Hosts down Bangladeshis in both matches

A seventh-wicket partnership of 58 between Elton Chigumbura and Graeme Cremer ensured Zimbabwe Select XI's three-wicket victory in the Twenty20 tour match against Bangladeshis in Harare. The two innings progressed in a contradictory manner as Bangladeshis accumulated runs at the top before collapsing, while Zimbabwe XI recovered from 60 for 6 to chase 127 with three balls to spare.

Bangladesh could have gathered a bigger total when Mohammad Ashraful and Tamim Iqbal started strongly. Ashraful, recalled to the Bangladesh squad after six months, scored 32 off 25 deliveries in a stand of 64 in 8.1 overs, with Tamim scoring 29. Bangladeshis, however, collapsed to 91 for 7 in 16 overs, before Mahmudullah took them to 126. Cremer and Malcolm Waller shared all the seven wickets to fall between them.

Zimbabwe had a faltering start, and after 11.4 overs, were staring at defeat with 67 needed with four wickets in hand. But Chigumbura, who made 38 off 28, and Cremer, who remained unbeaten on 30 off 24, held their nerve to guide their side home in the 13-a-side match, with 11 batting and bowling.

Zimbabwe Select XI 175 (Masakadza 102) beatBangladeshis 156 for 7 (Mushfiqur 49, Jahurul 49*) by 19 runs
Scorecard

After a last-over victory in the first game of the day, Zimbabwe Select XI swept aside the Bangladeshis by 19 runs in the second Twenty20 warm-up match of the day. The star of the show was Hamilton Masakadza, who slammed a 60-ball 102 to power the home side to 175, a total which proved too large for the home side, despite a spirited chase piloted by their captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Jahurul Islam.

Zimbabwe's innings revolved around two stands, both dominated by Masakadza. First, he put on 79 with Vusi Sibanda for the opening partnership, and then opened out in the second-wicket stand of 67 with Stuart Matsikenyeri, who contributed 18. Masakadza hit five sixes and six fours in his innings before being dismissed in the 17th over by the left-arm spin of Abdur Razzak.

The Bangladeshi chase got off to a poor start, with both openers falling cheaply. Their challenge seemed almost over when Anamuk Haque and Nasir Hossain also followed soon after, but Mushfiqur and Jahurul brought them back in it with a 91-run stand. The pair seemed to have put the visitors ahead but both were dismissed by Shingi Masakadza in the space of four balls in the 18th over to pretty much end the Bangladeshi challenge.

Zimbabwe and Bangladesh will clash in the first game of the T20 tri-series in Harare on Sunday. South Africa are also participating in the tournament.

Rain leaves West Indies short of time

West Indies 90 for 3 drew with Sussex

Only 14 overs were possible on the third day of West Indies' tour game at Hove before the decision was made to abandon it once and for all. If ever a game was crying out for euthanasia, this was it. After 34 overs across three bitterly cold and wet days, it was laid to rest shortly after lunch and will no doubt receive a burial at sea. It will go unmourned.

It says much for the conditions that the greatest moment of excitement - and that is playing fairly free and easy with the word excitement - came when two sea gulls, understandably mistaking the damp Hove outfield for the sea, swooped towards Kieran Powell just as was about to receive a delivery from Amjad Khan. Powell, reacting like an ornithophobia sufferer in an aviary, leapt out of the way and swished his bat at the birds; one of the more aggressive strokes he played. Perhaps he has simply watched rather too many Hitchcock films?

There were few moments of cheer for West Indies on the final day. Shivnarine Chanderpaul required treatment to a hand injury as a result of repetitive jarring - it is not thought to be serious - and Darren Bravo was struck high on the back as he attempted to duck a short ball from Amjad Khan. Bravo seemed fine, too, though the interview he gave at the close of play was so quiet that only lip readers and wolves could possibly have known he was even trying to communicate. The only wicket to fall was that of Powell, edging to the keeper after being caught in two minds whether to play or leave and doing a bit of both and a lot of neither.

Sussex's bowlers maintained a tight line and length in testing conditions and could feel quietly satisfied with their performance. The club continue to await news on Luke Wright's health. The allrounder, who has been appearing in the IPL back is in the UK having attended a family funeral, recently underwent tests to ascertain whether he has dengue fever.

Most pertinently, the West Indies are still missing three men. At present the team management confess they do not know where Marlon Samuels is, but they are expecting him to arrive on Tuesday. Assad Fudadin and Narsingh Deonarine, meanwhile, remain in Jamaica waiting for a visa. The UK Border Agency have recently tightened the work permit rules, but it is surely the job of someone at the West Indies Cricket Board to resolve these matters before such issues arise.

The squad travel to Northampton on Tuesday and begin their final warm-up match - a four day game against England Lions - the following day. With the weather forecast remaining far from promising, it seems inevitable that some of the team will go into the first Test having had very little opportunity to adjust to English conditions.