 | Ireland shocks Bangladesh in World Cup
17 April, 2007
The battle of attrition between the giant-killers in the World Cup befittingly witnessed a reversal of sorts as Ireland registered a comprehensive 74-run victory over Bangladesh in a Super Eight encounter at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Sunday.
After handing out a shock defeat to Pakistan in the first round, Ireland beat Bangladesh in all departments of the game to record one more memorable victory in the mega event over another Test playing nation.
The impressive Sunday crowd, most of whom had purchased tickets much in advance to see a mouthwatering India-Pakistan clash, did not have to return home disappointed as the meeting of the minnows treated them with a hard-fought contest.
The Irishmen put up a challenging 243/7 on the board after electing to bat and overpowered Bangladesh for 169 in 41.2 overs.
Ireland bowlers put up an improved performance and brought the Bangladesh batsmen under pressure by capturing wickets at regular intervals, which applied brakes on their scoring rate also.
With Tamim Iqbal (29 off 59 balls) and Mohammad Ashraful at the crease, Bangladesh had a brief chance for revival as both of them added 45 runs for the fourth wicket. But once Tamim was cleaned up by Irish skipper Trent Johnston, the Asian team never looked like heading for a win.
Ashraful (35 off 36 balls) was the best batsman for Bangladesh as he took on the challenge of Irish bowlers and played some entertaining shots, that contained some classy stuff as well as a few improvised strokes. The pint-sized batsman hit five boundaries and a big six before perishing to an unwarranted shot off Boyd Rankin to fine-leg.
Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar never looked convincing in his approach and was responsible for several terrible mix-ups with Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim.
Release link:http://www.cricketzone.com/news/news_archive/2007-04-16-416.html
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