Bangladesh wins thriller at Mirpur

Bangladesh Tigers roared when it mattered defeating Ireland in a closely contested World Cup match played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Bangladesh started with a bang to the delight of the home crowd who expected much from them after their loss to India. The crowd was treated to a boundaries frenzy as Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal (Man of the Match) dealt in boundaries and quick singles to help his team reach 49 in just 5 overs. His partner Imrul Kayes provided good support rotating the strike and punishing the bad ones.

But things came to a standstill for Bangladesh when Imrul was stumped by Ireland wicket keeper Kevin O'Brien off John Mooney. Three overs later, Ireland struck again to send new man Junaid Siddique back to the pavilion after he was run out by Ed Joyce.

The stadium went dead silent in the twelfth over when their top man Iqbal was caught by William Porterfield at point after he sheepishly guided a slow ball from Andre Botha. At 68-3, things were turning ugly for the home team and the gloom was far from over. Three overs later, skipper Shakib Al Hasan who seemed in good touch playing some fluent drives had to depart after he was caught and bowled by Andre Botha.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan then began a recovery phase for Bangladesh by rotating the strike and keeping the scorebord ticking. But the partnership worth 61 runs was broken in the thirty-fourth over when Rahim top edged a spinning ball from Ireland's teenage star George Dockrell. The ball lazily spun sky high to land safely in the hands of Andrew White at short fine leg.

Mohammad Ashraful, recalled in the squad to help boost Bangladesh's WC campaign, joined Hasan on the crease but could last only 9 balls before falling in the same fashion as his counterpart, Rahim.

Bangladesh couldn't get a good partnership as they kept losing wicket at regular intervals. After Hasan was run out in the thirty-ninth over, the only partnership that recorded double figures was that between Abdur Razzak (11) and Naeem Islam (10). The poor batting performance thus left Bangladesh with only 205 on the board.

Irish started their inning believing that they were well and truly in the game. They were however rocked early on, when opener Paul Stirling was stumped by Mushfiqur Rahim off Abdur Razzak in the sixth over. Their hopes were dented further when skipper Shakib Al Hasan claimed the wicket of William Porterfield (20) with the first ball of his spell. Porterfield tried to maneuver the leg-stump bouncer but nudged it to Raqibal at short midwicket.

At 36-2 the game had tilted in Bangladesh's favour but a period of consolidation from the new man Niall O'Brien and Ed Joyce saw the Irish reach 75-2 before Joyce was caught and bowled by Ashraful in the nineteenth over. O'Brien was joined at the crease by Andrew White who lasted 27 deliveries to score 10 runs before getting castled by Ashraful. At 93-4, the game was again evenly poised.

The O'Brien brothers tried their best to keep Ireland still in the game. But their lack of experience against quality spin cost them dearly. Their hopes were dashed by the fiery spells of spinner Shafiul Islam who took 4 for 21. Kevin O'Brien was his first victim, caught by substitute Suhrawadi Shuvo. He then clean bowled Andre Botha and John Mooney to finish things off with the wicket of last man Boyd Rankin who was caught by Junaid Siddique. After bowling beautifully, Ireland fell 27 runs short thanks to some brilliant bowling by the Bangladeshi spinners.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 205 all-out in 49.2 overs (Tamim 44, Raqibul 38; Botha 3-32) beat Ireland 178 all-out in 45 overs (N O'Brien 38, K O'Brien 37; Shafiul 4-21) by 27 runs.