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Captain Habibul Bashar says Bangladesh has made a statement to the cricket world after his team's shock World Cup victory over top-ranked South Africa on Saturday.

Bangladesh, ranked ninth in the 11-team world standings, racked up their World Cup record total of 251-8 and then bowled out a dispirited South Africa for just 184 to claim their first points in the second-stage Super Eights with a 67-run win.

The Bangladeshis have registered occasional upsets in previous matches but skipper Bashar suggested this win was the best because it came in the latter stage of a World Cup.

"This is pretty big," Bashar told reporters. "Every win is important for Bangladesh but this win is more important.

"We wanted to show when we came into the Super Eights that we were not there just to make the numbers up. We wanted to win points. We now have a chance for the semi-finals but we need to work really hard."

Having heavily lost to defending champions Australia and fancied New Zealand already, and with games approaching against England, Ireland and West Indies, Bangladesh's chances of making the last four would appear slim, but at least they can now hope.

South Africa had beaten Sri Lanka and World Cup debutants Ireland before this game and their passage to the semi-finals, which had seemed inevitable, is now quite uncertain. They have four points and Bangladesh have two.

Bashar praised Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Ashraful for their fearless approach to the South African attack after the duo shared a fifth-wicket stand of 76.

Man-of-the-match Ashraful dominated the innings with his entertaining knock of 87 from 83 balls, Aftab also played his part with a crucial 35 off 43.

"Ashraful played a wonderful innings for us and Aftab was a really important player for us too," Bashar said. "But we want him (Aftab) to get an 80 or a 90 rather than a brilliant 30 or 40."

Bangladesh fly out of Guyana on Sunday morning for their next match with England in Barbados on Wednesday.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Bangladesh-thumps-South-Afr ica/2007/04/08/1175970914459.html

Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Omar), 2-59 (Bashar), 3-69 (Iqbal), 4-84 (Hasan), 5-160 (Ahmed), 6-179 (Rahim), 7-233 (Mortaza), 8-248 (Ashraful).

Overs: 50

South Africa

Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Smith), 2-63 (Kallis), 3-64 (de Villiers), 4-67 (Prince), 5-87 (Boucher), 6-87 (Kemp), 7-132 (Pollock), 8-137 (Nel), 9-162 (Langeveldt), 10-184 (Ntini)

Overs: 48.4

Result: Bangladesh win by 67 runs

Points: Bangladesh 2, South Africa 0

Toss: South Africa

Umpires: Mark Benson (ENG) and Billy Doctrove (WIS)

TV umpire: Steve Bucknor (WIS)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=170331

Players in breach of Code of Conduct

Tendulkar and Yuvraj given seven days to explain comments

Cricinfo staff

April 10, 2007

Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh have been given seven days to explain their conduct to the Indian board for having spoken to the media on former coach Greg Chappell.

"The notices seeking an explanation were sent yesterday and they have been asked to respond within seven days," a BCCI official told Cricinfo.

The two players were issued notices on April 7 asking them to explain their comments to the media which were in violation of the board's Code of Conduct for its players.

On April 4 The Times of India published an interview with Tendulkar in which he said that Indian cricketers would be disappointed with Chappell if he questioned their attitude. "I've given my heart and my soul for 17 years," Tendulkar was quoted as saying. "No coach had mentioned even in passing that my attitude was not correct. Cricket has been my life for all these years and will always be.

"It's not that we are defending ourselves," he added. "We do realise that we played badly and, as a team, we take full responsibility for that. But what hurt us most is if the coach has questioned our attitude."

Yuvraj's comment to a television channel on April 6, that all the players supported Tendulkar, was also deemed a breach of the code.

Cricinfo

Pollard makes debut as Lara puts South Africa in

The Bulletin by Anand Vasu

April 10, 2007

Toss West Indies chose to field v South Africa
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

Brian Lara won the toss and chose to field in the crucial match between South Africa and West Indies at the National Cricket Stadium in St George's, Grenada. On a day where the forecast was for partial cloud cover, in conditions fairly typical of what we have seen all tournament, the stage was set for a clash that will have a serious impact on the semi-final line-up in this World Cup.

West Indies made plenty of changes to their team. They brought in Corey Collymore for Jerome Taylor, Kieron Pollard in for Dwayne Smith while Devon Smith, the local boy, gets a game. It's a huge day for Devon Smith, but even bigger for Pollard, who is making his ODI debut in this big match. South Africa, for their part, brought Andrew Hall into the team in place of Charl Langeveldt, and the big hitting Loots Bosman replaced Justin Kemp.

The pitch at this stadium has not been used in the World Cup so far. There's some grass on the pitch but it's dry, dead and rolled well into the surface. Michael Holding believed that the dark nature of the pitch suggested that there was some moisture under the surface. With uncertainty surrounding how the pitch would play, both teams will be cautious in their approach, unsure of exactly how to plan their innings.

South Africa are no longer the No.1 team in the world, having been beaten rather soundly by Bangladesh. They now face a team that has a history of dumping them in big games and tournaments. Though West Indies have struggled to get any sort of momentum going in this tournament, what was meant to be their extravaganza, it's not beyond them to lift their game against a team like South Africa.

Lara has repeatedly spoken of how his team has it in them to stun the best, and that the unpredictable tag sat lightly on their shoulders. With results not quite going their way, it's reached a stage where every game is a must-win. Some players wilt under this sort of pressure, but Lara has famously come up with some of his best knocks in just these circumstances. West Indies need just that. Equally important to West Indies' prospects is Chris Gayle, who is due for a score. When Gayle fires at the top West Indies, more often than not, put a healthy total on the board.

Teams
South Africa 1 AB de Villiers, 2 Graeme Smith (capt), 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Herschelle Gibbs, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 Loots Bosman, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Andrew Hall, 9 Shaun Pollock, 10 Andre Nel, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4, Brian Lara (capt), 5 Devon Smith, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Kieron Pollard, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Daren Powell, 11 Corey Collymore.

Anand Vasu is associate editor of Cricinfo

Cricket-India's Shastri wants fresh blood in national team

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MUMBAI, India, April 9 (Reuters) - India's newly appointed cricket manager Ravi Shastri is backing the infusion of fresh blood into the team following last month's early World Cup exit in the Caribbean.

On Saturday, the 44-year-old Shastri was handed the task of guiding the team for next month's tour of Bangladesh after Australian Greg Chappell resigned as coach in the wake of the World Cup debacle.

"You need to look at youth in whatever walk of life at some stage. There is a shelf-period for everything," Shastri told CNN-IBN news television channel on Monday.

India, touted favourites back home, were knocked out of the World Cup in the group phase after defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, prompting several former players and fans to call for large-scale changes to the team.

The powerful working committee of the board advised the selection committee to send a young team to Bangladesh under an experienced captain on Saturday, and on the same afternoon, Rahul Dravid was retained as skipper for the next three tours.

"If you have got to experiment and try and do something, do it against Bangladesh," said Shastri, who played 80 tests and 150 one-day internationals between 1981 and 1992.

The former captain, currently a commentator with a leading sports broadcaster, was given the role on an interim basis.

Starting on May 10, the tour consists of three one-day internationals and two tests.

Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. | Learn more about Reuters

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007 17:59 IST