Bangladesh Under-19 Showed Superb Performance

Captain Suharwardi Shuvo salvaged, inspired and ran ragged to help Bangladesh clinch a 13-run win over England yesterday in the ICC Under-19 World Cup at the Royal Selangor Club ground in Kuala Lumpur.

Shuvo first undertook a rescue operation to make sure his bowlers had a total to bowl at after the top and middle order stooped to 49-7 in the 14th over. His bat produced an unbeaten 56 off 100 balls to take the young Tigers to 149 in 42 overs. In the second essay of the game, Shuvo led by example again; athletic fielding and bowling a typically tight spell of left-arm spin as the young English batsmen had little to show for, being bowled out for 136 runs in 47.4 overs.

The win gives Bangladesh a match against South Africa in the first quarterfinal at the Bayuemas Oval tomorrow, while England's loss gave them the tougher opponent from Group B India.

But it could have been the exact opposite. On a moist wicket, in-form opener Ashraful Hossain fell for a second-ball duck to paceman James Harris. Nadimuddin Mintu, Rony Talukdar and Mahmudul Hasan Limon followed suit as Harris picked up five wickets including the wicket of Nasir Hossain (4). Bangladesh were tottering at 27-6 when Limon fell lbw to Harris.

And when wicketkeeper-batsman Ashiqul Islam fell for a 21-ball 16, the match was there for England's taking. The crowd of around a hundred Bangladeshis went quiet as their boys were in deep trouble.

But Shuvo, who stood at the other end, had a willing ally in Dollar Mahmud and the two first had to make sure of a decent score. That they did with the help of a lot of singles, rather than boundaries. Dollar, a tail-ender at best, scored a 77-ball 36 while the skipper was patient in his unbeaten 56. The two added 81 for the eighth wicket. Shuvo added a further 19 with Rubel Hossain as Bangladesh were closed at 149.

The crowd were in high spirits and it was learned that a momentum shift was evident, as the youngsters felt confident with a talented bowling line-up.

James Taylor cracked two boundaries in a 30-ball 24 but wicketkeeper Ashiqul cut short his stay with a brilliant diving effort in the eighth over. That was England's first wicket to fall in the tournament and as predicted, their untested middle-order crashed at the face of an inspiring bowling and fielding display.

Two run-outs -- Billy Godleman and Alex Wakely -- through Limon and Mithun Ali ensure Bangladesh fought back and then it was Shuvo's turn to put one final stamp on the match. He removed dangerous Tom Westley, who stuck for a patient 57-ball 21. Two more run-outs and some splendid bowling from pacemen Suvashish Roy and Rubel Hossain coupled with Nasir's two wickets and another superb spell from off-spinner Limon gave Bangladesh a brilliant come-from-behind victory.

Shuvo was presented with the man-of-the-match award quite predictably and there was double delight as BCB president Maj Gen Sina Ibn Jamali announced a US$2000 bonus for a most fantastic victory.

BRIEF SCORES
BANGLADESH: 149 all out in 42 overs (Ashraful 0, Mithun 10, Nadimuddin 0, Nasir 4, Rony 0, Limon 0, Ashiqul 16, Shuvo 56*, Dollar 36, Rubel 6, Subhashish 0, Harris 5-29)
ENGLAND: 136 all out in 47.4 overs (Taylor 24, Westley 21, Redfern 26, Shubashash 1-17, Rubel 1-26, Shuvo 1-21, Nasir 2-20, Limon 2-16).
Result: Bangladesh won by 13 runs.
Man-of-the-match: Suharwardi Shuvo.