AGL 41.50 Increased By ▲ 2.96 (7.68%)
AIRLINK 128.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.50 (-1.16%)
BOP 6.26 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (11.59%)
CNERGY 4.13 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (6.99%)
DCL 8.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-3.32%)
DFML 40.69 Decreased By ▼ -1.07 (-2.56%)
DGKC 87.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.45%)
FCCL 34.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-2.57%)
FFBL 66.33 Decreased By ▼ -1.02 (-1.51%)
FFL 10.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.47%)
HUBC 108.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.06%)
HUMNL 14.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-1.36%)
KEL 4.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.11%)
KOSM 7.33 Increased By ▲ 0.38 (5.47%)
MLCF 42.72 Increased By ▲ 1.07 (2.57%)
NBP 60.84 Increased By ▲ 1.24 (2.08%)
OGDC 178.97 Decreased By ▼ -4.03 (-2.2%)
PAEL 25.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.55 (-2.1%)
PIBTL 6.06 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.51%)
PPL 146.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.55 (-0.37%)
PRL 24.91 Increased By ▲ 1.30 (5.51%)
PTC 16.14 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-2.54%)
SEARL 70.20 Increased By ▲ 1.90 (2.78%)
TELE 7.22 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 36.20 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.7%)
TPLP 7.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.13%)
TREET 15.59 Increased By ▲ 1.39 (9.79%)
TRG 50.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.18%)
UNITY 26.90 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.56%)
WTL 1.24 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (2.48%)
BR100 9,795 Decreased By -11.1 (-0.11%)
BR30 29,647 Decreased By -31.2 (-0.1%)
KSE100 92,021 Decreased By -282.9 (-0.31%)
KSE30 28,665 Decreased By -175.5 (-0.61%)

Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful Friday said his team are well on the way to becoming a competitive force after beating New Zealand for the first time in 12 one-day internationals. Bangladesh upset the Black Caps here on Thursday to go 1-0 up in the three-match series against the side chasing the second spot in the one-day rankings.
"I have said this before, if we do well in all three departments then we stand a good chance of being competitive. Thursday's performance was proof of that and it should pave the way for more wins," said Ashraful. The captain hit an unbeaten 60 to guide the home team to a seven-wicket win, reaching their modest 202-run target with 4.3 overs to spare.
The sensational win was set up by paceman Mashrafe Mortaza (4-44) and left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak (3-32), who restricted New Zealand to their lowest one-day total of 201-9 against Bangladesh. Left-handed opener Zunaed Siddique then scored a brilliant 85 for his maiden half-century to establish a base for a comfortable run-chase.
The two teams meet again in the second match here on Saturday. The third and final match is at Chittagong on Tuesday. Ashraful believed winning the toss was crucial. "The toss was very important. With the overnight rain and the cloud cover we needed the bowlers to have a go first. I want to compliment everyone, especially Mashrafe (Mortaza) and Razzak, who set up the win for us," he said.
New Zealand's previous lowest total against Bangladesh was 224 at Chittagong in 2004. The win comes despite the defection of 14 Bangladeshi players to the rebel Indian Cricket League, badly hitting the balance of the team. Bangladesh's Australian coach Jamie Siddons said the team looked good despite the problems.
"Losing players from the group is never good and I hope that doesn't happen again but the team looked good out there and everyone was motivated to overcome the loss," said Siddons. New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori said his team did not respect the conditions.
"We can't take anything away from Bangladesh, who I thought used the conditions a lot better than us. It was overcast and damp and as captain, you want to bowl first on that wicket, he added. A 3-0 win for the Black Caps would have propelled them to the number two spot in the International Cricket Council one-day rankings behind Australia.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.