Bangladesh overcome Ireland for first win

DHAKA: Bangladesh stung flat-footed Ireland to resurrect their World Cup campaign with a 27-run victory in front of some 25,000 boisterous home fans on Friday.

Bangladesh, bowled out for 205 after taking first strike in the day-night match, hit back to dismiss the leading non-Test nation for 178 in 45 overs at the packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

Former captain Mohammad Ashraful, who scored just one run, turned an unlikely hero with the ball by claiming two top-order wickets with his part-time off-spin.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan also picked up two wickets with left-arm spin before seamer Shafiul Islam polished off the tail in quick time with 4-21 from eight overs.

Bangladesh, who had lost their first match to India last week, lapped up the pressure in a game they had to win to stay in contention for the quarter-finals from Group B.

But the co-hosts, who play all their league matches at home, must still beat the Netherlands and at least one of the established teams among England, South Africa and the West Indies.

The win helped Bangladesh avenge two successive defeats by Ireland in major events, having lost during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean and again in the 2009 World Twenty20 in England.

Shakib turned to spin after just one over from Shafiul, bringing on left-armer Abdul Razzak in the second over and off-spinner Naeem Islam in the third.

The move paid immediate dividends as Paul Stirling was stumped off Razzak for nine, before Irish captain William Porterfield fell to Shakib’s first delivery for 20.

Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien carried the score from 36-2 to 75 when Ashraful struck with the first delivery of his second spell.

Joyce, the former England batsman, made a fluent 16 when he was beaten in the air by a flighted ball and gave a delighted Ashraful an easy return catch.

Ashraful then bowled Andrew White for 10, while Shakib claimed his second wicket when Niall O’Brien fell to a diving catch by Tamim Iqbal at deep mid-wicket after making 38.

Kevin O’Brien slammed three fours and a six in 37 during a sixth-wicket stand of 41 with Andre Botha when he pulled Shafiul to mid-wicket to reduce Ireland to 151-6 in the 37th over.

Shafiul, who had recovered in time from a shoulder injury to play the key match, claimed three of the last four wickets to send Ireland crashing.

Earlier, seamer Andre Botha picked up three wickets and George Dockrell and Trent Johnston claimed two each to bowl out the hosts in 49.2 overs.

The hosts made a blistering start, racing to 49 without loss by the end of the fifth over, 37 of those runs coming from the blade of Tamim.

But the advantage was soon lost as four wickets fell for 33 runs in the next 10 overs.

Man of the match Tamim, who top-scored with 70 against India, began by taking 10 runs in Boyd Rankin’s opening over and stroked seven boundaries in his 44 off 43 balls.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan lifted the hosts with a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket, before tailender Naeem Islam boosted the total with a defiant 29 towards the end.

Ruthless Australia thump Kiwis by seven wickets

NAGPUR: Ruthless Australia compounded the miseries of rivals New Zealand by notching up a seven-wicket victory in their World Cup match on Friday.

Chasing an easy target of 207 runs for victory, Australia openers Shane Watson (62) and Brad Haddin (55) piled on 133 runs for the first wicket in just 18 overs as they punished the erratic bowling of New Zealand in the Group A encounter.

The start ensured that there were no hiccups, though both openers departed in the same over to paceman Hamish Bennett.

Captain Ricky Ponting (12) followed soon after, stumped brilliantly down the leg side by Brendon McCullum off Tim Southee.

Vice captain Michael Clarke and Cameron White saw Australia home in just 34 overs with an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 40 runs to extend their team’s unbeaten run in World Cup to 31 matches.

The match was played against a sombre backdrop following the devastating earthquake in Christchurch earlier this week. Both teams wore black arm-bands and the New Zealand flag flew at half mast in memory of the victims of the earthquake, which has claimed at least 113 lives with 228 people still missing.

Pakistan’s blind cricketers thrash Australia in T20 series

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s blind cricket team completed a comprehensive whitewash over Australia when they won the third Twenty20 match by 89 runs on Thursday.

Pakistan, who led the series 2-0, decided to bat first in the third T20 match at Adelaide’s Park25 and posted a mammoth 217 runs for the loss of four wickets.

Muhammad Jameel starred for Pakistan with the bat, as he scored 104 runs off 65 while Anees Javed scored an unbeaten 50 off 25 balls.

