The Hindu : Sport : `Greatest ever triumph'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 09, 2007
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`Greatest ever triumph'

GEORGETOWN: Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar hailed his country's stunning 67-run victory over World No.1 South Africa on Saturday as the `team's greatest ever triumph.'

Bashar's sentiments were reflected in his country as fans took to the streets in their thousands early on Sunday, banging pots and dousing one another in coloured water to celebrate the win.

Special editions of newspapers were out on the streets within hours as fans lit firecrackers, hooted car horns and waved national flags.

South Africa is hanging on to the fourth and last semifinals qualifying place and captain Graeme Smith admitted that his highly-rated team, which squeezed out a one-wicket win over Sri Lanka last week, had been disappointing.

"If you don't get those basics right you won't win. We gave them an opportunity and they took it with both hands. It's hard to take positives from the game today," he said.

Bangladesh opener Javed Omar, who made 17 in an opening stand of 42 with teenager Tamim Iqbal, said the batsmen played a key role.

"We had been struggling to get our opening partnerships going but they put me in there and we've got some good partnerships that have helped the team a lot," said Omar.

"It was a little bit of a slow wicket, but in the sub-continent you get used to that and I and Tamim coped pretty well. It's important you don't lose a wicket in the first 10 to 15 overs — we did that and it was a good result."

Meanwhile, Smith said, "we now have to win all of our three matches. We would love to do that and we really don't want to be relying on other teams to get us through. We need to regroup and have a fresh environment in Grenada. I think the basic thing is to discuss what went wrong and discuss what improvements we need for our next match."

Must-win situation

South Africa has four points from as many games and on Tuesday, it meets the West Indies, which itself is in a must-win situation after losing three of its Super Eight matches.

South Africa must also beat New Zealand on April 14 before its last Super Eight match against England three days later in Barbados.

"There is still an opportunity with three big games coming up and we need to be competitive and it's important that we regroup," added Smith, whose team spent almost two weeks in Guyana and were known to be frustrated with the facilities and unpredictable weather.

Smith also praised `man of the match' Ashraful.

"His innings changed things, he set it well, worked the field well and kept us under pressure through the 50 overs from when he came into bat."

For South Africa, Herschelle Gibbs, batting at No.7 with a runner due to a calf injury, top-scored with 56. But Smith feared Gibbs might not be available for the crucial match against the West Indies.

"His injury is being reassessed and he has a 50-50 chance for the next match." — Agencies

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