Harare Test delayed by rain

7.30GMT Start delayed due to heavy rain
Scorecard

"Basement battle." Zimbabwe hate the term, but they cannot honestly aspire to anything better at present, after the decimation of the experienced team that represented them between 1998 and 2000. The best they can hope for is to put the young upstarts of Bangladesh firmly in their place.

For their part, Bangladesh have made great strides during the past year, for which credit is widely given to their coach Dav Whatmore. They came within one wicket of a maiden Test victory against Pakistan last year, and Zimbabwe - the weakest of their seniors among the Test-playing teams - are firmly in their sights.

But playing away from home is to their disadvantage, although their hard-earned victory over Zimbabwe A earlier this week will give them a small degree of confidence. It was actually their second-string seam bowlers that won them the match, so they will be hopeful that their first-choice men will do an even better job.

Bangladesh's batting will give them less confidence, though. Only the opener Shahriar Hossain and Mohammad Ashraful looked in any sort of form on a none-too-ideal batting pitch.

Zimbabwe are boosted by the return of Grant Flower, although his injured hand is not yet fully comfortable. Craig Wishart, the scourge of Bangladesh bowling in the past, is battling to be fit for the one-day series after his leg injury six weeks ago, while Mark Vermeulen is still out of action after his head injury in Australia.

Both sides, despite their lowly positions in Test cricket, have one player who is a giant among pygmies, a man of genuine international quality. These are the respective captains, Heath Streak and Habibul Bashar. Their performances will have a vital influence on this series. Both teams have younger players coming through, though, who are on the way up and some of them are likely to make names for themselves against less formidable opposition.

Overall, though, the odds lie with Zimbabwe on their home soil. They tend to be overawed by the senior Test teams, but are not afraid of Bangladesh; however, it is but a small step from confidence to complacency. Their biggest enemy could be rain. The weather around Harare is very unsettled, as is usual in February, and the start of the match was delayed, probably until lunch at the very least.

Zimbabwe 1 Dion Ebrahim, 2 Trevor Gripper, 3 Stuart Carlisle, 4 Grant Flower, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Sean Ervine, 7 Heath Streak (capt), 8 Andy Blignaut, 9 Gavin Ewing, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Douglas Hondo.

Bangladesh 1 Shahriar Hossain, 2 Hannan Sarkar, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Rajin Saleh, 5 Mohammad Ashraful, 6 Khaled Mashud (wk), 7 Mohammad Rafique, 8 Manjural Islam Rana, 9 Mushfiqur Rahman, 10 Tapash Baisya, 11 Manjural Islam.