Coach wants favored Bangladesh to focus on one day at a time against boosted Zimbabwe

SYLHET, Bangladesh (AP) — Coach Phil Simmons played down talk of a whitewash by Bangladesh against Zimbabwe ahead of their two-match test series starting on Sunday.

The tour marks Zimbabwe’s sixth visit. It has previously played 10 tests in Bangladesh and won just twice.

Zimbabwe is the only team against which Bangladesh has a winning record.

“I prefer taking things one step at a time,” Simmons said. “We’ll play the first test here in Sylhet. If we win that then we’ll think about the next match and discuss the series.

“But to win the first test we need to start by winning the first day. That’s how I like to approach the game.

“I can’t start thinking about Chattogram already. Right now our focus is entirely on Sylhet.”

The national squad assembled for red-ball cricket for the first time since December and their last test series against the visiting West Indies, drawn 1-1.

Most of the players have been engaged in Twenty20s in the Dhaka Premier League but Simmons expressed satisfaction with the team’s readiness.

“Preparation has been very good,” he said. “The facilities here feel like a dream — you can do everything you want. The hotel is nearby, and we’ve managed to do a lot of work in this short time.”

The series is not part of the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle. But a victory will give Bangladesh an ideal platform for its first WTC series in June against Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh finished seventh out of nine in the last cycle, winning four of 12 matches, including an historic 2-0 sweep on Pakistan soil.

Zimbabwe has not won a test anywhere since March 2021. It lost its last test, a one-off against Ireland in February, by 63 runs in Bulawayo.

Captain Craig Ervine and veteran allrounder Sean William return after missing the Ireland loss, and wicketkeeper Tafadzwa Tsiga reappears for the first time in more than two years.

Simmons said Bangladesh wants a proper test pitch rather than a spin-friendly track which has been the basis of most of its home matches.

“We want to play the kind of cricket we believe in, and that means preparing a proper test wicket and going out there to win,” Simmons said. “We play in a certain way, so we don’t need to prepare a spin wicket against Zimbabwe.”

The last time the teams squared off in Bangladesh was in February 2020 when Bangladesh won by an innings in Mirpur and Mushfiqur Rahim smashed an unbeaten double hundred.

Mushfiqur, who recently retired from white-ball cricket, hinted at a renewed focus on red-ball success.

Simmons praised his work ethic: “He’s working extremely hard. It’s great to hear he’s done well against Zimbabwe before, but we’re starting fresh.”

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket