November 16, 2001	Friday	Shaba'an 29, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

CHITTAGONG, Nov 15: Opener Trevor Gripper compiled a maiden Test century as Zimbabwe scored 236-4 on the opening day of the second cricket Test against Bangladesh here on Thursday.

Gripper hit 112 with the help of 15 boundaries, giving Zimbabwe a solid start in their bid to win the two-Test series after bad weather denied the tourists victory in the drawn first Test at Dhaka.

The right-hander started positively, hitting 10 fours in his first 52 runs, which he scored before lunch.

Gripper was more cautious later, moving slowly in the 90s before reaching the three-figure mark with a cut to third man off seamer Mohammad Sharif soon after tea.

The 25-year-old, whose previous best of 60 came on his debut against Australia at Harare two years ago, faced 265 balls during his career-best knock.

He was run out by Javed Omar towards the end of the day’s play, leaving Andy Flower (15) and Craig Wishart (9) to see off the remaining overs.

The best partnership of the innings was of 108 between openers Gripper and Dion Ebrahim, who scored 41 with the help of two boundaries. Ebrahim was bowled by seamer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza in the post-lunch session.

Grant Flower chipped in with a useful 33 off 66 balls, but was caught at slip by Naimur Rahman when he tried to reverse sweep left-arm spinner Enamul Haque.

Haque also accounted for Stuart Carlisle (14), the fifth captain for Zimbabwe this year.

Carlisle was forced to take over after first-choice captain Brian Murphy returned home this week due to a wrist injury sustained in the first Test. Gary Brent took Murphy’s place in the team.

Bangladesh made two changes from the last match, bringing in former captain Akram Khan and seamer Mohammad Sharif in place of Khaled Mahmood and Manjural Islam.