Bangladesh won't lose confidence despite Harare drubbing, says Simmons

Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons insisted the team's confidence remains intact despite the crushing innings-and-85-run defeat to Zimbabwe in the one-off Test in Harare.

Bangladesh suffered a batting collapse on the third day after resuming their second innings on 40 for 1, needing a strong effort to erase a 230-run deficit. Instead, they were bundled out for 185, handing Zimbabwe a comprehensive victory.

Despite the heavy loss, Simmons refused to read too much into the result, pointing to Bangladesh's recent success in the format, having won four consecutive Tests against Ireland and Pakistan before arriving in Zimbabwe.

"There's still a lot of confidence even though we've lost the match. We won something like five (four) Test matches straight, so there's a lot of confidence there," Simmons said after the game. "We've been batting really well, so one Test match doesn't change how much confidence we have. We take the fact that we lost the Test match because we didn't do the right things and we move on from there. We learn something from losing.

"They played well, but we didn't play as well as we can do. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we have to swallow it and make sure we move on from that."

Simmons felt Bangladesh lost control of the match with their batting on the opening day, particularly in the session between Lunch and Tea.

"A lot could have been done differently. I think the first two hours we were in the game, but between Lunch and Tea on the first day, we lost the game the way we batted in that period," he said. "A little more dedication into the batting at that point could have seen us put on a better show in this game, but we didn't play well with the bat."

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto echoed his coach's assessment, admitting Bangladesh failed to adapt to the conditions as well as the hosts.

"We could not adapt properly to the conditions and bat accordingly. The wicket was obviously very difficult to bat on, and they also bowled in good areas. But I think with the kind of batting ability we possess, we should have batted better, which we could not do. Naturally, given the kind of conditions it was, they adjusted pretty well as they know it much better than us," said Shanto.

"It was a very disappointing performance. The kind of Test cricket we were playing in the recent past, it is really disappointing to play in such a manner in this Test."