Bangladesh eager to play Zimbabwe

Bangladesh are lined up to play as many as 12 ODIs against Zimbabwe later this year, according to Mahbub Anam, the general secretary of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. "Five matches will be played in Zimbabwe in July while the rest will be in Bangladesh in November," Anam told reporters in Dhaka.

Zimbabwe, who are currently under self-imposed suspension from Test cricket, will tour Bangladesh after the ICC Champions Trophy in India in October.

"The series in Bangladesh could be a seven-match one, provided the visitors agree," Anam added. But Bangladesh had hoped to get Zimbabwe to tour at the same time as Kenya, who are in the country at the moment, but the Zimbabwe board proved difficult to pin down.

At the moment, Bangladesh are ranked below Zimbabwe in the ICC One-Day Rankings, but given that Bangladesh are on the rise and Zimbabwe recently struggled to draw with Kenya at home, few believe that will be the state of affairs when the two next meet.