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| October 09, 2006 | Monday | Ramazan 15, 1427 |
Sri Lanka overcome spirited Bangladesh
MOHALI, Oct 8: Young opener Upul Tharanga hit a chanceless century to set up Sri Lanka's emphatic 37-run win over Bangladesh in a Champions Trophy qualifying match on Saturday (partially reported in Sunday’s edition).
The 21-year-old left-hander slammed a 129-ball 105 for his fifth hundred as Sri Lanka batted solidly to post a challenging 302-8 after being put in to bat in the opening day-night game.
Bangladesh struggled from the beginning and rarely looked like achieving the target despite scoring their highest total of 265-9 against Sri Lanka in 18 One-day Internationals.
Teenager Saqibul Hasan top-scored with an unbeaten 67 for his maiden half-century while Farhad Reza (34), Aftab Ahmed (33) and Mashrafe Mortaza (30) batted aggressively, but their efforts were not good enough.
“He (Hasan) was impressive, but we could not rotate the strike too well,” said Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar. “We kept losing wickets at regular intervals and unfortunately none of us could stay with him for long periods.”
Sri Lanka virtually wrapped up the match when seamers Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando shared the opening four wickets to reduce Bangladesh to 78-4.
The seamers were supported by wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara who had a hand in the first three dismissals, including a superb diving catch to his left to account for Shahriar Nafees.
Ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan became the second-highest wicket-taker in One-day Internationals when he had Farhad stumped, surpassing former Pakistani paceman Waqar Younis's 416 victims in One-day Internationals.
Ex-Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram is the leading wicket-taker with 502, followed by the Sri Lankan (417).
“We have set standards in the last four months, but we want to keep improving,” said Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, whose team conceded 36 extras including 21 wides.
“We are coming back after a long lay-off and that affected us. Bangladesh batted pretty well, but we did not bowl well apart from quick bowlers.”
Scoreboard
SRI LANKA:
W.U. Tharanga b Mashrafe 105
S.T. Jayasuriya lbw b Rasel 31
D.P.M. Jayawardene c Aftab b Razzak 35
K.C. Sangakkara c Mashrafe b Rafique 22
M.S. Atapattu c Farhad b Rasel 40
T.M. Dilshan not out 26
M.F. Maharoof run out 0
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas c Farhad b Razzak 4
M. Muralitharan run out 11
S.L. Malinga not out 7
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-16) 21
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 302
FALL OF WKTS: 1-67, 2-130, 3-193, 4-244, 5-260, 6-262, 7-273, 8-295.
BOWLING: Mashrafe Mortaza 10-0-60-1 (5w); Syed Rasel 10-0-65-2 (2w); Farhad Reza 8-0-63-0 (2w); Abdur Razzak 10-0-49-2 (2w); Mohammad Rafique 10-0-37-1; Saqibul Hasan 2-0-23-0 (1w).
BANGLADESH:
Shahriar Nafees c Sangakkara b Vaas 5
M. Ashraful c Sangakkara b Fernando 18
Aftab Ahmed c Sangakkara b Maharoof 33
Saqibul Hasan not out 67
Habibul Bashar c J’wardene b Maharoof 0
Farhad Reza st Sangakkara b Murali 34
Khaled Mashud run out 8
Mohammad Rafique c Vaas b J’suriya 12
Mashrafe Mortaza b Vaas 30
Abdur Razzak b Maharoof 21
Syed Rasel not out 1
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-21, NB-8) 36
Total (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 265
FALL OF WKTS: 1-22, 2-55, 3-78, 4-78, 5-141, 6-155, 7-177, 8-226, 9-264.
BOWLING: Vaas 10-2-46-2 (3w); Malinga 10-1-35-0 (4w); Fernando 5-0-39-1 (4nb, 3w); Maharoof 7-0-47-3; Muralitharan 10-0-45-1 (2nb, 2w); Jayasuriya 8-0-46-1 (1w).
RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 37 runs.
UMPIRES: S.A. Bucknor (West Indies) and D.J. Harper (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).
MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Upul Tharanga.
—AFP
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