Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to bat but the thoughts of repeating the 312 they scored in the fourth ODI were soon undone by an incisive spell from Dolar Mahmud. A lower-order revival pushed the score to 210 but it wasn’t enough to challenge Bangladesh, who stormed to a 4-1 series win thanks to Mushfiqur Rahim’s 98.

Zimbabwe’s fate was pretty much sealed when they slipped to 69 for 6 in the 14^th over with Bangladesh quickie Dolar Mahmud running through the top order. He ended with figures of 4 for 28, earning himself the Man of the Match award in the process.

“It’s good to perform well in international cricket and I played well this time. The wicket was providing assistance and I made use of it,” said Dolar.

Dolar, flown in during the series, dismissed Vusi Sibanda for two, with Charles Coventry, who had scored a record-equalling highest one day score of 194 in the last match, out for nought. His next victim was Malcolm Waller, who just made it into double figures. Elton Chigumbura was then sent back with another big inswinger after Syed Rasel had seen off Sean Williams.

The patient Brendan Taylor did his best to salvage something from a tricky situation and he duly made 61 before he was lbw to Mehrab Hossain jnr.

Bangladesh did not get off to the quickest of starts but marshalled by opener Mushfiqur they reached home safely. He was stopped from reaching a deserved maiden century by Ray Price.

Tamim Iqbal, with 300-odd runs over the series including a match-winning 150-plus in the fourth ODI, picked up the player of the series award.

“This is my first such award and hopefully there’ll be more to come,” said Tamim. “The 154 was my best innings and hopefully there’ll be many more. The top order played very well this series, and Junaid (Siddique) supported me really well. The boys have performed superbly and we’re very happy.”

Zimbabwe’s Prosper Utseya paid tribute to the winning tourists. “Yes, we are disappointed but Bangladesh proved they were the better team.”

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh 212 for 5 (Mushfiqur 98, Price 2-21) beat Zimbabwe 209 (Taylor 61, Price 46, Dolar 4-28) by five wickets

Man of the Match: Dolar Mahmud (Bangladesh)

Man of the Series: Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh)

Coventry smashed an unbeaten 194 as he equalled former Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar’s 12- year long record of the highest score in a one-day innings. Zimbabwe amassed a score of 312-8 on the board, far more than Bangladesh have ever chased, but Tamim Iqbal hit his country’s highest individual score of 154 as the tigers reached home with 13 balls to spare.

Coventry dominated the Zimbabwe innings with the next highest score being 37. He hit seven sixes and sixteen fours in his mammoth knock. He accelerated from 129 in the 42^nd over to 180 in the 47^th as fans wondered if he would become the first player in history to hit a one-day international double century.

But he had to settle for a share of Anwar’s record although Bangladesh could have dismissed him earlier when Mahmudullah dropped him at square leg on 137.

Defending a good total of 312, Zimbabwe would have hoped to level the series at 2-2 but Tamim Iqbal had some other plans. Chasing 313, Bangladesh needed a good start to their innings and that’s what Iqbal and Siddique provided them with. They added 68 for the 1^st wicket in just 9.4 overs with Siddique being the aggressor making 38 off 27 balls.

But it was the 20-year-old left hander Tamim Iqbal who first of all made his 3^rd half century of the series before going on to hit his highest score in his 60^th one-day international. Tamim’s 154 came off 138 balls with seven fours and six sixes.

Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya looked for positives in defeat. “The innings of 312 wasn’t enough. But our game is improving. We’re playing international cricket and we missed chances that should have been taken. 3-2 sounds better than 4-1 and we need to come back strong and play well for the fans.”

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan was overjoyed at another series win which followed their historic Test and ODI sweep in the West Indies.

“Tamim batted magnificently, can’t get better than that. We played very good cricket against West Indies and this series too, everyone chipped in but we need to improve our fielding,” said Shakib. “Cricket is the most popular game in Bangladesh and we thank our fans for their support.”

“I was due for a big innings. I was getting good starts but not big hundreds. It would have felt better had I finished the innings,” said Tamim who was named joint Man of the Match with Charles Coventry.

Coventry praised the tourists for their battling response. “Well done to the Bangladeshis for the way they chased. We’ll be out there trying the hardest the next time,” said the 26-year-old, who was playing in his 15th one-dayer.

The final match of the series will be played on Tuesday with Bangladesh already having won the series 3-1.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh 313 for 6 (Tamim 154, Price 3-60) beat

Zimbabwe 312 for 8 (Coventry 194*, Haque 2-51) by four wickets

Man of the Match: CK Coventry (Zimbabwe) and Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh)

Bangladesh, who recorded their second straight win on the tour, rode on the efforts of Tamim Iqbal (79) and Shakib Al Hasan (104) to post a score of 320 for 8. Iqbal laid the platform with a patient half-century before Shakib took over to propel Bangladesh to their highest ODI score. Zimbabwe put up a fight, courtesy fine half-centuries from Charles Coventry and Sean Williams, but the target proved beyond their reach.

Bangladesh was on top in the game right from the beginning when Zimbabwe after winning the toss decided to field first on a good batting wicket. Openers Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique gave them a steady start of 71 in 15 overs before Siddique was run out for 27.

Mohammad Ashraful, the centurion from the last game, was the next man in but he could manage only 22 this time before he was trapped lbw by Chibhabha. Iqbal, in the meanwhile, continued to build the innings as he reached his 50 off 80 balls. Iqbal eventually fell due to a misunderstanding in running between the wickets between him and his skipper. He made 79.

Shakib Al Hasan took charge of the innings from there and mauled Zimbabwe’s bowlers all over the park. He made 104 off just 64 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes in his innings. Raqibul Hassan chipped in with a useful knock of 35 off 28 balls as Bangladesh posted their highest ODI score of 320 for 8. Chigumbura picked up 3 for 59 for Zimbabwe.

In reply, Zimbabwe did put up a good fight but a target of 321 was always going to be difficult to attain for the African nation. Coventry (61) and Williams (75) made useful half centuries but they couldn’t manage to take Zimbabwe to victory. They were bowled out for 271 in 46.1 overs. Shakib was at it again, this time with the ball, ending with figures of 2 for 39 off 9 overs after he opened the bowling himself.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh 320 for 8 ( Shakib 104, Tamim 79) beat  Zimbabwe 271 (Williams 71, Coventry 61, Shakib 2-39) by 49 runs

Man of the Match: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

Ashraful smashed 12 fours and 2 sixes in his 103 ball knock as Bangladesh chased down the target of 208 inside 48 overs. Ashraful was ably assisted by Tamim Iqbal who made 63 to take Bangladesh to 211-2 in 47.5 overs.

Earlier, Mark Vermeulen made an emphatic return to international cricket after 5 years with a breezy knock of 92 as he helped Zimbabwe to post a respectable 207 on the board.

Bangladesh pace bowler Najmul Hossain took 3-29 and Mahmudullah took 2-39 as Bangladesh bowled out Zimbabwe inside the 50 overs.

“The last two years I was captain and I didn’t bat that well,” Ashraful said. “Now, I’m playing better and enjoying my cricket. I am more relaxed.”

“We lost too many wickets and should have applied ourselves more,” Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya said. “We needed to keep wickets in hand and attack in the middle overs.”

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh 211 for 2 (Ashraful 103*, Tamim 63) defeated

Zimbabwe 207 (Vermeulen 92, Hossain 3-29) by eight wickets

Man of the Match: Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh)