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.

Bangladesh U-19 Reach Quarter-Final

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.