Bashar taking nothing for granted

Habibul Bashar, Bangladesh's captain, is keen to continue his side's form over Zimbabwe in the second one-day international at Bogra. Despite a 43-run win in the maiden Twenty20 international and a nine-wicket romp in the first ODI last week, Bashar vowed that his side would not be complacent.

"Our morale is high after the convincing victory in the first game but we have to work hard to win every game because you cannot take anything for granted in the one-day game," he told reporters. "We have the ability but we should apply it on the field like we did in the first game."

Bangladesh were beaten 3-2 in their tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year, a series which raised doubts over their abilities, but Bashar was confident of the five-match contest. "I can only clear the issue whether it was our real standard or not after the completion of the series," he said. "Our objective is very clear; take the series match by match where the margin is immaterial. Our main target is to win the series and then we will think about the other issues."

There were words of praise for Shahriar Nafees, Bashar's vice-captain, whose unbeaten 105 in the last match was his third in a row against Zimbabwe. "Nafees played brilliantly and I would like some big scores from the other guys ahead of the World Cup," he said. "I think everything worked properly in the first match as we also bowled and fielded well."

Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh's coach, was satisfied with the two wins. "It was a strong victory and I think it was important at the start of the series," he said. "There is always a need for a good start in any series and I think we achieved that."

Meanwhile, Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe's captain, admitted that Nafees's form was an additional headache but that the bowlers had worked on his limitations. "We couldn't find any answers to his batting in the last few matches. But we should stop him if we want to win the match," he said. "We have worked on his batting in the last two days to find out his weakness.

"We are now just one down and there are four matches to go. I played bad cricket in the last match but I am hopeful that we can bounce back from the last match's outcome."