Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful smashed the fastest ever half-century in Twenty20 cricket yesterday to throw the West Indies out of the world championships.
The 23-year-old dynamo pounded seven boundaries and three sixes in 61 off 27 balls as Bangladesh overtook the West Indian total of 164-8 with 12 deliveries to spare at the Wanderers.
Aftab Ahmed chipped in with an unbeaten 62, sharing a rollicking stand of 109 for the third wicket with Ashraful that came off just 62 deliveries.
Ashraful reached his half-century off 20 balls by hooking Fidel Edwards for a six, surpassing Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya's 23-ball 50 against New Zealand at Wellington last year.
The West Indies were knocked out of the 12-nation tournament with their second successive defeat following the eight-wicket loss to South Africa in Tuesday's opening match.
The West Indians, who were sent in to bat on a drying wicket, struggled to 104-3 in 15 overs before the lower order added 60 valuable runs in the last five overs.
Dwayne Smith hit 29 off seven balls to lead his team's recovery, but the target of 8.3 runs an over was easily overtaken by the Bangladesh batsmen.
The match was delayed by an hour due to a wet pitch caused by excessive watering overnight by the ground staff, but there was no reduction in the number of overs.
"I think it was a very good toss to win because batting could not be easy on a drying wicket," Ashraful said. "I knew in my mind that 50 percent of the match had been won by winning the toss but we still had to go out there and get the runs. The boys have trained hard over the past month. We even attended an army commando camp and I was confident we will do well in Twenty20."
Bangladesh lost openers Mohammad Nazimuddin and Tamim Iqbal by the fourth over with just 28 runs on the board before Ashraful joined Aftab to leave the West Indies in the dumps.
Ashraful began with four boundaries in Daren Powell's third over which realized 18 runs and then hit seamer Ravi Rampaul for a six and four off consecutive balls.
The dapper batsman welcomed Dwayne Bravo with four, four, six.
At the other end, Aftab rotated the strike skillfully and hit eight boundaries and a six.
Yesterday's second game in Cape Town: England 188-9 (20 overs) beat Zimbabwe 138-7 (20 overs) by 50 runs.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Shahzad Khan was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
OBJECTIVE REACHED: ’Now for us, it’s about getting healthy, making sure everybody is ready to go, and we can ramp up,’ the Atlanta Hawks’ C.J. McCollum said after the game The Atlanta Hawks on Friday secured an NBA playoff berth with a 124-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Boston Celtics locked up the Eastern Conference second seed with a lopsided win of their own. C.J. McCollum scored a game-high 29 points for the Hawks, who came into the contest at sixth in the East and still in danger of falling into the play-in tournament that would see the seventh-through 10th-placed teams battle for the last two playoff berths in each conference. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson scored 18 points apiece, and Dyson Daniels added a triple-double of 13
RSS