Anamul ton sets up Jr Tigers win
Skipper Anamul Haque cracked a century as Bangladesh trounced Sri Lanka by 25 runs to begin their ICC Under-19 World Cup campaign in style at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Saturday.
Anamul made 101 from 127 balls to guide Bangladesh to 249-7 in their allotted 50 overs and later part-time medium pacer Soumya Sarkar’s three-wicket haul helped them dismiss Sri Lanka for 224 in 48.1 overs to win the game on the opening day of the tournament.
Sent in to bat first, Bangladesh were 42-2 before Anamul and middle-order batsman Asif Ahmed (84) added 141 runs for their third wicket and gave the junior Tigers a solid platform for the lower-order batsmen to amass a respectable total.
Anamul innings was decorated with nine boundaries and a six before right-arm off-spinner Taharindu Kaushal ended his masterful knock by trapping him leg-before with scoreboard reading 143-3 in 40.1 overs
Asif, the former skipper who was relieved by the Bangladesh Cricket Board after dismal show in the U-19 Asia Cup in Malaysia, answered his critics making 84 from 114 balls with the help of six fours that also paved the way for them to give their opponents a target of 250runs for victory.
Sri Lanka’s right-arm fast medium bowler Sanitha de Mel was the most successful bowler picking up 3-46.
Sri Lanka had a sound start in their chase as the openers added 42 runs in the first-wicket stand before the dismissal of Sebastian Perera (25) triggered a mini-collapse of the islanders.
They lost another three wickets in quick succession and were struggling at 58-4 before Angelo Jayasinghe and Lahiru Madushanka added 85 runs for the fifth wicket to get them out of trouble.
Angelo made 83 from 123 balls before part-time medium pacer Soumya Sarkar dragged him out of the crease for Nurul Hasan to complete a neat stumping that also ended any hopes Sri Lanka had of taking the game to the wire. Madushanka scored 48.
Soumya was the most successful bowler with 3-10 in his 1.2 overs. Taskin Ahmed grabbed 2-44. The elated skipper of Bangladesh said that he was ready to take the opportunity.
‘The ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup is a very big opportunity for all of us and I am confident of taking it,’ said Anamul.
‘I wanted to make 50 and then make 100. We got a partnership going which helped a lot and Asif batted fantastically. I think it was probably the best innings of his career,’ he added.
Anamul said the pitch at the Allan Border Field had been excellent for batting. ‘It was a bit difficult early on but after the first hour, it became a very, very good wicket.’
Bangladesh face South Africa in their second game today.
In the day’s other matches, hosts and defending champions Australia opened their account with an impressive six-wicket victory over England, while Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 109 runs and Zimbabwe beat Papua New Guinea by 145 runs.
-With New Age input
