DT
26 Sport
MONDAY, JULY 6, 2015
Rossouw praises Faf, bowlers n Mazhar Uddin
BANGLADESH v SOUTH AFRICA
South African batsman Rilee Rossouw, who helped his team near the 150-run mark in the first Twenty20 international against Bangladesh yesterday, informed that they were confident of defending the total although many thought it was a below-par score at the Shere-Bangla National Stadium. The visiting skipper Faf du Plessis scored an unbeaten 79 to anchor the Proteas’ inning on a day when the top-order failed, but it was Rossouw’s quick-fire 21-ball 31 at No 6, featuring two fours and as many sixes, that helped South Africa post the challenging 148 for four on a sluggish pitch. However, with the pitch holding up and providing vicious turn on the cloudy afternoon, the visitors had no trouble claiming a 52-run win and taking a 1-0 lead in the twomatch series.
1ST T20I, MIRPUR The AB relief Prior to the bilateral home series against South Africa, the Bangladesh camp was worried with swashbuckling batsman AB de Villiers. The right-hander, who only opened the batting for the Proteas in a T20I for the second time, was the main source of worry for the Tigers. Therefore, the home side were desperate to get rid of him early. And, the aim was achieved in just the sixth delivery of South Africa’s inning when left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny removed AB, who is perhaps the most terrifying batsman in world cricket at the moment. Yesterday was only the second instance of the 31-year old being dismissed for just two runs in a T20I.
Faf played an immaculate inning, he played really well. Especially when we lost two early wickets, he was still there and played his natural game
First ever free-hit for a no-ball for height Bangladesh’s newest pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman became the first bowler who was penalised with a free hit for a waist-high no-ball. The first of two T20Is between Bangladesh and South Africa was the maiden shorter-version match to be played under the amended conditions, set by the International Cricket Council in its annual conference in Barbados last month.
The flying bat Proteas T20 skipper Francois du Plessis went down on his knee and tried to sweep paceman Mustafizur over the short fine-leg region. However, Du Plessis lost his grip on the handle and top-edged the ball. As a result, the bat travelled further than the ball! Both the willow and the leather looped into the vacant squareleg region. A smiling Du Plessis ran down the wicket and duly took a single. –MINHAZ UDDIN KHAN
The bat slips out of South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis’ hand during his valuable 79* against Bangladesh at SBNS yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK
“Obviously we looked at the statistics and 150 looked to be a very good score on this ground. So we thought we had a very good chance of winning the match. Especially when the ball started turning in the second inning, it did favour us. We bowled really well and stuck to our guns,” Rossouw told the media in the post-match press conference. “He (Faf) played an immaculate inning, he played really well. Especially when we lost two early wickets, he was still there and played his natural game. We wanted a guy to be there till the end of the inning and target only from the 17th over,” he said. Rossouw said they need to maintain the momentum because “it’s never going to be easy playing Bangladesh in Bangladesh. They know the conditions better, there is no easy game for us and we have got to do the business.” l
U-19s off to a flier in South Africa n Tribune Desk
All-rounder Shakib continues to excel
The Bangladesh under-19 side went off to a flying start to their tour to South Africa after beating the hosts comprehensively by eight wickets yesterday and take a 1-0 lead in their five-match youth series. Set a target of 185, Joyraz Sheikh (50) and Pinak Ghosh (60) gave the visitors a tremendous 135-run opening partnership after which Bangladesh strolled home with 6.2 overs to spare. Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Mehedi Hasan Miraz were unbeaten on 23 and 15 respectively. The foundation of the victory was however laid by the Bangladesh bowlers in the opening hours of the game. 16-year old rightarm medium pacer Abdul Halim claimed three crucial wickets at the expense of 22 runs to create much of the trouble for the home side while Miraz took two wickets to maintain the pressure. l
Shakib al Hasan reached a new dimension in his career by becoming Bangladesh’s highest run-scorer and wicket-taker in Twenty20 internationals. The world’s number one all-rounder in all three formats of cricket made 26 in the first T20 against South Africa yesterday to take his run tally to 835 in 37 matches. With 45 wickets, the Tigers vice-captain is also the highest wicket-taker of the side. Prior to yesterday, Shakib jointly shared top spot with left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who has 44 wickets to his credit. Shakib surpassed his senior teammate after trapping South Africa middle-order batsman David Miller plumb in front. In the picture, Shakib reacts as umpire Enamul Haque raises his finger to a successful LBW shout against David Miller at the Sher-eBangla National Stadium yesterday l
n Minhaz Uddin Khan
MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK