CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh), Nov 14: Stuart Carlisle will lead Zimbabwe in place of an injured Brian Murphy in the second and final Test against Bangladesh starting here Thursday.

Murphy, appointed captain for the tour, failed to regain fitness after suffering a wrist-injury in the drawn first Test at Dhaka. He will be replaced by Gary Brent.

Rain had ruined Zimbabwe’s chances of victory in the opening Test, but bright sunshine in this south-eastern port city has boosted their hopes of winning the two-match series.

“It is good to see the sun out,” Carlisle said. “We are not disappointed over not winning at Dhaka because we could not do anything about it.”

Bangladesh conceded a 324-run lead in the first innings and were struggling at 125-3 in their second dig when rain washed out the last two days of play.

Bangladesh captain Naimur Rahman said he was looking forward to a better performance from his batsmen this time.

“Our batting has to be consistent,” Rahman said, adding there could be two changes from the team that played at Dhaka.

Former captain Akram Khan and seamer Mohammad Sharif are expected to replace Khaled Mahmood and Manjural Islam.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean team management announced that leg-spinner Paul Strang would be flown in for the one-day series, beginning Nov 23.

Teams (from):

Bangladesh: Naimur Rahman (captain), Khaled Masud, Javed Omer, Aminul Islam, Habibul Bashar, Akram Khan, Mohammed Ashraful, Al Shariar, Khaled Mahmud, Mohammed Sharif, Manjurul Islam, M. bin Mortaza, Enamul Haq, Fahim Muntasir Sumit.

Zimbabwe: Stuart Carlisle (captain), Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Gary Brent, Douglas Marillier, Craig Wishart, Dion Ebrahim, Heath Streak, Sean Ervine, Travis Friend, Trevor Gripper, Mluleki Nkala, Henry Olonga, Raymond Price.—AFP