He defended well, but when the ball was there to be hit he played his shots Streak on Ashraful

Heath Streak became the first Zimbabwe bowler to take 200 Test wickets but Bangladesh closed the gap on day three of the first Test in Harare.

Mohammad Ashraful top-scored with 98 as the tourists avoided the follow-on and closed on 313-9, 128 runs in arrears.

Bangladesh were in trouble at 77-4 before Ashraful and added 85 for the fifth wicket with Rajin Saleh and 97 for the sixth with Mushfiqur Rahman.

Streak led the attack with 4-44, taking his career total to 201 wickets.

The Tigers have only salvaged a draw in one of their 26 Tests, a rain-hit affair at home to Zimbabwe in 2001.

And they looked unlikely to do so during the morning session after they resumed on 14-1.

Anything over 250 will be hard for Bangladesh to chase, but a last wicket stand will hopefully reduce the arrears to under 100 From James Milne Have your say on TMS

Night-watchman Tapash Baisya lasted just five overs before driving at a delivery from Streak to be caught behind for four

And wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu was in action again the following over to snag new captain Habibul Bashar off Andy Blignaut second ball.

Shariar Hossain was out two runs short of a half-century when he was trapped lbw by Doug Hondo 12 overs before lunch.

And Saleh was also stopped just short of 50 when spinner Price, who had earlier been hit for six by the youngster, bowled him round his legs.

Ashraful had a chance to gain his second Test century, and just the sixth ever for his country, but came up two short.

For Streaky to get to 200 is testament to the man's ability Henry Olonga Read more

Instead it was Streak who celebrated a milestone as the young batsman gained a thick edge onto his stumps with a loose shot.

Ashraful's was a polished innings, including 10 fours and three sixes.

Mushfiqur Rahman's watchful innings came to an end on 44, after two-and-a-half hours, when he played on to a Streak yorker.

Hondo profited from ill-conceived shots by former skipper Khaled Mashud and Mohammad Rafique for two further wickets.

But he was then hit for three fours in an over by Manjural Islam Rana to bring up the Bangladesh 300.

And the number 10 batsman went to stumps unbeaten on 30. With him was Manjural Islam, with three runs to his name so far.

Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (captain), Andy Blignaut, Stuart Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim, Sean Ervine, Gavin Ewing, Grant Flower, Douglas Hondo, Raymond Price, Tatenda Taibu.

Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (captain), Mohammad Ashraful, Tapash Baisya, Shahriar Hossain, Manjural Islam, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Mushfiqur Rahman, Rajin Saleh, Hannan Sarkar, Manjural Islam Rana.