Raymond Moxly, David Gauci and David Saxberg took a wicket each for the hosts.

In reply to the huge total, Australia were unable to score at a brisk rate and finished their innings at 128-2 in their 20 overs. Lindsay Heaven was the main contributor with 49 runs and Mathew Horsey scored 24 runs.

Meanwhile Muhammad Waqas and Muhammad Mudassar took a wicket each for Pakistan.

Jameel was declared man of the match for his swashbuckling knock.

Pakistan wrapped up the Twenty20 series 3-0 and will play their first one-day international against the hosts on February at the same venue.

Dwayne Bravo to undergo scans after hurting knee

NEW DELHI: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo will undergo a scan on Friday after falling and hurting his left knee while bowling in his team’s World Cup opener against South Africa.

Bravo, 27, who scored a quickfire 40 in the West Indies total of 222, fell clutching his left knee on his follow-through after bowling just 2.1 overs and was helped from the field. Kieron Pollard completed the over.

“He will take no further part in tonight’s game,” said West Indies spokesman Philip Spooner.

“He will probably sleep uncomfortably tonight but tomorrow we will take him for a scan.”

Spooner said it was too soon to judge how serious the injury was.

Unbeaten De Villiers stars as South Africa beat Windies

NEW DELHI: A B de Villiers’ unbeaten 107 powered South Africa to a seven-wicket victory over West Indies in a World Cup Group B match on Thursday.

South Africa’s Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir (4-41) dazzled on debut, sharing seven wickets with pace colleague Dale Steyn (3-24) to skittle out West Indies for 222 in 47.3 overs.

The West Indies total was built around Darren Bravo’s assured 73 and a quick-fire 40 off 37 balls by his half-brother Dwayne before the twice champions lost their last five wickets for just 13 runs.

South Africa lost opener Hashim Amla in the fourth over and batting mainstay Jacques Kallis in the fifth but de Villiers added 119 runs with skipper Graeme Smith (45) and got good support from JP Duminy (42 not out) down the order to overwhelm the target in 42.5 overs.

South Africa went into the match with a three-pronged spin attack and after winning the toss, Smith wasted precious little time in unleashing one of them, Johan Botha, in a move that is getting increasingly popular in the tournament.

Botha began with a bang, inducing an edge from danger man Chris Gayle’s tentative blade with his third delivery that flew to Kallis in the lone slip.

Darren Bravo and Devon Smith denied them another chance to celebrate until the 24th over.

Darren Bravo welcomed Kallis with a couple of boundaries in his first over and went on to hit six more to go with the six off Tahir before Botha trapped him lbw.

From 113-1, West Indies suddenly slumped to 120-4 with Tahir claiming Ramnaresh Sarwan and Devon Smith.

Dwayne Bravo continued to enhance the family reputation, taking the onus on himself to score at a brisk rate, hitting three sixes in his enterprising 37-ball knock that came to an end after an almighty mix-up with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (31).

West Indies could not make the most of the foundation and collapsed in a heap to fall well short of the 250-mark.

Afridi spins Pakistan to mammoth win over Kenya

HAMBANTOTA: Shahid Afridi took five wickets and Umar Akmal scored one of four half-centuries as Pakistan crushed Kenya by 205 runs to get their World Cup campaign off to a flying start on Wednesday.

Kenya found their opponents too hot to handle after Umar hit a 52-ball 71 to anchor Pakistan’s challenging total of 317-7 before they bundled out their rivals for just 112 in 33.1 overs.

Kenya, who lost by 10 wickets to New Zealand in their opener, bowled a record-equalling 37 wides in a hapless display.

“It was a good start but I think the next game (against Sri Lanka) is very important for us. I think it will become harder. I think we learned a lot of things from here,” Afridi said.

Kenyan skipper James Kamande admitted his side had under-performed.

“We’ve given away a lot of extras. I think maybe the guys are trying hard because every time we got a wicket we gave a few runs here and there and that should not be the case.”

Once Pakistan introduced spin, Kenyan wickets fell quickly with Afridi unplayable in the day-night match at Mahinda Rajapakse stadium.

Only Collins Obuya, with 47, and three other batsmen managed to reach double figures as Kenya — bowled out for a paltry 69 in their first match against New Zealand on Sunday — faltered again.

