Bangladesh set new record by thrashing hapless Sri Lanka
LONDON: Bangladesh produced what their captain described as “one of our best wins” by thrashing Sri Lanka to claim their biggest win in one-day cricket on Friday.
Tamim Iqbal smashed 84 as Bangladesh hit 320 and then skittled out Sri Lanka for 157 to eclipse the 160-run victory they recorded over the West Indies in 2012.
“If you look at (the) recent past, it is one of our best wins,” said captain Mashrafe Mortaza. “I think Tamim could have got a hundred. Shakib also could have gone on.”
Shakib Al-Hasan made 67 and took three for 47 to claim man-ofthe-match honors.
Sri Lanka, rebuilding under Chandika Hathurusingha after their worst year in international cricket, never posed a serious threat as they lost by 163 runs. Alarm bells will now be ringing, especially after they lost to Zimbabwe in their previous match in the three-nation contest.
In Brisbane, England cruised to a four-wicket victory over Australia in Friday’s second one-day cricket international at the Gabba to take a 2-0 lead in their five-match series.
Joe Root captured two vital wickets to help the tourists restrict Australia to a modest total of 270 for nine, then the England Test captain made an unbeaten 46 as his side reached their winning target with more than five overs to spare.
“Our bowlers were exceptional. It puts pressure on the Australia batsmen,” England captain Eoin Morgan said. “We did enough to win but it was far from a complete performance, which is exciting for us.”
After crushing England in the Ashes, world champions Australia now find themselves needing to win Sunday’s third match in Sydney just to keep the series alive.
“We’re not playing good enough one-day cricket at the moment,” Australia skipper Steve Smith said. “It’s a quality England batting line-up. We lost a couple of wickets in a row, we couldn’t get that power going at the back end to get that 320 we were after.”
Jonny Bairstow (60) and Alex Hayes (57) both made half-centuries while Root, Jos Buttler (46) and Chris Woakes (39 not out) all made valuable contributions after Australian fast-bowler Mitchell Starc took 4-59 to briefly give the home team hope of victory.
Aaron Finch scored his second century in as many matches for Australia but received little support from his teammates with no-one else making at least 40. Smith made just 18.
“The form Smith has been in this summer, (it was) very enjoyable to see the back of him,” said Root, who was named man of the match. “Whenever you come off a series loss you want to prove a point, and leading into the World
Tsonga was issued with a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct in his four-set defeat to Nick Kyrgios. Tsonga yelled at the chair umpire in French about a vociferous member of the crowd. “The guy was telling me, ‘You are under pressure now, you are under pressure now,’ when I was bouncing my ball. That’s it. I lost it and I went a little bit crazy,” he said. Cup we want to set a benchmark. We had to stay cool in the moment and get the job done.”
New Zealand inflicted a rare 5-0 one-day international series whitewash over Champions Trophy winners Pakistan on Friday with a 15-run win at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.
A century by Martin Guptill helped the Black Caps set a 272 total that proved too much for Pakistan after Matt Henry tore through their top order, taking three wickets in three overs and finishing with four for 53. Pakistan were all out for 256 with one over remaining.
It is only the third time Pakistan have been on the wrong end of a 5-0 ODI clean sweep after they succumbed by the same margin to Australia in 2010 and the West Indies in 1988. New Zealand have won by a 5-0 margin only once before, when they hosted the West Indies in 2000.
The result extends New Zealand’s winning streak in all forms of the game to 12 matches, a record for the team, and means they are undefeated at home since March last year.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said his side, particularly the batsmen, had failed to take their chances.
“The main thing is the batting has not clicked throughout the whole series, that’s why we lost,” said Sarfraz. “The bowling unit was very good sometimes. We had opportunities but we didn’t grab them.”