Recent records

I was just looking at this incredible scorecard: http://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh- ... 44681.html

Bangladesh all out for 58 in Dhaka chasing 106. They also got bundled out for 58 in Dhaka in 2011.

It got me thinking that you'd have to go back a fair way to find such a poor showing by Zimbabwe on home soil. Back to the bad old days in fact. 35 vs Sri Lanka in Harare in 2004, plus a few mid 60s around the same era. The lowest at home this decade has been 118 vs Sri Lanka in Bulawayo in 2010. Let's hope it stays that way.

Recent record at home for the respective teams (from the time Zimbabwe returned to Test cricket as a starting point):

Zimbabwe in ODIs - 22 matches (7 wins, 15 losses, 32%)

Five scores below 180, thirteen between 181 and 250, three between 251 and 300, and one over 300.

Lowest score 144 vs India and the highest 9/329 against New Zealand, both in Bulawayo.

Bangladesh in ODIs - 27 matches (9 wins, 18 losses, 33%)

Six scores below 180, thirteen between 181 and 250, six between 251 and 300, and two over 300.

Lowest score 58 vs India and the highest 3/326 vs Pakistan, both in Dhaka.

Zimbabwe in Tests - 7 matches (3 wins, 4 losses, 43% wins, 0% draws, 57% losses)

Bangladesh in Tests - 20 matches (0 wins, 8 draws, 12 losses, 0% wins, 40% draws, 60% losses)

You could argue that Zimbabwe has benefited from a few Bangladesh tours, but on the flipside Bangladesh has hosted New Zealand and West Indies plenty of times - and we know Zimbabwe at home are capable of taking it to NZ - so I think it all evens out. Overall it shows that in ODIs there's not much separating the two teams of late, and as we already know Zim has quite a clear home advantage in Tests.

But the most impressive thing about these numbers is that Zimbabwe's really poor performances at home have really dried up in recent times. Scores like 144 and I think we might have folded for 120 in a Test against Pakistan are not great obviously, but it's not the same sort of disaster as a sub 60 score. I think it's something to be proud of that, despite the long breaks between series, in the vast majority of ODIs played at home in the last few years Zimbabwe has put up not just respectable scores but competitive scores.