Pakistan headed for a 300-plus total thanks to Umar Akmal (71), Misbah-ul-Haq (65), Kamran Akmal (55) and Younis Khan (50) as four batsmen scored half-centuries for the ninth time in a World Cup match.

Man of the match Umar, 21, playing his first World Cup tie, gave the innings a final flourish, sharing a rapid 118-run stand for the fifth wicket with in-form Haq who was equally aggressive during his 69-ball stay.

With Umar and Haq in full swing, Pakistan racked up 70 runs in the batting powerplay, with the junior Akmal hitting four boundaries off one Elijah Otieno over.

Haq, Pakistan’s best batsman in the recent Test and one-day series in New Zealand, also added 45 for the fourth wicket with Khan before giving impetus to the innings with Umar to help Pakistan put up an impressive total.

Haq, whose first scoring shot was a six, hit one more six and a single boundary, while Umar notched eight boundaries and a six before holing out off Thomos Odoyo who finished with 3-41.

Odoyo conceded 20 wides in an embarrassing team total of 46 extras.

Kenya equalled the highest number of wides bowled in a one-day innings of 37 conceded by the West Indies against Pakistan at Brisbane in 1989.

Pakistan had been sluggish at the start with openers Mohammad Hafeez (nine) and Ahmed Shahzad (one) falling in quick succession, leaving their team struggling at 12-2.

Hafeez was the first to go, failing to keep a drive down as a diving Seren Waters picked up a beautiful catch at short mid-wicket.

Two overs later, Shahzad, who scored his first run after 13 deliveries, was caught by skipper Jimmy Kamande off Odoyo.

Khan and Kamran revived the innings through a solid 98-run stand for the third wicket, pushing for singles off some tight bowling.

Pakistan next take on Sri Lanka, winners against Canada in their first match, on Saturday. Kenya meet Sri Lanka on March 1 with both matches in Colombo.

Sri Lanka may tour Pakistan to end cricket isolation

HAMBANTOTA: Pakistan’s cricketing isolation could end in October if Sri Lanka, who were targeted in a deadly terror attack in Lahore two years ago, agree to tour the troubled country.

Sri Lankan officials said Wednesday they were in talks with the International Cricket Council’s Pakistan Task Team (PTT) to explore the possibilities.

“We are still discussing the option with the ICC and with all the other board members,” said Sri Lanka Cricket chairman Somachandra de Silva.

“There are still some security concerns in Pakistan but if things improve, and Pakistan is a brotherly nation, we can consider it – all depends on the ICC’s clearance,” De Silva said.

Sri Lanka are scheduled to tour Pakistan in October this year under the Future Tests Programme.

According to reports in the Pakistani media, the governments of both countries are already in talks to hold the series in Pakistan.

The attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus on March 9, 2009, killed eight people and injured seven Sri Lankan players as well as their assistant coach, leading to the suspension of all international cricket in Pakistan.

Barely a month later, the ICC stripped Pakistan of its share of World Cup matches, forcing the team to play all their Group A matches in Sri Lanka, co-hosts with India and Bangladesh.

The suspension also meant Pakistan have been forced to play their home series in the United Arab Emirates, England and New Zealand for the last two years.

The ICC formed the Pakistan Task Team (PTT) with England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke to find ways of reviving international cricket in Pakistan and to help improve the disciplinary situation.

Even before the Lahore attacks, Pakistan was a no-go area for international teams because of security fears sparked in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States which sparked a “war against terror” in and around the country.

Australia have not toured Pakistan since 1998, forcing Pakistan to play their home series in Sri Lanka and Sharjah in 2002 and in England last year.

Pakistan was also stripped of the right to host the 2008 Champions Trophy after Australia, South Africa and England refused to tour, forcing the ICC to move the tournament to South Africa, held in 2009.

Meanwhile, De Silva said he hoped Hambantota will become a major cricket venue in Sri Lanka.

“It was only Colombo for the last two decades, but with Hambantota coming up for the World Cup matches we have brought cricket to the poor people and we will develop this,” said the 68-year-old former Sri Lanka international.

De Silva said the stadium – which became one-day cricket’s 177th venue when Sri Lanka played Canada on Sunday – will also host a Test against Australia.

“We have decided to stage a Test in Hambantota against Australia when they tour in July this year and also one or two one-dayers in the same series. There is an option of staging World Twenty20 matches next year,” said De Silva.

Sri Lanka will host the fourth edition of World Twenty20 next year.