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Thursday, Feb 23, 2006

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Sport - Cricket

Rare win for Bangladesh

Bogra: A half-century by Mohammad Ashraful and his 63-run fourth-wicket partnership with captain Habibul Bashar inspired Bangladesh to beat Sri Lanka by four wickets with two overs to spare on Wednesday, in the second limited-overs cricket international.

It was Bangladesh's first ever win against Sri Lanka after 15 previous limited-overs and five Test losses.

Bangladesh has previously only won 10 of its 116 one-day matches — including victories over Australia, India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

``We bowled well today and batted sensibly,'' said Bashar. ``Now we are looking at winning the series, we want to be more competitive,'' he added.

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, who once coached Sri Lanka to a world cup victory, was simply ``happy.''

Bangladesh, which began its innings after restricting the visitor to 212, lost opener Shahriar Nafees for 17, caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara off Dilhara Fernando.

Farveez Maharoof then trapped Super-Sub Rajin Saleh (6) leg-before, and then opener Javed Omar was trapped in front by Malinga Bandara, with Bangladesh at 91.

Ashraful and Bashar's 63-run partnership edged Bangladesh's total to 154, with Ashraful's 50 coming off 68 balls with four boundaries.

Quick wickets

Bangladesh then lost two quick wickets in successive overs, when Bashar (33) was caught at long-on trying to hit clear the ropes off Sanath Jayasuriya, followed by Ashraful (51), who was out in similar fashion, to Fernando.

Aftab Ahmed and Alok Kapali picked up the reins and added 51 runs to take the tally to 206 before Kapali (18) was dismissed by Fernando.

Khaled Mashud (2) joined Ahmed (32) to complete the 213 runs needed to ensure a historic victory much to the cheers of more than 20,000 fans in a packed Shaheed Chandu Stadium.

Ahmed's 32 off 21 balls, with two boundaries and a six, earned him the Man of the Match.

The host won the toss and elected to field on a moist pitch, as morning fog delayed the start of the match by half an hour and the match was curtailed to 49 overs per side.

Sri Lanka's opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya's top scored for the visitor with 96 off 110 balls (eight fours and a six) before Rafique dismissed him lbw. Jayasuriya was lucky to be dropped on 2 by Nazmul Hossain.

Disputed dismissal

Syed Rasel, Alok Kapali and Mohammad Rafique took two wickets each as Bangladesh got off to a good start with the disputed dismissal of Sri Lankan opener Jehan Mubarak, who was caught behind by Khaled Mashud off Syed Rasel.

Television replays later showed that Mashud took the ball on the first bounce. Wicketkeeper Mashud also caught Kumar Sangakkara (23) off Rasel.

Rafique, with his spin, then dismissed Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who was caught for five at short fine-leg by Bashar. Kapali had Chamara Kapugedera caught by Mashud for 13, before he caught Tillakaratne Dilshan of his own bowling for three. Aftab Ahmed followed with the wicket of Hasantha Fernando (3), trapped lbw.

Bangladesh's win levelled the three-match series 1-1, with Sri Lanka winning the first by five wickets on Monday. The next and final mach will be played on Saturday in Chittagong. — AP

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