Tigers script more history

Bangladesh challenged Ireland to a game of conditions in the ODI series, hoping to gauge their own strengths in Sylhet with bounce and carry for pacers and an equal opportunity for batters to put up big scores.

One of Ireland's assistant coacheshad joked about the conditions being 'Irish' due to the conditions and the way the ball was moving. But the Tigers excelled in such conditions with the pace attack leading the way yesterday as they clinched a convincing clean-sweep with a 10-wicket victory at Sylhet.

The 10-wicket win was the first of its kind in Bangladesh's ODI history. It was all the more impressive considering that the pace attack was on the rise and pacers on the prowl. Bangladesh had been waiting for such a win and it was a statement made not in a different part of the world, but at home, where spin has dominated for so long.

A day earlier, pace-bowling coach Allan Donald had mentioned that his work involved taking the fear of making mistakes out of the crop of pacers in order to get them into the right mindset to be 'fiercely competitive' at this level. They may still be a little way off, but the pacers' inspiration has been telling since last year.

This time against Ireland, the three pacers in the form of Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud and Ebadot Hossain bagged all 10 wickets -- the first time in Bangladesh's history that all 10 wickets came courtesy of pace.

The early morning rain had made for pretty good conditions for seamers as Hasan bagged the first fifer of his career, keeping things simple and finding joys in the little movements off the seam and in the air. He struck the first blow, getting Stephen Doheny's outside edge with one that held its line slightly. Two in-dippers then accounted for Paul Stirling and Harry Tector as he ended his first spell with three wickets.

Taskin got pace and movement along with extra bounce as Andy Balbirnie tried to force one through off side but was caught at slip. A 42-run stand between Locran Tucker and Curtis Campher of 42 saw Ireland weather a bit of the early losses but Ebadot Hossain, who bowled the fastest delivery this series at 146 km/h, rattled at pace with wickets off back-back deliveries -- Tucker out leg-before off a yorker and a full-length in-swinger accounting for Gerorge Dockrell.

Taskin got two more to finish with three wickets while Hasan completed a fifer as the Ireland innings lasted just 137 minutes and produced 101 runs in 28.1 overs.

Early wickets were needed to rattle Bangladesh during their chase, but openers Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das made short work of the chase, completing it in 13.1 overs.

Liton hit fifty off 38 balls and Tamim Iqbal got a run-a-ball 41 as the Tigers got their first 10-wicket win in ODI cricket. History made in style and pacers were at the heart of it.