GEORGETOWN: Bangladesh's cricketers are getting used to upsetting the odds.

Saturday's 67-run victory over South Africa, a team that expected to stick around in the Caribbean at least until the World Cup semifinals, is further evidence that a new cricket power is emerging in southeast Asia alongside India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh may not disturb many test sides for a while. But it showed in the Super 8s match that it is a well-organized team capable of standing as equals with the world's best in one-day cricket.

South Africa's fearsome bowling attack, apart from the powerfully built Andre Nel and the metronomic Shaun Pollock, fell apart under pressure. Makhaya Ntini was dispatched for 61 runs from his 10 overs, Charl Langeveldt for 57 and the three part-timers went for 56.

Bangladesh's batsmen were not intimidated.

Openers Javed Omar and Tamim Iqbal made a solid start, seeing off the combination of Pollock and Ntini in the first 10 overs, putting on 42. Iqbal, one of the new generation of young players, hit 38 in 59 balls, although Mohammad Ashraful came in with the team struggling on 69 for 3.

— PHOTO: AFP

PAINFUL: Shaun Pollock's frowning visage, as he is caught short of the crease, captures South Africa's predicament against Bangladesh on Saturday.

Ashraful started slowly, but then accelerated, picking fast full tosses off his toes outside the off stump and flicking them to the fine leg boundary. He did this four times before South African captain Graeme Smith clicked and put a fielder there.

By then the damage had been done, Ashraful had scored 87 and Bangladesh burst through to 251 for 8 in its 50 overs _ its best ever World Cup score _ with 80 runs coming off the last 10 overs.

``I'll leave it up to you as to what you call us, but all we want to is keep on winning,'' said a delighted team captain Habibul Bashar. ``We knew we had a chance to win the game when we scored 250. Any score of that size gives a team a chance and it looked even better when we got the first wicket cheaply.''

South Africa looked ill at ease at the crease, facing a three-man Bangladeshi spin attack and naggingly accurate fast-medium pace.

Bangladesh's three spinners, youngsters Shakib al Hasan, Abdur Razzak and veteran Mohammad Rafique, ended up with a combined six wickets.

Mostly, South Africa sold wickets cheaply. Smith, A.B. De Villiers, Jacques Kallis and Justin Kemp all fell to bad shot selection. Ashwell Prince and Shaun Pollock were run out to excellent outfielding and only the injured Herschelle Gibbs resisted.

Gibbs injured a calf while fielding and batted with a runner. Despite that, he looked comfortable scoring 56 not out but ran out of partners. He is 50-50 for South Africa's next match against hosts West Indies in Grenada on Tuesday.

The loss means South Africa has only four points from four Super 8s matches and could now get caught by host West Indies or England in the race to capture semifinal places.

Smith was understandable despondent: ``We had them under pressure at times but we released that pressure. We finished the game badly with the ball. We never got our disciplines right and our basics throughout the day were very, very poor. If you don't get those basics right you can't expect to win games.

``We have got to take our pain and regroup pretty quickly and the next two games (against West Indies and New Zealand) are obviously crucial.''

The victory for Bangladesh means it now has two points from four games and is level with England and West Indies. Bangladesh plays England in Barbados on Wednesday.

``Any victory is important for Bangladesh,'' said Bashar. ``But this is the No. 1 team and it's a good feeling and we're still in the Super 8s.''

It was the second time in the championship Bangladesh upset one of the fancied teams. In group play, it beat India by five wickets in Trinidad March 17 and the star studded India was eliminated in the first round.

During the World Cup, South Africa was named the official top one-day team by the International Cricket Council, the rankings based on results in the 12 months up to April 1.

-- AP

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