Bangladesh emerge as Champion in ACC Women's Tournament

Bangladesh women cricket team made a dream debut in the international circuit by winning the inaugural ACC Women's Championship in Johor Bahru, Malaysia today. They outperformed Nepal by 8 wickets in the rain affected final to become the unbeaten champion of the eight nation tournament.

Bangladesh dominated throughout the tournament and the one sided final only reaffirmed the gulf of differences between Bangladesh and other associate nations participated in the tournament.

Winning toss Nepal opted to bat first under overcast conditions, but failed to stand firm against the fearsome Bangladesh bowling line up. Midday rain curtailed the match to 18 overs a side and Nepal could only manage 26 runs for the loss of 8 wickets at the end proved too little to challenge Bangladesh.

Bangladesh pace trio Salma Khatun, Shamima Akhter, Tithi Rani Sarkar and left arm chinaman bowler Champak Chakma ripped through the Nepal innings and bagged 2 wickets each for only 21 runs.

Bangladesh needed only 9.2 overs to reach the winning target with the loss of two wickets to emerge as the superior team of the tournament.

Bangladesh all-rounder Panna Ghosh was adjudged player of the tournament while glove women Mina Khatun earned the best wicketkeeper of the tournament award.

Murali milestone sinks Bangladesh

A match winning 12-82 by Muttiah Muralitharan completed a 3-0 whitewash and Bangladesh lost the third match by an innings and 193 runs to end a forgettable series against Sri Lanka at Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy today.

Muralitharan required exactly 12 wickets to reach 700 Test wicket milestone after Aussie wizard Shane Warne, and he achieved the feat in style in front his home crowd in Candy today. Murali now needs only 9 wickets to supersede Warne to become the most successful bowler of the Test history.

Bangladesh could only manage 176 runs in the second innings in reply to Sri Lanka's 500-4d and got bundled out within the second session of 4th day. Shahriar Nafees top scored with 64 runs while all other batsmen refused to learn from their previous mistake and got out cheaply playing flashy shots.

Bangladesh will now play a 3 match ODI series against the Islanders which starts from July 20 at P Sara Stadium in Colombo.

Bangladesh continue their first day blue amid showers

Bangladesh failed to capitalize on the solid start on the stop-start rain affected first day of the third and final Test and were struggling at 72-4 at close an Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy today.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful could not pick the right side of the coin and his counterpart Mahela Jayawardene made no hesitation to send Bangladesh in under gloomy

Muralitharan picked two quick wickets to convert Bangladesh’s steady start into struggle © Cricinfo

overcast conditions. Sri Lankan pace sensation Lasith Malinga picked a leaden-footed Javed Omar in his 2nd over to reduce Bangladesh to 10-1.

Former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar in a bid to rediscover his form promoted him up the order, and formed a useful 38 run partnership with Shahriar Nafees to steady the Bangladesh innings. Bangladesh went to an early rain forced lunch without losing any further wicket.

After a rain break of 117 minutes, play finally resumed but this time Bashar was undone by the very first delivery he faced from Farveez Maharoof after the break. The ball jagged back sharply from the good length and may have kissed Bashar's glove faintly on the way to the wicketkeeper. The replay was inconclusive and Bashar might consider him unlucky for the dismissal.

After the departure of Bashar, spin wizard Muralitharan plucked two quick wickets to convert Bangladesh's steady start into struggle. Rajin Saleh was first to go for a painstaking 29 ball duck and a restless Shahriar Nafees soon followed him gifting his wicket away for the third consecutive time in the series. Nafees scored 29 from 77 deliveries and appeared set to produce a big score before the rush of blood again thwarted his progress.

After another couple of rain induced stop-start, play was finally called off due to bad light, and Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful have to perform another rescue act tomorrow with flown in Tushar Imran to save Bangladesh’s face in the Test match.

Bangladesh aim to restore pride in the dead rubber

Bangladesh, mauled by the Lankan Lions in the first two Test, are desperately looking for some rescue act by top order batsman to restore some pride in the thirst and final Test match of the Laqshya series due to start tomorrow in Kandy Asgiriya Stadium.

Bangladesh have flown in A team captain Tushar Imran to stabilise the fragile middle order who had an excellent Sri Lanka tour

Tushar Imran is flown in to perform rescue act © Cricinfo

with Bangladesh A team in early this year. Mehrab Hossain Jr. who made his debut in the second Test lost his place to make way for Tushar.

Bangladesh is approaching the match with three pacers and left arm paceman Syed Rasel finally received the nod of the team management ahead of out-of-sort Mohammad Sharif who played in the first two Tests without any success.

