DHAKA: Tigers paved the way to ensure the second round of the ICC World Cup by beating Scotland by six wickets in the Pool A match in Nelson Thursday.
A nervous ninety coupled with three fifties propelled Bangladesh score 322 run in response to 318 of Scotland. They reached the winning target with 11 balls remaining.
Tamin scored 95 runs – the highest individual score form Bangladesh in World Cup. Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mushfiqur Rahim hit fifty each.
Bangladesh began with early loss of Soumya Sarkar’s wicket. Then, Tamim and Mahmudullah Riyad built a solid ground, making a record second-wicket partnership of 139 runs.
Tamim built his innings facing 100 balls with nine fours and one six before Josh Davey sent him back to the pavilion.
Mahmudullah contributed 62 runs off 62 balls with six boundaries and one over boundaries until he become the victim of Iain Wardlaw.
Mushfiqur Rahim’s rousing half-century boosted the Tigers to fight better. He scored 60 runs off 42 with six fours and two sixes. Alasdiar Evans made him walk to the pavilion when Bangladesh’s score was at 247 runs in for four in 38 overs.
Since then, Bangladesh lost no more wickets. Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman began taking on the Scottish bowlers. They built a six-wicket 75-run partnership, taking the Tigers to the victory.
Shakib scored 52 runs off 41 balls with five boundaries and one over boundary. Sabbir added 42 runs off 40 balls with four fours and a pair of sixes.
Scotland’s Josh Davey took two wickets while Iain Wardlaw and Alasdair Evans bagged one wicket each.
Earlier, Kyle Coetzer’s career-best century helped Scotland score 318 runs for eight in 50 overs.
Coetzer contributed 156 runs off 134 balls. He built his innings with 17 fours and four sixes. Preston Mommsen added 39 runs while Matt Machan contributed 35 runs.
Bangladesh’s Taskin Ahmed was the most successful with the blowing figure of 7-0-43-3, followed by Nasir Hossain taking two wickets.
Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman bagged one wicket each.
Bangladesh captain Mortaza won the toss and decided to bowl first. The match kicked off at Saxton Oval at 4:00am Bangladesh time.
Kyle Coetzer, who became Man of the Match, said: “Not the way we would have liked to end the game. We just weren't able to create enough pressure in the end. We would have taken that score at the start of the day, but we just didn't create the pressure in the second innings. There were a couple of runout chances, but they did bat well in the end.”
“It is nice to get a few runs, but at the end of the day it is the end result, so it is disappointing. I thought 330 would have been good, but I felt the batsmen at the other end were also scoring, so I felt I didn't have to do anything rash. It is a tough loss to take. The guys will be a bit distraught as we worked so hard and feel we do deserve that one win in the tournament,” Coetzer added.
Wining captain Mashrafe Mortaza said: “The boys have done really well, especially the batsmen. Tamim was outstanding, along with Shakib and Mushfiqur. Still our bowlers did not bowl well, but our batsmen got runs, especially with a big match (against England) coming up.”
(Twitter question for the winning captain - How will you tackle England?) “We will try our best to do well in our batting, bowling and fielding. We will try our best against England, and if not them, then New Zealand definitely,” Mortaza replied.
Defeated captain Preston Mommsen said: “It was brilliant to see Kyle Coetzer at his best. We're okay, we had time off after the Afghanistan game, the boys got away, we came back refreshed, we were up for today and that showed in the first half.”
“Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. Throughout the four games we showed that we were able to play good cricket. We just have to play good cricket over a long time.,” he added.
BDST: 1211/1355 HRS, MAR 05, 2015
