Bangladesh’s dream of finishing their ICC Under-19 World Cup campaign on a high suffered a huge setback after they conceded two consecutive defeats to Australia and England in Townsville, Australia, last week.
The Bangladeshi youths lost against Australia by five wickets in their quarter-final affair at the Endeavour Park on Sunday before suffering an almost identical defeat against England in the fifth-place deciding match two days later at the same ground.
Bangladesh, however, had a great chance of moving into the semi-finals as they had made a good start against the hosts in the quarter-final match with Liton Das and Soumya Sarker adding 64 runs in the opening stand, batting first after having a poor luck in the toss.
Soumay was left alone to fight as wickets tumbled one after another from the other end once the two openers were separated and from 64-1 Bangladesh soon found themselves in a deep sea with 128-7 in 31.1 overs.
Noor Hossain (17) and Naeem Islam Junior (12) put up some resistance at the end as Bangladeshi finally scored 171 in 41 overs losing all their wickets. Soumya scored highest 73 runs for Bangladesh hitting three sixes and six boundaries in his 80-ball innings.
Bangladesh still had a chance to win the match with this moderate total as they claimed first three Australian wickets within 11 runs and the fourth wicket fell on 33 to give the tourists a great hope.
However, the bowlers failed to continue the momentum as the match went out their grasp. Australian skipper William Bosisto and Travis Head added 77 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket to deny Bangladesh.
Bosisto who was unbeaten in all group matches, put in yet another splendid effort to score 71 runs that sealed the deal as Australia cruised to win with 25 balls remaining.
The tour could have still become a proud journey for the young Tigers had they not suffered a four-wicket loss against England in the fifth-place decider almost in the similar fashion.
Opener Liton Das scored a century but apart from skipper Anamul Haque, who scored 56 from 80 deliveries, got very little support from his fellow batsmen as Bangladesh ended their 50 overs on 217-7 after they were sent in to bat first.
Liton’s 102 off 134 balls that included nine fours and a six went in vain as England staged a late fightback to take the match despite being reduced to 158-6 at one stage.
The English batsmen were tormented enough by the Bangladeshi bowlers as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals while chasing a modest target of 218 set by the Bangladeshi batsmen.
A 60-run partnership between Adam Ball and Aneesh Kapil in a seventh-wicket stand helped England reach 218 with 10 balls in hand.
The Bangladeshi side will face Pakistan at the same venue on Friday in the seventh-place deciding match.
-With New Age input
