Middle-order batsman Tawhid Hridoy hit a superb century and Afif Hossain
produced a fine all-round performance as Bangladesh defeated Canada by
66 runs to notch up their second victory in the ICC U-19 World Cup 2018
and strengthened their chances of progressing to the Super League stage
from Group C.
Tawhid scored 122 and Afif backed up his half-century with figures of
five for 43 as Bangladesh successfully defended 264 for eight by
dismissing Canada for 198 with three balls to spare. Bangladesh, who had
finished third in the home event in 2016, had earlier beaten Namibia by
87 runs on the opening day of the tournament on Saturday.
In the other Group C match of the day, England launched their campaign
with an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Namibia after Will Jacks (73
not out) and Harry Brook (59 not out) added 130 runs for the unbroken
third wicket in just under 15 overs as the 1998 champions achieved the
197-run target with more than half the quota of overs remaining.
Bangladesh lost a couple of early wickets, after being put in to bat at
the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln, but Tawhid took the mantle on
himself to see the team to a competitive score of 264 for eight in 50
overs.
He slammed nine fours and one six in a 126-ball 122 and also stitched
two useful partnerships in the process. He added 62 for the second
wicket with Mohammad Naim Sheikh (47, 67b, 5x4) and 111 for the third
with Afif Hossain (50, 59b, 5x4, 1x6).
Canada fast bowler Faisal Jamkhandi was the pick of the bowlers,
effective with both the new ball and the old. He finished with figures
of 8-0-48-5 that included the important scalps of Pinak Ghosh (0) and
Tawhid.
In reply, Canada were bowled out for 198 in 49.3 overs with captain
Arslan Khan getting 63 off 108 balls and opener Pranav Sharma 34 off 58
balls.
Off-spinner Afif followed up his 59-ball 50 with figures of 10-0-43-5,
while Hasan Mahmud took two for 23 as Canada were never to make a chase
of it. Afif, for his outstanding all-round performance, was later
adjudged player of the match.
Bangladesh captain Mohamed Saif Hassan was happy at his team’s
performance: “We played very well. First (we lost) two early wickets and
then (there was) the recovery. Then we had some good batting
partnerships Tawhid got a hundred and Afif got a fifty and we had a good
score on the board. Then the bowlers did the job very well,” he said.
England v Namibia
Electing to bat first in Queenstown, Namibia could not get the
partnerships going in the face of some tight bowling from the 1998
champions and were restricted to 196 for nine in 50 overs.
Shaun Fouche (44) and Nicol Loftie-Eaton (36) were the notable scorers
as leg-spinner Luke Hollman led the England bowling with a haul of three
for 41. Fast bowlers Tom Scriven and Harry Brook grabbed two wickets
each conceding 30 and 32 runs, respectively.
Brook also got the winning runs later in the day as he partnered with
Will Jacks in an unbroken 130-run stand. Number-four batsman Brook
stroked a quick 48-ball 59 with 12 fours but number-five batsman Jacks
overshadowed Brook with a brisk 44-ball 73 that comprised 12 fours and a
six.
Jacks, who was declared player of the match, said: “We have played these
guys a few times before and knew what we were going to expect, we can
now look to push forward from this to our game against Bangladesh on
Thursday.
“For the first game of the tournament, you just like to hit the ground
running and start with a good performance bat and ball, and we did that
today. The captain has been playing very well recently, in South Africa
and in the warmup game, he’s very important for us.”
Tawhid Hridoy celebrates after scoring a century against Canada during their ICC Under-19 World Cup match yesterday.