Shuvo shows Bangladesh the way to last eight
Bangladesh pulled off a superb victory over England to top Group D as they recovered from a batting howler to defeat England by 13 runs in the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup at the Royal Selangor Club, Bukit Kiara on Friday.
Both teams, however, are through to the last eight of the Super League. An exciting battle is in store for fans on Sunday when Bangladesh go face-to-face with South Africa in the quarterfinals at the Bayuemas Oval while England, who emerged Group D runners-up at the end of preliminary round, take India, champions in 2000, in this knockout stage of the World Cup at the Kinrara Oval.
With pace anchorman Steven Finn sitting this game out, Bangladesh was surely feeling positive when they were put in to bat. Little did they realize that their streak of confidence would be quickly rattled by James Harris (5-29). Harris took over the role of tormentor to absolutely demolish the Bangladeshi top order.
Ashraful Hossain (0), who had scored half-centuries against Ireland and Bermuda, was Harris' first of five victims; the others were Nadimuddin Mintu (0), Hossain Nasir (4), Rony Talakdar (0) and Mahmudul Limon (0).
England captain Alex Wakely was making it a habit of taking catches at first slip and yet again helped Harris, this time to dismiss Hossain. Although Wakely did not take the second-wicket catch of Mintu, he did manage to stop the ball zapping over his head as Billy Godleman plucked it out of the air.
Things only went from bad to worse for Bangladesh as their batsmen simply were not able to gauge the pace and bounce of Harris. The former England Under-16 captain bulldozed through the top order with wickets in his first, second, fourth and fifth overs. The third and fourth wickets came in consecutive deliveries with Nasir and Talakdar barely having time to react as they could only walk past their uprooted stumps with their heads bowed.
"Most teams say this is a bad wicket after playing on it, but it really wasn't. There were a few balls that bounced up and kept low but other than that it was all right,’’ said Harris.
At 21 for four, desperation really set into the Bangladeshi camp. And a further two more wickets clipped that of Mohammad Mithun (10,) falling to James Lee (1-26), and Hasan Limon (0) trapped leg before wicket by Harris, Bangladesh were at their most vulnerable end so far in this world Cup.
It was only after a 22-run partnership between Ashiqul Islam (16) and captain Sohrawardi Shuvo (56 not out) that saw Bangladesh crawl to 50. With Islam given out leg before wicket to a delivery that kept low in the 14th over, all of Bangladesh's hopes rested on the shoulders of their skipper.
Shuvo, together with Dollar Mahmud(36), batted what was a vital eighth-wicket 81-run partnership as the two did not take risky chances and gently stroked the ball for singles and two’s with the odd boundary coming at times. Neither of them really took charge but rotated strike regularly and for the first time in the match Bangladesh looked to have finally settled their nerves.
Shuvo stood up to the added responsibility and played an unbeaten 56 as they eventually stopped at 149, not their highest score, but one the team would gladly be contented considering the manner they began their innings.
On top of defending a small total of 149, Bangladesh problems were only compounded by the fact that neither Bermuda nor Ireland was able to breach the first wicket stand of openers Billy Godleman (8) and James Taylor (24).
"It was clear that the openers would be very confident once they took the bating crease and e had discussed this with the players but we knew if we got one of them out, the English batting machinery would be severely tested. On a low scoring wicket, putting up 149 was all right so it was just a matter of our bowlers doing their job,” said Bangladesh coach Nazmul Abedeen.
Godleman and Taylor were dealt with within a space of just three overs, between the seventh and 10th, as Taylor first to go, caught by wicket-keeper Ashiqul Islam and Godleman was run-out.
An introduction of the spinners soon after clamped down the run-scoring as England looked to just settle in and take it slowly from there. But it was Bangladesh who looked the more determined and with the dismissal of Greg Wood (8) and Wakely (10), England looked as though they were slinking into their shell.
Dan Redfern (26) and Tom Westley (21) put on a very slow yet carefully thought out 44-run partnership that lasted just over 17 overs; one that saw the English get out of an anxious situation – only momentarily though. After being bogged down for long periods, Bangladesh found a renewed energy after the dismissals of Redfern and Westley.
With 24 runs still short for victory and five overs remaining, the tail-enders who hardly had any match practice due to England’s 10-wicket wins over the Irish and Bermuda respectively, were put under severe pressure – and unfortunately caved in as they crawled in search of 13 more runs. James Lee (1), left stranded outside his crease in the 48th over, could only watch in disbelief as the bails were knocked off by wicketkeeper Ashiqul Islam, much to the joy of the Bangladeshi supporters who ran onto the field to celebrate a hard fought victory.
"We allowed the batsmen to play even after we got those early wickets and that’s the cause of our defeat. Our batsmen may not have had the matches but they made up for it in training but this is still not enough. We will definitely learn from this experience and we hope to play smarter from here on in,” said England manager John Abrahams.