ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Vol. 41 - No 45
Sports

Ashraful becomes a handful

Mohammad Ashraful hit a brilliant 87 off 83 balls for Bangladesh as they surprised South Africa with 251-8, easily their best in World Cups. Ashraful revived memories of his century against Australia in Cardiff with some amazing lofted drives and sweep shots off the fast bowlers.

Mohammed Ashraful once again proved that he can become a threat to any powerful opposition.

It put the efforts of Essex-bound Andre Nel in the shade, the recalled South Africa bowler taking an excellent 5-45.
Despite good batting conditions, South Africa could find their chase awkward.

It is a total South Africa will still be confident of chasing down at the Providence Stadium and, but for an early Bangladesh collapse, it could have been higher.

A promising start between Tamim Iqbal and Javed Omar looked like building a solid platform for the Tigers.

The openers managed to see off Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock, Tamim in particular playing some audacious shots as he danced down the wicket to hoist both men to the ropes for four.

But the introduction of Nel - recalled for the rested Andre Hall - shifted the momentum in South Africa's favour. In a typically fiery spell full of energy and effort, he unsettled the Bangladesh batsmen and ripped apart their top order. BBC

 
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Copyright 2007 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka.