Tigers thrashed out the Dutch by six wickets

Bangladesh packed their side with left-handers to whip lethargic Netherlands by six wickets today and stay in contention for the World Cup quarter-finals.

The Dutch were shot out for 160 in 46.2 overs after electing to take first strike on the slow wicket, a target Bangladesh surpassed in the 42nd over with left-handed Imrul Kayes making 73 not out.

Bangladesh's three left-arm spinners shared five of the six wickets to fall to bowlers with Abdur Razzak leading the way with 3-29 in 10 steady overs.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Suhrawadi Shuvo, who was brought in to replace off-spinner Naeem Islam, claimed one wicket apiece.

Kayes put on 92 for the second-wicket with Junaid Siddique (35) after opening partner Tamim Iqbal was bowled by Mudassar Bukhari off the fourth ball of the innings without scoring.

Shahriar Nafees, one of the five left-handers at the top of the batting order who replaced right-handed Raqibul Hasan, made 37 in a third-wicket stand of 59 with Kayes.

Kayes, who followed his 60 against England with another half-century, was named man of the match for the second time in a row.

Bangladesh joined the West Indies and South Africa on six points, one behind Group B leaders India and a point ahead of England.

A West Indies win over England in Chennai on Thursday will enable Bangladesh ease into the last eight even before their final league match against South Africa in Dhaka on Saturday.

But an unlikely Irish win over the Proteas in Kolkata on Tuesday will once again throw open the quarter-final race from the pool.

"It was a nervous win because we had to win to stay in the contest. I thought the boys showed their charcater and bowled in really good areas and kept the pressure on," said Shakib.

Dutch skipper Peter Borren admitted his team, with five defeats in five games, had let themselves down.

"In the end we played some pretty bad cricket with four run-outs. I think the wicket was a challenge to bat on but 160 was not enough and we let ourselves down."

A sell-out crowd of 18,000 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium, taking advantage of the public holiday declared for the match in the port city, watched the home side demolish the Dutch.

Ryan ten Doeschate top-scored for the Netherlands with an unbeaten 53, but none of the other batsmen managed 30, six failed to reach double figures and four ran themselves out.

Bangladesh, buoyed by their stunning two-wicket win over England on Friday, did not bowl a single wide or no-ball in a disciplined display on the field.

Openers Wesley Barrisi and Eric Szwaraczynski plodded to 28 runs in nine overs, following a tidy opening spell by seamer Shafiul Islam, who conceded just seven runs in his first six overs.

Tom Cooper (29) and Szwaraczynski carried the score to 66-2 by the 23rd over when both batsmen were run out in the space of 13 runs to set the Dutch back again.

Szwaraczynski, who made 28, was unfortunate to be dismissed at the non-striker's end when Shakib deflected a straight drive from Cooper onto the stumps.

Wicket-keeper Musfiqur Rahim, who had dropped Cooper on six, made amends when he lunged for a wide throw from the deep and threw the ball at the stumps before the batsman had regained his crease.

Shuvo had Alexei Kervezee stumped by Rahim for 18, before Razzak dismissed Tom de Grooth and Atse Buurman in three deliveries to reduce the Netherlands to 127-7 in the 38th over.

Borren and Adeel Raja also ran themselves out, leaving ten Doeschate stranded at the other end.

Kiwis white washed by Tigers

Rubel Hossain's searing yorker uprooted New Zealand's long-standing bastion over the Tigers and, like his raised fist, took his team into new heights in world cricket. The incredibly tight three-run win on 17 October completed the much-coveted 4-0 whitewash of a major Test-playing nation, an exceptional highlight for Bangladesh.

The series win, especially the result, took Bangladesh on a par with West Indies in the International Cricket Council ODI rankings with 67 points, putting the Tigers within the top-eight for the first time in their 24-year international history.

The Tigers earlier beat the Kiwis by 9 runs in the first one-dayer, won the third by seven wickets and the fourth again by 9 runs. The second match was washed out.

The Kiwis, for their part, made a complete mess of chasing a moderate 175 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, faltering with their score on 171 runs in 49.3 overs.

With eight runs from six balls needed to win, tail-ender Kyle Mills guided Rubel's misguided full-toss to the boundary. A ball later though, the paceman returned the faith of captain Shakib Al Hasan by knocking back his leg-stump and picking up his fourth wicket, sending the Tigers and the 25,000-strong holiday crowd into wild celebrations.

Rubel, the boy from Bagerhat, had a say from the beginning of the New Zealand innings, sending back openers Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder cheaply and forcing Kane Williamson, the previous match's centurion, to guide one to the hands of second slip. After Bradley Watling's run-out, a lot depended on Ross Taylor but he too failed, missing a straight one from Abdur Razzak as the Kiwis collapsed to 20 for five.

It could easily have been 41 for six in the 13th over but Junaed Siddiqui dropped a simple catch at slip offered by Daniel Vettori's late cut off Mahmudullah Riyad. The New Zealand skipper latched on to that life as he added 86 runs for the sixth wicket with Grant Elliott.

The partnership threatened to take the game out of the Tigers' reach but again, one player's determination turned the tide.

In the 31st over, Vettori, on 43, chipped the ball between long-on and deep mid-wicket, only for Shafiul Islam to run 15 yards and dive full-length to his right to pull off a phenomenal catch. It instantly brought back memories of the same player's blinder during a Twenty20 final last season.

Soon though, Nathan McCullum took advantage of Junaed's slippery fingers as the Rajshahi lad misjudged one inside the circle at square-leg. But the older McCullum failed to make Bangladesh pay, failing to connect a charge towards Shakib Al Hasan a few balls later.

Elliott, witnessing the mayhem from the other end, reached his fifty through another dropped catch (by Mahmudullah) but he too, gave it up soon after getting a life. The right-handed batsman known for getting the Kiwis out of trouble, holed out at mid-on for 59 off 105 balls.

It was then left to the last pair of Mills and Hamish Bennett as they crawled towards what looked like an unlikely victory for the Kiwis. They added 26 with Bennett going unbeaten on nought from 24 balls.

Apart from Rubel's four, Razzak and Shakib got two each while Sohrawardi Shuvo picked up one wicket.

But there weren't as many twists and turns earlier in the day as the Tigers flattered to deceive with the bat, being bowled out for just 174 runs in 44.2 overs.

Imrul Kayes, who made 34, held fort after southpaws Junaed and Shahriar Nafees departed early. Shakib again made an effort to get the Tigers moving with his enterprising 36 but once his fifth-wicket partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim ended in the 29th over, things unravelled fast.

The Kiwis were better in the field and showed an aggressive intent that was missing in the three previous outings but with the bat in hand, they fell flat as the Tigers put the foot down and in the words of coach Jamie Siddons, "The whitewash became possible".

Ian Pont joining as Bangladesh Bowling Coach

Fast bowling specialist Ian Pont is set to become the Bangladesh National Team’s Specialist Bowling Coach. Pont (49) is expected to arrive in Dhaka on Thursday (September 16) to join the Tigers’ training at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. His contract with the BCB will run up to the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

A former fast bowler Pont represented Essex, Natal and Nottinghamshire in first class cricket and retired as a player in 1990. As a coach Pont has worked extensively in the UK and overseas specialising on pace and accuracy. His specialised coaching method is known as ABSAT (Advanced Biomechanics Speed & Accuracy Technique). He is the author of the coaching manual ‘The Fast Bowler's Bible’.

Pont had been the ECB’s National and Regional Skills Set Coach and the fast bowling coach of his former county club Essex. He also has the experience of working with county teams Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Kent as a fast bowling coach. He was the national bowling coach of the Netherlands for two years up until the 2007 World Cup. Pont is a technical fast bowling consultant to Northamptonshire County Cricket Club and is Head Coach of the International Pro Camp based in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

OTHER FACTS

• While playing for Natal in South Africa, Pont recorded the second longest throw of a cricket ball of all time, throwing 138 yards in Cape Town.

• In 1987, Pont had trials with six Major League Baseball clubs as a pitcher. Recording speeds of around 100 mph, he gained a month’s extended trial with the Philadelphia Phillies. At spring training, he was a starting pitcher for the Phillies in one exhibition game, becoming the first, modern-day professional cricketer to play in a professional baseball game.

New BCB chief executive takes office

Manzur Ahmed, a former wicketkeeper-batsman, joined the Bangladesh Cricket Board as its new chief executive officer on Wednesday, ending the country’s cricket oversight body’s long wait for the top executive post. He had a distinguished club and zonal cricket career spanning two decades in the 1970s and ‘80s, was the CEO of Brunei Darussalam Cricket Association before joining the BCB.

