Miserable Bangladesh fold for 58
Bangladesh's batsmen froze catastrophically after winning the toss and taking first use of a slow and low wicket, as West Indies routed them for 58 inside 19 overs - the lowest total ever made by a Full Member nation in World Cup history.
- Written by Agence-France Presse
- Updated: March 04, 2011 03:56 pm IST
Bangladesh's batsmen froze catastrophically after winning the toss and taking first use of a slow and low wicket, as West Indies routed them for 58 inside 19 overs - the lowest total ever made by a Full Member nation in World Cup history. (Live: Scorecard)
In a critical contest, West Indies took a huge stride towards the quarter-finals thanks to the cool efforts of Sulieman Benn, Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy, who were the only three bowlers required in a pitiful Bangladeshi performance.
After out-muscling Ireland in a low-scoring thriller last week, Bangladesh began their third contest full of optimism, with another large and expectant crowd reacting wildly to Shakib Al Hasan's correct call at the toss.
However, the din was sucked clean out of the stadium by Roach's third delivery of the match, which Tamim Iqbal flashed loosely to Sammy at second slip.
Tamim, the kingpin of Bangladesh's batting was gone for a duck, and Roach, who wrapped up the West Indies' victory over the Netherlands on Monday with a hat-trick, had four wickets in his last six World Cup deliveries.
The confidence in his team's performance was instantly tangible, and three overs later, the captain Sammy was back in the thick of things, this time with his third delivery of the match, as Imrul Kayes feathered a short ball through to the keeper for 5.
Mushfiqur Rahim - one of the cooler heads in the Bangladeshi dressing-room - then flicked his fourth ball loosely to short midwicket to give Sammy two in seven, and though Junaid Siddique prevent Bangladesh's score from stalling with a cool flow of boundaries in a 27-ball 25, his token resistance was ended by the extra pace of Roach, who took the pitch out of the equation with a pinpoint yorker that struck the batsman flush on the toe.
At 36 for 4, the collapse was only just gathering pace. Shakib once again looked in prime form with a classy slap for four off Sammy, but he had not added to his total when he joined the procession one over later, bowled by the second over of Benn's new spell as he hung back in his crease and offered next to no resistance as the stumps were broken by a full-length tweaker.
Next up came Raqibul Hasan, who revived the crowd briefly by bringing up Bangladesh's 50 in the 14th over with a poke to third man, but two balls later silence reigned once again as Sammy served up a rare wide delivery, and Raqibul obligingly slapped a cut to point for 4.
Mohammad Ashraful confirmed the quality and trustworthiness of the surface with two elegant fours in his 21-ball stay - a drive through the covers and a fierce cut through point - but Roach's extra pace once again made the difference, as Ashraful wafted the first ball of his sixth over to the keeper. Naeem Islam, by this stage, had also been and gone, beaten by Benn's extra bounce to poke another catch to the keeper.
The end had been nigh right from the moment of Tamim's departure, but the denouement was craven from Bangladesh. Shafiul Islam faced up to a field including a slip and a gully, and chose an open-faced prod straight into the hands of the latter, and one delivery later, a Benn yorker proved sufficient to peg back Rubel Hossain's off stump.