Bowlers make it convincing
Al Musabbir Sadi from Colombo
Bangladesh all but confirmed a second-round berth in the Eighth Asia Cup after thrashing Hong Kong by 116 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground yesterday. It was their maiden win in the history of the tournament.The margin of victory, which was also the biggest ever for the Tigers, reflected the huge gap that exists when a Test-playing country comes up against a team from the game's lower rung. Habibul Bashar's men easily defended a modest 221-9 on a sluggish pitch as the part-timers of the former British colony were eventually skittled out for just 105 in 45.2 overs. Tight bowling at one end by paceman Tapash Baisya, who conceded 12 runs in his first six overs, made it easy for Mushfiqur Rahman to claim two quick wickets. One of them a high return catch to get rid of one-down Alex French as the minnows slumped to 15-2 by the tenth over. Debutant Abdur Razzak, who got only three deliveries in the Bangladesh innings to score five not out, came on as first change and celebrated his maiden one-day wicket when he trapped Tim Smart lbw after the Hong Kong opener had stubbornly hung on for 79 minutes to score nine. The 22-year-old left-arm spinner finished with best figures of 3-17 from nine overs. Veteran Khaled Mahmud joined the party with Hong Kong reeling at 65-6. He took the next two wickets including the scalp of top-scorer Tabarak Dar (20) to set up Bangladesh's comfortable win. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique made up for his batting failure with two for 21. Earlier, opener Javed Omar celebrated return to the one-day side with a sterling 68 from 94 balls that steered Bangladesh, put into bat, out of a middle order slump. He was later named man-of-the-match. He added 84 runs with skipper Habibul Bashar who contributed a strokeful 32 off 44 balls. The captain had smashed four boundaries before he swept the ball straight to his Hong Kong counterpart Rahul Sharma at square-leg. Everything was looking so rosy for but then it was time for that all-too-familiar collapse. In the end former captains Khaled Mashud (26 off 22 balls) and Khaled Mahmud (22 off 18 balls) gave respectability to the total. Bangladesh are expected to retain the same side against holders Pakistan in their second and final Group A match today at the same venue.
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