Just a day after making a flying start to the U-19 World Cup with a 25-run win over Sri Lanka, the Bangladesh U-19s were brought down to earth by a massive 135-run defeat by favourites South Africa. Despite winning the first match batting first at the same Allan Border Field in Brisbane, Bangladesh skipper Anamul Haque decided to field first and it didn’t take long to realise that it probably was not a good decision.
The South Africa batsmen, spearheaded by opener Quinton de Kock’s 93-ball 95 with nine boundaries and two sixes, kept piling on the runs. The 48-run opening stand and a 70-run second wicket partnership, both featuring Kock, laid the foundation for the middle and lower order to explode. There were healthy contributions all down the order with Theunis de Bruin smashing 63 off 54 balls and a few more cameos down the order which ensured the South Africans put on a challenging score of 294 for nine in their stipulated fifty overs. Noon Hossain was the most impressive of the Bangladesh bowlers, the legspinner taking three wickets for 44 runs including that of topscorer Kock. Slow left-arm bowler Nasum Ahmed took three wickets as well, giving away 45 runs.
Bangladesh’s chase got off to the worst possible start as both the openers Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar fell cheaply to fast-medium bowler Corne Dry, leaving the score on 25 for 2. Nurul Hasan and skipper Anamul Haque, who hit a hundred in the opening victory against Sri Lanka, did a fair bit of repair work before a double break came in the 18th and 19th overs as Hasan and Asif Ahmed departed, leaving Anamul running out of partners. And when the skipper fell for 39 with the score at 123, the end was nigh. The lower order failed to put up any resistance as the innings got wrapped up for 161 in the 35th over.
Despite the big loss, Bangladesh still have a very good chance of making it to the Super 8 stage of the competition, courtesy of that opening match victory over Sari Lanka. Bangladesh play their last group match against minnows Namibia on Thursday and a win may ensure their progress given that South Africa beat Sri Lanka too.
SCORES IN BRIEF:
SOUTH AFRICA UNDER-19S: 294-8 in 50 overs (Kock 95, Bruyn 63, Coetzee 29; Noor 3-44, Nasum 3-45)
BANGLADESH UNDER-19S: 161 all out in 34.3 overs (Anamul 39, Al-Amin 33, Nurul 27; Moore 3-44, Dry 2-34)
Result: South Africa Under-19s won by 133 runs
Man-of-the-match: Quinton de Kock
-With The Daily Star input