On his first day in office, Manzur was greeted by Nizmuddin Chowdhury, the deputy general manager (administration) who worked as acting CEO since the post fell vacant after the departure of Mahmudur Rahman in February 2008. It was a happy reunion for qualified engineer Manzur with some of his old mates who went on to become top organisers while he was pursuing a career abroad having obtained his MBA from the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University.

Shortly after his arrival, Manzur, the third CEO of the BCB after Zimbabwean Macky Dudhia and Mahmudur Rahman, was introduced to national coach Jamie Siddons, his assistants and the national players. His first assignment as the CEO will be to attend an ICC chief executives meeting in Cape Town on September 13-14.

On assuming his new office Manzur said: ‘This is a very exciting time for me. I had always wanted to involve myself with cricket in Bangladesh and as a keen sports enthusiast and former player this is the ideal challenge for me. ‘I firmly believe that good governance is the key factor in enhancing the level of performance and my effort would be to achieve that with the BCB.’

Tigers started training under new Bangladesh fielding coach Julien Fountain

New Bangladesh fielding coach Julien Fountain explaining a drill at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on the first day of the Tigers' preliminary camp for the series against New Zealand in October.

Bangladesh win series against Zimbabwe in style

Nazmul Hossain is mobbed by mates after he had taken a spectacular diving catch at point to get rid of Malcolm Waller.

Bangladeshi cricketers celebrate after wrapping off the Zimbabwean innings during the fourth one-day international match at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.

Bangladesh won their five-match one-day international cricket series against Zimbabwe in style after beating the visitors by six wickets in the fourth match at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Tuesday.

The visitors were all out to one-day international cricket's fifth lowest total, setting the hosts an easy target of 45 to seal the series 3-1 before Thursday's final match.

In reply, Bangladesh overcame some moments of panic, losing four wickets in five runs after the openers added 33 runs in 6.3 overs, before cruising home to a well-deserved victory in front of 20,000 fans at the stadium.

Stand-in Zimbabwean captain Hamilton Masakadza won the toss but came to rue his decision to bat first as Bangladesh opted for the same pace-spin opening attack that paid rich dividends on Saturday.

The visitors lost their four top batsmen for eight runs, due largely to some innocuous shots on a wicket that was forecast to be a batting paradise. Zimbabwe's innings folded up for just 44 in 24.5 overs.

Shakib, the world's number one one-day allrounder and Wisden magazine's international cricketer of the year, was the wrecker in-chief, picking up three wickets and conceding just eight runs in 6.5 overs.

Left-arm spinner Enamul Haque got three wickets, repeating his brilliant feat on Saturday.
But it was the pace-spin opening attack of Nazmul Hossain and Abdur Razzak which triggered the collapse, both grabbing two wickets each while giving away only 10 runs apiece.

Nazmul was adjudged man of the match for picking the heavyweight wickets of Masakadza and Charles Coventry and the brilliant catch that sent back Waller.

In reply, Tamim Iqbal played a quick-fire 22 in front of his home crowd. But once he was gone, trying to sweep Raymond Price, three more followed in some unnecessary panic that the hosts are known for. It needed the steady hands of Raqibul Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim to guide Bangladesh to one of their best victories in one-day cricket.

Both sides play the fifth and final match at the same venue Thursday.

Bangladesh-Zimbabwe Grameenphone Cup 3rd ODI

Hamilton Masakadza in sparkling form as he coasts to 84

Bangladesh paceman Nazmul Hossain (L) does a high-five with wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim (R) after taking one of his three wickets during the third one-day match against Zimbabwe at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Left-arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr. is congratulated by teammates he had sent back Forster Mutizawa

Tamim Iqbal sends one to the mid-wicket boundary during his 80 off 72 balls

Grameenphone man of the match Tamim Iqbal (L) receiving the trophy from BCB President AHM Mustafa Kamal, FCA, MP. Zimbabwe Cricket Chairman Peter Chingoka (C) and Chief Communication Officer of Grameenphone Ltd. Kazi Monirul Kabir (R) are also seen

Tamim Iqbal with the man of the match trophy and cheque