Bangladesh A humiliated

The Bangladesh A team's batting crumbled in the final day of their three-day match against the Irene Villagers Club in Pretoria, South Africa yesterday. As a result, the visitors lost by 131 runs.

Bangladesh had conceded just a 24-run lead after failing to make the most of their starts in the first innings and the match seemed to be heading towards a draw going into the final day. However, the teams mutually decided that they would bat for only 50 overs per-side on the final day.

Irene Villagers Club scored 277 runs before declaring at the 50-over mark. Stefan Klopper was bowled after scoring 94, while Theunis de Bruyn scored an unbeaten 47-ball 102. De Bruyn smashed six 4s and eight 6s.

After the exchange Litton Das (33) and Rony Talkuder (39) had a 56-run partnership after opener Sadman Islam was dismissed for nought. Sabbir Rahman (33) and Soumya Sarkar (30) also provided some runs, but failed to build on their foundations.

Thomas Kaber, a slow left-arm chinaman bowler, tore through the Bangladesh lower-middle order. He took six wickets 54 runs and lifted the Villagers.

"We lost the ODI match [on October 19] due to a bad batting approach, and we lost for the same reason today," explain former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar over phone.

"Our batting was not sensible. We could not bat according to what the situation demanded of us," concluded Bashar.