Ashraful has been in and out of the Bangladesh Test side

Mohammad Ashraful hit an important 59 as Bangladesh retained a modest advantage in their low-scoring warm-up match in Harare against Zimbabwe A.

At stumps on day two of the three-day game, the tourists were 170-7 with an overall lead of 186.

Ashraful had featured in two crucial partnerships after the tourists had been severely rattled at 42-5.

For the home side, Gary Brent staked a Test claim with figures of 3-42 after Gavin Ewing's 71 took them to 183.

The day began with Zimbabwe A 71-5, some 128 runs behind Bangladesh's first innings score.

Ewing never received a huge amount of support but scored quickly to guide the home side to just 16 runs shy of their opponents' total.

He was finally the ninth man out, a victim for Alamgir Kabir, giving the seamer his fifth wicket in an innings haul of 5-47.

Bangladesh, batting in their second innings with a smaller lead than they might have hoped for, got off to a wretched start.

Itinerary: Bangladesh in Zimbabwe

And when Al Sahariar was trapped lbw by Brent to complete a pair, at 42-5 they looked none too clever.

But Manjural Islam Rana (25) and former captain Khaled Mashud (22 not out) helped Ashraful inject some purpose into the innings.

Mashud will on Monday attempt to get his team past the 200-mark, which could set up an interesting conclusion to the match.