Bangladesh ended a five-year victory drought when they beat Zimbabwe by eight runs in the third one-day international on Wednesday.

The visitors scored 238 for seven after being put into bat before restricting Zimbabwe to 230 for nine to seal their first win since beating Pakistan by 62 runs in the 1999 World Cup.

It was only their fourth victory in 83 one-day internationals and captain Habibul Bashar left the field at the end of the game wiping tears of joy from his eyes.

Bashar earlier scored 61, his eighth one-day half-century, off 80 balls to lay a solid foundation for his team, adding 114 for the third wicket with Rajin Saleh who contributed a cautious 57. Mohammad Ashraful ended his team's innings unbeaten on 51 off just 32 balls, including five fours.

Bangladesh's sixth century stand in one-day internationals ended in the 37th over when Bashar mistimed a pull off left-arm spinner Grant Flower and spooned a catch to Dion Ebrahim at wide mid-on.

Saleh went in the 42nd over when lofted a ball from fast bowler Sean Ervine to Douglas Hondo at long-on.

The run outs of Mohammad Rafique, for six, Mushfiqur Rahman, for a duck off a no-ball, and Khaled Mahmud, for 22, threatened to derail Bangladesh's promising innings.

But it was kept on track by the plucky batting of Ashraful, who added 52 runs for the seventh wicket with Khaled Mahmud.

Zimbabwe's reply began shakily when seamer Tareq Aziz trapped Flower leg before wicket for two in the fourth over.

Barney Rogers and Stuart Carlisle wrested back the advantage with an aggressive second-wicket stand of 109 off 116 balls.

But Zimbabwe's spiral to defeat began in the 22nd over when Rogers drove a ball from medium pacer Mushfiqur Rahman to Alok Kapali at point.

Rogers' dismissal, for 51 scored off 63 balls with seven fours and a six, marked the beginning of a slide that claimed eight wickets for 109 runs.

Carlisle was fifth out for 71, scored off 97 balls and featuring seven fours, when he advanced down the pitch to a ball from left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique and sent a looping catch to Kapali in the covers.

Aziz finished with figures of three for 38 from six overs.

Scoreboard:

Bangladesh
Alok Kapali c Taibu b Hondo 9
Shahriar Hossain c Rogers b Streak 2
Habibul Bashar c Ebrahim b Flower 61
Rajin Saleh c Hondo b Ervine 57
Mohammad Rafique run out (Flower) 6
Mohammad Ashraful not out 51
Mushfiqur Rahman run out (Taibu) 0
Khaled Mahmud run out (Price) 22
Khaled Mashud not out 11

Extras (lb-6 nb-2 w-11) 19

Total (for seven wickets, 50 overs) 238

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-20, 3-134, 4-148, 5-153, 6-159, 7-211.

Did not bat: Tareq Aziz, Tapash Baisya

Bowling: Streak 10-2-34-1 (w-3), Hondo 8.2-0-48-1 (nb-1 w-5), Ervine 10-1-54-1 (nb-1), Mahwire 4.4-2-30-0 (w-3), Price 10-0-42-0, Flower 7-0-24-1

Zimbabwe
G.Flower lbw b Tareq Aziz 2
B.Rogers c Alok Kapali b Mushfiqur Rahman 51
S.Carlisle c Alok Kapali b Mohammad Rafique 71
T.Taibu c Khaled Mahmud b Mushfiqur Rahman 2
S.Ervine c sub (Hannan Sarkar) b Khaled Mahmud 4
H.Streak c Khaled Mashud b Tapash Baisya 30
D.Ebrahim b Mohammad Rafique 13
S.Matsikenyeri b Tareq Aziz 20
R.Price not out 20
D.Hondo b Tareq Aziz 0
B.Mahwire not out 3

Extras (lb-3 nb-4 w-7) 14

Total (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 230

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-121, 3-129, 4-139, 5-140, 6-169, 7-199, 8-226, 9-226.

Bowling: Tapash Baisya 10-0-51-1 (nb-2 w-1), Tareq Aziz 6-0-38-3 (nb-1 w-2), Mushfiqur Rahman 10-0-30-2 (w-1), Khaled Mahmud 10-0-57-1 (nb-1 w-3), Mohammad Rafique 10-1-33-2, Alok Kapali 4-0-18-0

Result: Bangladesh won by eight runs, and lead the five match series 1-0.

First match: Bulawayo - abandoned, waterlogged outfield

Second match: Bulawayo - abandoned, waterlogged outfield

Fourth match: Harare - March 12

Fifth match: Harare - March 14