Ireland ruin Bangladesh semi dreams

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Ireland dashed Bangladesh's slim World Cup semi-final hopes after an excellent all-round display handed the debutants a 74-run victory on Sunday.

The result gave Ireland their first Super Eights win, leaving both teams on two points each and fighting to avoid finishing at the bottom of the table with one match to play.

Having earmarked the contest against Bangladesh as the one Super Eights match they could win, Ireland ensured their surprise progress to the second round at the expense of Pakistan had not been in vain.

Opening batsman William Porterfield top-scored with a chancy 85 to guide Ireland to their highest Cup total of 243 for seven after choosing to bat.

Bangladesh slumped to the bottom of the standings after they were bowled out for 169, with their top order batsmen falling to reckless shots.

Ireland's amateur players took a lap of honour and their fans danced in the stands after claiming the battle of the two giant-killers.

Bangladesh never recovered after dropping three catches.

Man-of-the-match Porterfield, dropped on 42 by left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique off his own bowling, anchored the innings in his 136-ball knock containing just three fours.

Irish new ball bowlers Boyd Rankin and Dave Langford-Smith then used short-pitched bowling to exploit the poor temperament of Bangladesh batsmen.

Rankin forced opener Shahriar Nafees (7) to glove an attempted pull to wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien to trigger the collapse before Aftab Ahmed (12), opener Tamim Iqbal (29) and Mohammad Ashraful (35) all succumbed trying big shots.

All-rounder Andre Botha struck with his first delivery on his comeback from hamstring injury when he had Aftab caught behind chasing a wide ball.

After Bangladesh were 138 for eight in the 34th, skipper Habibul Bashar, dropped on four, pushed the score past 150 before being the last man out for 32.

Ireland began steadily with Porterfield and Bray raising their first double-figure opening partnership in the tournament, while Kevin O'Brien lashed 48 off 44 balls.

Source: China Daily/agencies