Bangladesh moved into the quarter-final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup with a thumping eight-wicket victory over Ireland in their second group match at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Opener Ashraful Hossain smashed an unbeaten 71 off 79 balls, his second half-century in the competition to guide the Junior Tigers to 126-2 in 22.3 overs after the bowlers had restricted the Irish to 123 in 43.4 overs.
Ashraful cracked 14 boundaries in his swashbuckling innings and on the way shared in a 63-run for the opening partnership with Mithun Ali, who scored 31 before being caught behind. Nadimuddin was the other batsman to have been dismissed after scoring 14.
Earlier off-spinner Mahmudul Hasan claimed 4-17 in just 6.4 overs to baffle the Irish who were asked to bat by Bangladesh captain Sohrawardi Shuvo.
Unorthodox right-arm pacer Rubel Hossain took two for 32 while Dollar Mahmud, Subasish Roy and Nasir Hossain shared a wicket each.
Bangladesh will face England on Friday, a match which will decide the group championship. Both sides will be desperate to win the game to avoid favourites India in the quarter-finals.
India are set to win the Group B and are poised to take the Group D runners-up in the quarter-final on February 24. If Bangladesh can beat England in the last group match, they will face either West Indies or South Africa instead, both of whom they recently defeated.
AFP adds: Hosts Malaysia surprisingly beat Zimbabwe by 70 runs to raise a rare cheer for the minnows on Wednesday.
On a day when unfancied Papua New Guinea, Namibia and Ireland fell by the wayside, Malaysia put up a spirited display to give themselves an outside chance of advancing to the quarter-finals.
Shahid Aslan shone for the hosts with an unbeaten 40 and three wickets as Malaysia, restricted to 194-8, bowled out Zimbabwe for 124 in a Group A match in Johor.
Malaysian captain Ahmad Faiz top-scored with 50, while team-mates Aminuddin Ramly and Nik Azril claimed two wickets each to stun the African side.
Malaysia must, however, beat New Zealand in their last league match today to join defending champions Pakistan in the quarter-finals.
In other matches, the outsiders were given a cricketing lesson by Test nations Sri Lanka and the West Indies powered to easy wins.
The West Indies rattled up 319 against Papua New Guinea, the highest total in this edition so far, with Steven Jacobs smashing 101 off 86 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and two sixes.
Darren Bravo, younger brother of West Indian star Dwayne, hit 59 while Keiran Powell, who has played Twenty20 cricket at the senior level, plundered 60 off 35 balls at the top of the order.
Papua New Guinea, who qualified as the East-Asia Pacific champions, managed only 143 in reply to lose by 176 runs and suffer their second consecutive defeat in Group B.
The West Indies, who previously lost to South Africa, need a win over India on Friday to force a three-way tie from the group.
Sri Lanka meanwhile recorded emphatic wins to qualify for the knock-out rounds from their respective groups.
Sri Lanka brushed aside Namibia by 163 runs in a Group C match in Penang for their second successive win.
Lahiru Thirimanne and Roshen Silva cracked half-centuries as Sri Lanka piled up 247-7 and restricted Namibia to 84 with Sachith Pathirana claiming four wickets and seamer Denuwan Fernando three.
The Sri Lankans face
fellow qualifiers Australia on Friday to determine the group leaders.
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