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Date: February 25, 2011
Time: 02:05 local, 20:05 GMT
Game: 9th Match, Group B
Play: Bangladesh vs Ireland
Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
Bangladesh Level Series with Easy Win against Ireland
Bangladesh beat Ireland by six wickets in the second ODI in Belfast to square the two-match series. The Bangladeshi bowlers had a much better outing than yesterday and restricted Ireland to a score of 189/9 in 46 overs, after morning rain had caused the number of overs to be reduced.
A well-made74 by the opener Tamim Iqbal helped Bangladesh reach home with more than eight overs to spare. Only a half century by Gary Wilson had helped Ireland to the somewhat respectable total.
Bangladesh will now travel to Glasgow to play two ODIs against Scotland and the Netherlands.
The match had too many similarities to the previous day’s game, the only differentiator being the reversal of roles between the two sides. It was Bangladesh who looked confident and attacking. Iqbal started very slowly and the first five overs yielded only ten runs. However after he had lost his partner to the bowling of Trent Johnston, he looked to open up. He was joined by yesterday’s centurion Junaid Siddique and the pair tried to up the scoring rate. But when the brief partnership was broken in the 11th over, Bangladesh seemed to be in trouble.
However, a wonderful partnership between Iqbal and Jahurul Islam ensured that the chase was in the right track.
The pair rotated the strike well and also scored boundaries at regular intervals. Chasing a low target meant that they could take their time to settle down. Iqbal was steady throughout his innings, driving with ease but also not afraid to hook and pull. Islam got out after top edging a pull shot to third man, and Iqbal was joined by Shakib Al Hasan. The pair took the match further away from Ireland, scoring 47 in seven overs. By the time, Iqbal was dismissed, victory was a formality.
Earlier in the day, it was a surprise when William Porterfield won the toss and elected to bat first. The conditions were overcast and his new ball bowlers had bowled well in the previous game and had been among the wickets. Probably, it was his own batting display that had convinced him to make the decision.
However, he was made to regret it almost immediately when his side lost both its openers. Bangladesh went for more pace in their bowling attack, bringing in Shafiul Islam for Syed Rasel, whose gentle medium had been treated with disdain in the first match.
The medium pace of Rubel Hossain was replaced by the slow left arm of Faisal Hossain.
After Mortaza had dismissed Porterfield, Islam picked up the wickets of Paul Stirling and Alex Cusack, who had a horrible time at the crease, failing to score in the 12 balls he faced. The middle order batsmen who followed had decent starts, but failed to convert them into big scores, with only Wilson scoring a half century. His partnership with John Mooney was the only saving grace for Ireland. Ireland faced the same problems that Bangladesh faced in the first game, lack of partnerships and lack of boundaries.
Like Bangladesh yesterday, they also had only one six, which came in the 41st over. It was courtesy of Mooney, whose entertaining cameo of 28, had four fours and one six. He was dismissed by Islam who came back in the end to pick two more wickets to go with the two he picked up in his first spell.
Shafiul Islam won the man of the match award for his bowling exploits even though he had been expensive. Bangladesh had plenty of positives from this game, their bowling in particular, which was disciplined and the slow bowlers who stifled Ireland during the middle overs.
Ireland, though comprehensively beaten in the second game, will look back at their performance in the first game and realize that they are closing the gap on the other sides. Unfortunately for them, they will not be able to overtake the Zimbabweans in the latest released ICC rankings due to this loss.
Cricket Team Players
Bangladesh
Abdur Razzak, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Md Sohrawordi, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Roqibul Hassan, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan (C), Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique
Coach : Jamie Siddons
Ireland
Albert van der Merwe, Alex Cusack, Andre Botha, Andrew White, Boyd Rankin, Ed Joyce, Gary Wilson, George Dockrell, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Nigel Jones, Paul Stirling, Trent Johnston, William Porterfield (C)
Coach : Phil Simmons
Watch Cricket Live Streaming – WC 2011 – Bangladesh vs Ireland
BAN vs IRE – ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 match on Friday, February 25, 2011. (50-over match, Day/Night)
Match No : 9, ODI Match scheduled to begin at 08:30 GMT | 02:00 PM IST | 14:30 Local Time
Match Venue : Watch live cricket from Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Bangladesh.
Match Toss : Bangladesh won the toss & elected to bat
Man of the match : Tamim Iqbal
