The Bangladesh Under-19s completed their bounce-back from a torrid series in England in August by beating West Indies Under-19 by 67 runs in Georgetown, Guyana on Monday and winning the seven-match One-Day series 4-3. The teams went into Monday’s series finale deadlocked with three wins apiece, but the hosts appeared to have all the momentum, having won the last two contests.
Bangladesh U-19 elected to bat first and reached 99/1 after a 43-run partnership between Joyraz Sheikh (26) and Sadman Islam (48) was followed by a 56-run stand between Sadman and wicketkeeper Jasimuddin (33). The latter pair ended up being the top scorers in the series, with 259 and 208 runs respectively.
The visitors were, however, soon knocked off that platform by Barbadian medium-pacer Jerome Jones, who claimed five wickets and ended the innings with a hattrick to dismiss Bangladesh U-19 for just 168 runs in 44 overs. Alzarri Joseph and Fabian Allen also picked up two wickets each for the
hosts, as four Bangladeshis were dismissed for ducks.
The Junior Tigers’ spinners responded to the challenge posed by defending their modest total by tearing through the West Indies U-19 order in 34 overs, dismissing the hosts for just 101 and claiming the series. Nihaduzzaman picked up five wickets, while captain Mehedy Hasan scalped four to go with his 28 runs off 29 balls with the bat earlier to claim man-of-the-match honours.
Mehedy, who was leading the side for just the second series – and the first since his team was held to just one win from six matches in the England tri-series – was also named the man-of-the-series.
-With New Age input
