Live: Bangladesh VS SrI Lanka

NEW DELHI, March 21: Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar won the toss and decided to bowl first against Sri Lanka in the Group B match at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene informed that he had retained the team which played their opening match against Bermuda.

On a high after their shock victory over the Indians, Bangladesh would be keen to repeat their giant-killing against Sri Lanka in the crucial Group 'B' tie of the World Cup.

Coach Dav Whatmore, who was brain behind Sri Lanka's success in 1996, has come with another efficient strategy for his new wards.

If 11 years ago he let Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana to have a go at the bowlers when field restrictions were on, Whatmore is asking the medium-pacers to exploit the damp morning conditions to restrict the opposition.

The prodigious line-up, comprising Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Aftab Ahmed, Saqibul Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful, would take care of the rest.

It would be an exciting proposition to watch Iqbal, Rahim and Hasan, who scored half-centuries against India take on the seasoned Sri Lankan attack. While a win would confirm Bangladesh's berth in the Super Eight, Mahela Jayawardene and his team-mates have a double task on their hand.

Sri Lanka sit at the top on basis of a better runrate (+4.86) from their only game against Bermuda. India is second with runrate of (+2.51) after one and one loss while Bangladesh is placed third (+.14) following their upset win over India.

With the last match of the Group scheduled between Bangladesh and debutants Bermuda, the former would be in a position to know the permutation and combination required to go through.

Sri Lanka, who have won 17 of their 18 ODIs against Bangladesh, would therefore hope to post a crushing win tomorrow to get two points and swell their runrate.

Teams

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Malinga Bandara.

Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (captain), Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Saqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Tapash Baisya, Syed Rasel, Rajin Saleh and Javed Omar.

Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:54PM GMT

World Cup: Bangladesh wins toss, asks Sri Lanka to bat

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad: Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar won the toss and asked Sri Lanka to bat first Wednesday in World Cup Group B match at Queen's Park Oval.

Both sides fielded the same teams from their opening wins.

Bangladesh upset India by five wickets and 1996 champion Sri Lanka won its first match against Bermuda by 243 runs.

Bangladesh v Sri Lanka

WORLD CUP, GROUP B, TRINIDAD: Sri Lanka 54-0 (9 overs) v Bangladesh

Sri Lanka made a watchful start after being asked to bat by Bangladesh in the important Group B game in Trinidad, reaching 24-0 after five overs. Paceman Mashrafe Mortaza and left-arm seamer Syed Rasel posed some early problems for the left-handed openers with some bounce and seam movement. But Sanath Jayasuriya took advantage of a short one from Rasel and pulled the first boundary in the second over.

He then clipped one effortlessly off his pads for six over square-leg.

9th over: 54-0
No real fireworks yet from Sri Lanka, they're happy to take ones and twos at this stage, but the fifty's up already. Jayasuriya looking good through the third man/gully area. I was at school with a chap whose hockey skills always came out in his batting, as he only ever rarely hit the ball in front of the wicket. You could set the field appropriately! "At Towcester Ladies cricket club we call them anything that is polite when they have a bat in their hands... it's far safer!"
Graeme Williams in the TMS inbox 8th over: 46-0
Tharanga sees one fly off the edge over gully, while Jayasuriya pulls a wayward ball to leg for four as the sun threatens to return. 7th over: 40-0
Tharanga is starting to get his eye in. He cuts Mortaza for four, and is also rapped on the pad by a ball that pitched outside leg stump. Tharanga has 17, Jayasuriya has 16. "There's a bit of a lack of communication between the batsmen. They've opened together many times, but only Jayasuriya's communicating well."
Colin Croft on TMS 6th over: 32-0
Three Bangladesh fielders combine to save a boundary from Jayasuriya, who takes three anyway, but Tharanga just edges the next one off his legs for four. Bangladesh have some very keen supporters in the stand, holding a cute toy tiger. 5th over: 24-0
Tharanga straight-drives past Mortaza, who falls to the turf trying to stop it. Let's hope he's all right after his fielding sprawl in the second over. Jayasuriya has suddenly crept up to 13 with a couple of dabs to third man. "Do women cricketers get called batsmen? Or are they batters, batswomen or batspersons? Or is this another example of political correctness gone mad?"
Neil Okninski in the TMS inbox 4th over: 20-0
Rasel strays down the leg side with a half-volley and Jayasuriya effortlessly flicks him over the square-leg boundary for six. Nice wrists, Sanath. Tharanga then charges for an attempted single which was never there - Rasel shies at the stumps at the bowler's end but misses. Tharanga would have been run out by about five metres but escapes. "Net run-rate is probably a fair way to decide the groups when teams are level on points, but it's not the easiest to follow at the ground. Run-rate's not my strongest suit!"
Kevin Howells on TMS 3rd over: 11-0
Tharanga nudges a single, while Jayasuriya clips Mortaza off his legs for two. A steady start for the 1996 world champions. 2nd over: 8-0
The southpaws are dominating the action as we've got Syed Rasel bowling left-arm seam to the two left-handers. He beats Jayasuriya's outside edge before the old campaigner pulls to leg and Mortaza slips on the turf just when it looked like he was going to stop the four. Mortaza then glares at the turf in the manner of a goalkeeper glaring at an imaginary divot as he looks to shift the blame for a soft goal. 1st over: 4-0
Mashrafee Mortaza opens the bowling for Bangladesh and swiftly finds a good length against Upul Tharanga, although he gets Sri Lanka off the mark with a wide from the second ball. Tharanga dabs a quick tip-and-run single, so he's off the mark too, while Jayasuriya adds a leg-bye off a no-ball. Four runs on the scoreboard - and three extras already. "Of course it's an absolute disgrace (saying "elect to bowl" rather than "field") along with the use of 'batters' rather than 'batsmen'. Cricket is not rounders, let alone baseball."
Richard Rosser in the TMS inbox 1328: The players are out on the field and we're almost ready to roll. 1317: Just my luck to get landed with the most mathematically challenging group. Take a deep breath, these are the permutations: If Sri Lanka win today, they are still not certain of reaching the Super 8 phase as if if they lose to India on Friday and Bangladesh beat Bermuda on Sunday, three teams would finish on four points and run-rate would determine qualification.
However, a Bangladesh win today would guarantee them a place in the second phase - as they would then have four points, leaving India and Sri Lanka in a straight eliminator on Sunday to claim the second qualification place.

A Bangladesh win would also end Bermuda's very, very faint chances of progressing. Poor old Dwayne Leverock. 1311: Both teams are unchanged, and Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar thinks it's a good toss to win. 1307: As a youngster learning the game, I was told that the accepted phrase was that you elected to "field" rather than "bowl" first. Many people say "bowl" now - when did it all change?

1305: A very good afternoon. It may be lunchtime in the UK, it's a bright morning in Trinidad and just after 7pm in Bangladesh - and the news is that the Tigers have won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/6471657.stm