Traditionally the wicket of Kandy is pacer friendly and offers movement in early hours. Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful is expecting to win first toss as Captain to exploit the condition. Bangladesh lost the toss on previous occasions and were blown away in their first innings in both Tests played in Colombo.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka are aiming the whitewash to keep the momentum going. Sri Lanka have brought in all-rounder Farveez Maharoof in place of Chaminda Vaas who was released after the second Test for his county duty with Middlesex.

Upul Tharanga, who suffered a hairline fracture on the left foot during a practice session, is set to start in the third Test and Sujeewa De Silva might get the chance to impress as Sri Lankan management wants to explore the reserves in the dead rubber match.

Teams:

Bangladesh from: Javed Omar, Nafees Ahmed, Rajin Saleh, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Tushar Imran, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Syed Rasel, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Rafique, Shahadat Hossain.

Sri Lanka from: Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sujeewa de Silva

Resolute Bangladesh extend Colombo Test

Bangladeshi batsmen have put a gritty effort to extend first Test beyond third day at SSC ground in Colombo today. Bangladesh ended the day at 233-5 and still trailing by 255 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the second innings.

After fighting hard throughout the day, Bangladesh have blown the advantage away when some lapse of concentration resulted in the downfall of Saleh and Ashraful, and Bangladesh slumped to 231-5 from a commanding 227-3.

Javed Omar led Bangladesh's resistance in Colombo © Cricinfo

All Bangladeshi batsmen got start but none of them were able to capitalize on it to produce a much needed big score. Veteran opener Javed Omar and stocky Rajin Saleh showed promise to play a long innings but could only manage half-centuries before returning to the pavilion. Javed was undone by a reverse swing toe crusher from slingy Lasith Malinga while Rajin offered a slip catching practice off Tilakaratne Dilshan.

Javed Omar was the top scorer for Bangladesh with 62 runs while Rajin Saleh struck a sedate 51 to deny Sri Lankans in the first two sessions of the day.

Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh’s newly appointed captain, again missed out the opportunity to stamp his authority by throwing his wicket away after making a determined 37. Muralitharan, who found wickets were far more precious to come by compared to first innings, gleefully accepted the gift from Ashraful in the penultimate over of the day.

Bangladesh have to bat extraordinarily well to avert the imminent innings defeat but weather might play its own part in deciding the fate of the Test match.

A no-contest in Colombo

A battered and bruised Bangladesh managed to see off the last 3 overs of the day but could not escape humiliation in day two of the first Test in Colombo today. An innings defeat is looming as Bangladesh are trailing by 485 runs with 10 wickets remaining in the second innings at stumps.

Vaas en route to his maiden Test century after 92 Tests © Cricinfo

Bangladesh managed to show some promise in the first session of the days play as they picked three wickets and reduced Sri Lanka from 304-3 to 354-6, but an unbroken 223 run partnership between Prasanna Jayawardane and Chaminda Vaas left Bangladesh bleeding in the Sri Lankan capital. Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful used eight bowlers to break the partnership which only saw a futile end.

Both Jayawardne and Vaas have registered their maiden Test century, and Sri Lanka eventually declared at 577 for 6 taking a mammoth 488 run lead in the first innings.

A dead track and a showery weather forecast won't be enough to prevent complete mortification in the Test match unless Bangladeshi batsmen learn the patience and grittiness displayed by their Sri Lankan counterpart.

Bangladeshi batsmen have to come out of their reputation to deny Sri Lankan bowlers who have got the ability to inject life on the comatose pitch of Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.

Sri Lanka toy with Bangladesh to stamp authority in Colombo

Bangladesh experienced yet another forgettable day of Test cricket in the first day of the first Test match against Sri Lanka at SSC ground in Colombo today.

After rattling Bangladesh to a paltry 89 within 33 overs, Sri Lanka finished the day with 227 for the loss of 3 wickets and are leading by 137 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the first innings.

Bangladesh had no answer to Murali magic © Cricinfo

Bangladesh, put into bat by Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardane, failed to show any kind of temperament or resistance against Lankan bowlers. Poor shot making, lack of footwork and poor technique all contributed to Bangladesh's misery and none of the batsmen showed enough guts to take the challenge to the opposition.

Spin wizard Muttiah Muraliatharan was the wrecker-in-chief for the Lankans and took 5 wickets for 15 runs to dismantle the fragile Bangladeshi batting line up. Dilhara Fernando joined the party and picked 3 wickets for 33 runs.

Bangladesh created some false sense of competitiveness in the Sri Lankan innings when Shahadat Hossain picked two quick wickets and reduced Sri Lanka to 14-2. Sri Lanka took no time to bounce back and finished the day with full authority over the Test match.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardane top scored with 93 before retiring due to a calf strain while opener Michael Vandort is 13 short of a well deserved century at the end of the first day.