Bangladesh get the better of Windies

Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Cricket: Having failed to get beyond the quarter-final stage of the ICC under 19 World Cup Bangladesh are preparing to be the next best in the competition when they took a step towards finishing in fifth place of the competition.

Yesterday at the SSC grounds, they made a spirited fight back from 48-4 to score 162-6 off 33.1 overs and beat the West Indies by four wickets in the first semi-final of the Super League play-off.

Bangladesh were indebted to Shamsur Rahman and Mehrab Hossain who shared a 77 runs partnership for the fifth wicket to steer them towards the victory target after West Indies had been dismissed for 161 in the 38th over.

Rahman made 44 off 50 balls inclusive of nine fours and Hossain 35 off 71 balls with six hits to the fence. The stand enabled Bangladesh to overcome the early losses caused by fast bowler Nelon Pascal who finished with figures of four for 53 supported by the off breaks of Shamarh Brooks whose ten overs cost just 27 runs for one wicket.

Bangladesh came to Sri Lanka with great hopes of at least making it to the semi-finals of the competition, if not the final. Their track record before the tournament gave every indication that they were on course for it. They lost only three matches out of 23 over a period of 12 months during their preparatory period. In that time they beat Sri Lanka six times and lost to them thrice.

But caught on a treacherous track against England in a quarter-final game at the Sara Stadium they were bundled out for 155 and lost the contest by five wickets. England was a team whom Bangladesh had beaten on seven occasions in as many matches in the lead up matches to the World Cup.

Bangladesh was one of the teams who were the favourites for the title, but all hopes were shattered by just one match.

West Indies taking first lease of the pitch after winning the toss were reduced to 98-8 and would have been in deeper trouble had it not been for their ninth wicket pair Sunil Narine and Kemar Roach who indulged in a face saving stand of 63 off 75 balls which formed the base of their final total. Both batsmen made the identical score of 29.

After fast bowler Dollar Mahmud had ripped through the top order with three wickets, it was left to the left-arm spinners to cause further destruction to the West Indies batting. Nabil Samad (3/24) and Sakib al Hasan (2/32) rang rings around the West Indies batting with the support of Mehrab Hossain and Rezaul Islam. They captured seven wickets amongst them.

Bangladesh meets the winners of the Super League play off semi-final match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the SSC today for the fifth and sixth placings.

WEST INDIES 

A D S Fletcher c S.Shuvo b Dolar Mahmud 		18 
W Perkins c Suhrawadi Shuvo b Dolar Mahmud 	9 
L R Johnson c Saqibul Hasan b Dolar Mahmud 	14 
J Mohammed lbw b Nabil Samad			 5 
G Singh c Sirajullah Khadim b Nabil Samad 		24 
K A Pollard lbw b Saqibul Hasan 			5 
A M McCarthy c Ishraq Sonet b Saqibul Hasan 	8 
S S J Brooks c Shamsur Rahman b Nabil Samad	 5 
S P Narine c Ishraq Sonet b Rezaul Islam 		29 
K A J Roach not out 				29 
N Pascal c Shamsur Rahman b Mehrab Hossain jnr 	0 
EXTRAS (lb 3, w 3, nb 9) 			15 
TOTAL (all out, 37.2 overs) 			161 

Fall of Wickets: 1-12, 2-51, 3-51, 4-64, 5-69, 6-86, 7-97,
 8-98, 9-161, 10-161. 
BOWLING: Dolar Mahmud 7-0-46-3-(7nb, 2w), Sirajullah Khadim 6-0-26-0-(2nb), 
Nabil Samad 8-3-24-3, Saqibul Hasan 10-3-32-2, Suhrawadi Shuvo 3-0-22-0, 
Mehrab Hossain jnr 2.2-0-8-1, Rezaul Islam 1-1-0-1. 

BANGLADESH 

Tamim Iqbal c Fletcher b Roach 			4 
Raqibul Hasan c Perkins b Pascal 			3 
Sirajullah Khadim b Pascal 			14 
Saqibul Hasan b Pascal 			15 
Shamsur Rahman c Perkins b Pascal 		44 
Mehrab Hossain jnr st Perkins b Brooks 		35 
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 			18 
Suhrawadi Shuvo not out 			6 
EXTRAS (b 1, lb 1, w 19, nb 2) 			23 
TOTAL (6 wickets, 33.1 overs) 			162 

DNB: Dolar Mahmud, Ishraq Sonet, Nabil Samad. 
Fall of Wickets:1-4, 2-16, 3-40, 4-48, 5-125, 6-145. 
BOWLING: Roach 6-0-32-1-(8w), Pascal 10-1-53-4-(3w), 
Narine 7-1-44-0-(7w), Brooks 10-2-27-1-(1w), Johnson 0.1-0-4-0, 
Man of the Match: Shamsur Rahman