Mominul and Abul help Bangladesh seal series

Two standout performances, from Mominul Haque and Abul Hasan, ensured Bangladesh Under-19 clinched the series against Zimbabwe Under-19 with two games to go. While Mominul's well-compiled half-century ensured Bangladesh finished on a competitive 186, right-arm fast bowler Abul followed up his five-for from the previous match with 4 for 27.

Choosing to bat, Bangladesh lost too many wickets despite scoring aggressively, and stuttered to 70 for 5 in the 17th over. But the sixth-wicket stand of 56 between Mominul and Noor Hossain proved to be crucial. Mominul struck seven fours during his 104-ball stay, while Hossain managed four boundaries.

The Zimbabweans were under the cosh from the start of the reply as Abul picked up two top-order wickets. Dean Mazhawidza top scored for the visitors with a strong 39, while Natsai Mushangwe threatened at No. 8 with a quickfire 38. But once Abul removed Mushangwe, he followed it up with Simon Mugava's wicket. Stev Chimhamhiwa's run-out signalled the end in the 40th over.

Bangladesh complete clean sweep

Zimbabwe proved no match to Bangladesh in Bogra, losing by 121 runs and conceding the series 0-5. Bangladesh, after being asked to bat, took full toll, with openers Anamul Haque and Amit Majumder hammering centuries to add 231, and help take their team to a match-winning score of 270. Haque was the more measured of the two, striking nine fours and a six, in his 109 while Majumder's 129 came in 133 balls and was laced with 15 fours and three sixes.

Zimbabwe, in their reply, began in encouraging fashion with Daly Scott and Gary Chirimuta adding 60 for the opening wicket in ten overs. But Sabbir Rahman then stepped in to take four wickets for just 13 in under nine overs and triggered a collapse where six wickets fell for 33. The lower order added a further 56 but a Bangladesh win, by then, was a foregone conclusion.

Pakistan open campaign with win

A team effort from Pakistan Under-19s helped them make a winning start to the tri-series in Sri Lanka by convincingly beating Bangladesh Under-19s in a low-scoring encounter. There were no standout performances from Pakistan, but several players made 30s with the bat, and the wickets were shared around by the bowlers.

After choosing to bat, Pakistan stitched together six partnerships worth more than 20 but only one of those grew to 50 - the fifth-wicket stand between Hammad Azam (38) and Sarmad Bhatti (26). Bangladesh medium-pacer Abul Hasan leaked 50 runs in his six overs, but polished off the tail to finish with five wickets.

Chasing 212, Bangladesh's biggest partnership was also for the fifth wicket - 57 runs between Saikat Ali (25) and Mominul Haque (44)- but collapses on either side of that stand undermined the reply. With only one other batsman reaching double digits, Tasamul Haque (28), Bangladesh folded for 143.

Bangladesh get a chance to get their campaign back on track when they take on Sri Lanka in Dambulla on Monday. The tournament follows a double round-robin format, with the top two teams progressing to the final on December 8.

Bangladesh beat Australia

Cardiff, 18 June 2005
"It's only Bangladesh," thought Andrew Symonds, as he embarked on an ill-advised bender through the streets of Cardiff that ended at 8am on the morning of Australia's first match of the 2005 NatWest Series. Symonds was instantly dropped, but his indiscretion was the first sign of the tremors to come.
Seeking a big statement to launch their Ashes summer, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting instead managed just one run between them, and thereafter the innings stuttered. Damien Martyn and Michael Clarke steadied the ship, and Michael Hussey and Simon Katich added late momentum, but a target of 250 was by no means out of reach.
Certainly not with Mohammad Ashraful on hand to play the innings of his life. Short of stature but big in ticker, he lambasted an Australian attack that was already showing the first signs of the rust that England would capitalise on later in the summer. His brilliantly paced 100, from 101 balls, kept Bangladesh on course throughout, as word spread across the globe that something truly remarkable was afoot.
The coup de grace, however, was delivered by Aftab Ahmed. With seven needed for victory, it had all come down to the final over, delivered by Jason Gillespie. One blow put the contest beyond doubt - a mighty smear sailed clean over midwicket for six, to cue the most crazy scenes of jubilation ever witnessed at Sophia Gardens. Bangladesh had earned the respect of the cricketing world, and Australia's aura of invincibility was shattered.

Cricket in bangladesh

Cricket is a game which has a massive and passionate following in Bangladesh. There is a strong domestic league which on many occasions also saw players from foreign countries gracing the cricket fields of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has got the test status from ICC in 2000, which is a requirement for the countries to play Test cricket. The Bangladesh national cricket team's official logo is Royal Bengal Tiger, by which they are often referred at media.

The Cricket-Culture is not at all a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. As elsewhere in the subcontinent, the game itself was first introduced to the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta region by the British rulers nearly two centuries ago. For the better part of the British rule, cricket remained a recreational game for the aristocrats, inaccessible to the common people because of colonial class distinctions and the complicated nature of the game which the locals did not make out so easily. Following the liberation war which ended in Bangladesh gaining independence in 1971, cricket has continued to grow.

However, Bangladesh Cricket team is often criticized for their poor and unstable performance in international cricket matches. The ratio of total won vs total played is very low. They won three and six draws in test matches they played since they got their test status.[2] They have won the ninth spot in the world