Matsikenyeri virtually toyed with the Bangladesh spinners who were expected to be the main movers in this series and his 88(97 balls), Chigumbura's unbeaten 70 (68 balls) and a partnership worth 115 in 20.2 overs showed character that Bangladesh just could not produce and the weak link in the Bangladesh attack, the part-timers Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful and Alok Kapali have given away 72 from 9.2 overs and that only compounded the woes.

There was some pretty ordinary fielding also with throws not being on target, fumbles and misfields. But the most costly proved to be Javed's flooring of Matsikenyeri when he was on 61. The pugnacious Matsikenyeri tried to clear left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak Raj over long off but could not time the ball and Javed with all the time in the world could not get close enough and dropped the ball.

Matsikenyeri celebrated by clubbing a four and a six.

Then Shahriar Nafees, the batting hero, made no effort to catch a ball again off a Matsikenyeri mishit and that pretty much told the story of the fielding effort of the Tigers after the 15th over mark.

“I have never seen the team field so poorly. We were giving away twos when there should have been one. We were making singles into fours and could not take that vital catch. That was the main reason I think why we lost today,” said skipper Habibul Bashar after the match.

“The bowlers, particularly the pacers were very good today but I expected the spinners to have more say in this match which just did not turn out that way. 246 is a good score,” added Bashar. “I am disappointed but we have four more matches and we did come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 last time we played them. So the series is still open.”

If anyone from the Bangladesh side is to escape criticism it has to be the two fast bowlers Mortuza and Shahadat who never gave up. They bowled their hearts out and kept the intensity going while their mates appeared flat for some unknown reason.

It was Shahadat and Mortuza who gave Bangladesh just a hint of hope after Bangladesh appeared set for a bigger wicket-margin defeat by grabbing three wickets in their final spells. Both are hard, tough competitors and Shahadat's verbal confrontation with Chigumbura towards the end was just one example of that.

Earlier Mortuza, fresh from his five-wicket burst in the practice match on Wednesday, probed on the perfect channel just outside off and made outswingers to test the Zimbabwean openers. He got his break early when Justice Chibahaba tried to get going and drove straight to Javed Omar at mid off (7/1). Chibahaba's opening partner Vusimusi Sibanda and number three Piet Rinke (10) took the score to 38 before Rinke tried to turn the ball on the onside only to get a top edge which was comfortably taken by wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud.

Zimbabwe had reached 50 in 14.4 overs when Shahadat took centre stage. The country's quickest bowler had struggled with no balls and wides while bowling from the Golf Course end. He changed sides and with fifth delivery of the 14th over had Hamilton Masakadza skying a flick with some extra bounce.

The next ball was an unplayable Yorker that uprooted the off stump Sibanda (22).

Brendan Taylor looked classy as ever in his 26 (28 balls) but played one shot too many and Rafique bowled him.

Bangladesh should feel they could have had 20-30 runs more if the batsmen had shown a little more patience. Atleast three top-order batters fell to adventurous shots but the Tigers still have the runs on the board after being sent in and Zimbabwe have to play out of their skin to make this match competitive.

There is little time for the Tigers to recover as the second ODI will be start in less than 24 hours.