28 December for Hyderabad by road, then flew to Mumbai to catch a flight to Dhaka.

The Zimbabwean team reached Dhaka at 5.30 am on the morning of 30 December, two days behind the scheduled arrival due to the tsunami that devastated large areas of south Asia.  After a few hours stopover at Zia International Airport they flew to Chittagong the same day.

Time spent in India

   18 days

(11 December  - 29 December)

Time spent in Bangladesh

   33 days

(30 December  - 1 February)

On-tour selection

There was a selector - Ethan Dube - with the side, but he returned home early and so left picking the sides to Phil Simmons.

Reinforcements

Batsman Vusimuzi Sibanda was hit on the head by a ball during net practice before the first Test but quickly recovered.

Tawanda Mupariwa, 20, RFM, replaced Ed Rainsford who was injured before arrival in Dhaka

Terrance Duffin did not play a match on tour.

Fixtures/Results

§  ODI  Series

† not first-class

.

Time spent in India and Bangladesh before First Test:

          26 days

(11 December  -   6 January)

Test appearances on tour

2   - Chigumbura,  Cremer,  Hondo,  Masakadza,  Matsikenyeri,  Mpofu,  Rogers,  Taibu,  Taylor.

1 -   Ebrahim,  Nkala,  Panyangara,  Sibanda.

0 -   Duffin,  Mupariwa,  Rainsford,  Utseya.

Highlights

•  Taibu scored 85 not out and 153 in the second Test. He and Taylor (78) shared a stand of exactly 150, scoring 80 % of the runs in the second innings and saving Zimbabwe from the position of 37-4.

•   Hondo had figures of 6-59 in the first innings of the second Test at Dhaka.

•   Barney Rogers, the left-handed opener, wastop-scorer with 251 runs in the ODI series, average 50.20

Tour Summary

Return to Zimbabwe

Dhaka   Q  Mumbai   Q Harare

Cremer and Duffin were not required for the one-day series

After the ODI series defeat, the team immediately flew out of Zia International Airport, Dhaka, on 1 February 2005 to Mumbai and on to Zimbabwe.

Time away from Zimbabwe

    55 days  

(10 December to  3 February)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

Postscript