July 29, 2009

Bangladesh wins ODI series chasing highest run

When West Indies put up 274 runs on the board during the 2nd ODI at Windsor Park in Dominica, not many in Bangladesh were convinced that the Tigers would be able to chase down the target. It was not just that it was something Bangladesh had not successfully chased before (their highest run-chase was 250 against Australia in Cardiff in 2005), but also the past records of the batters that often succumbed to self-destructed pressure, notwithstanding the strength of the opponents, that led to that belief.

Every time they step on the field, Bangladesh seem to be making history. After having beaten West Indies for the first time in Tests and ODIs, they sealed their first ODI series win against the hosts on Tuesday. More importantly, this win came by way of their highest successful chase in the limited-overs format, reaching the requisite 275 with six balls to spare.

At the centre of the accomplishment once again was Shakib Al Hasan, pulling West Indies back from a flying start, and then seeing his team through a tricky chase with a calm 65. Mohammad Ashraful, who got to back-to-back fifties for the first time since 2006, set up the Bangladesh reply after the openers struggled on a sluggish pitch that made it difficult to stroke the ball cleanly. The Shakib-Ashraful combination outdid an exceptional effort from Travis Dowlin, whose maiden international century lifted a fledgling West Indies to a fighting total.

Ashraful and Shakib came together after a sensible third-wicket partnership between Ashraful and Rokibul Hasan had ended, thanks to the pressure created by a slow pitch and tight bowling. Nevertheless, they had added 52 after the openers fell in a quick succession.

It was here that Ashraful took the lead, not letting the pressure mount. He first made room and slashed Bernard in the 28th over for the first boundary in 70 balls. When Rawl Lewis replaced Bernard in the next over, Ashraful lofted him over long-off for a six, bringing up his second fifty in three days. Shakib joined him in that charge, sweeping both Lewis and Bernard over midwicket. Those three overs brought Bangladesh 32 runs, and also brought down the asking-rate to less than six.

When Ashraful went for another six off Lewis, he put his team in a tricky state again, holing out to long-off. Until then, his 77-ball 64 had been well-paced, and he had added 74 with Shakib in 63 deliveries. But with 85 still required, Shakib had a major role to play. The boundaries were not easy to come -- even Lewis negated the big sweep with googlies and straighter ones -- but Shakib ran purposefully. He had to run all but six of his last 50 runs, but hardly did he ever let the scoring-rate fall.

During the match, the cameras panned to a spectator reading a magazine article on Shakib, titled the "Ice Man". Shakib indeed played like one, but needed some luck on his side. With 71 required off 60, Shakib tried to hit Lewis out of the ground, only skying it to land perfectly between cover and long-off, which also resulted in a collision between Darren Sammy and Bernard. That shot also took Shakib to his half-century, kicking off a spell of ordinary cricket from both sides.

With 56 needed off the last eight overs, Shakib called for the batting Powerplay, and Roach immediately threatened to finish the match in a hurry. Even before he could do that, Floyd Reifer almost let him bowl with five fielders outside the circle. Roach started with a half-volley and a fulltoss both hit for boundaries, before bowling his second beamer of the match to be removed from the attack. What's more, Shakib deposited it for a six.

Now it was the Ice Man's turn to falter with the match almost pocketed. He swung across the line to Sammy, getting out with 37 needed off 41. Three wides came in the next two overs before Bangladesh contributed their bit to the chaos. Devon Thomas, the designated wicketkeeper, had to bowl what was left of Roach's overs, and Mahmudullah gifted his second delivery with a leading edge. Riefer brought the fine leg up, Thomas saw two of his straight deliveries being punished and bowled two off-side wides to compensate. Mushfiqur returned the favour by hitting a fulltoss straight to cover. During that surreal period, the only question was which team wanted to lose more badly.

An overthrow here, an edge there, and Bangladesh reached the series win with an outside-edged boundary by Abdur Razzak. During this period of drama, the turnaround earlier in the day was almost forgotten. For the majority of the first innings, both Dowlin and West Indies seemed to struggle to get the ball off the square against the spinners. West Indies had huffed and puffed their way to 176 for 4 in 40 overs, struggling to combat the grip and the turn. Dowlin's story was no different -- he took 88 deliveries to reach his fifty and had trouble with his running between the wickets, too.

But with the Powerplay taken in the 41st over, things changed. Dowlin slog-swept the spinners with vengeance, getting close to the pitch every time, and hitting to long-on, cow corner, midwicket, square leg, et al. By the end of the Powerplay, West Indies had reached 216 for 5, and Dowlin 87 off 105 deliveries. In the next five overs, Dowlin took little time to reach his maiden century, and Lewis and Sammy made sure West Indies finished with 98 runs in their last ten overs. In the end, though, they were to be second-best.

July 28, 2009

Overnight downpour inundates vast areas of Dhaka city


Overnight heavy shower has inundated vast areas of the capital and its low-lying suburbs putting life in Dhaka in complete disarray. According to the Met Office, Dhaka experienced this season’s highest rainfall of 333 millimeters within a time span of just 10-hour till seven this morning. It is still drizzling with the Dhaka sky looking overcast following the heavy downpour triggered by a monsoon low.

School and office-goers got hard time negotiating knee to waist-deep water on the alleys and on also on many main city thoroughfares. Some of the city schools declared suspended their scheduled classes and examinations this morning. Normal life and business activities came to a total halt in many parts of the capital as its inadequate drainage system failed to cope with the heavy rush of rain waters and became clogged and water-logged at many places.

The downpour left things quite chaotic in the morning rush hours as commuters frantically looked for transports to get to offices, schools and business establishments. As the public transport system went out of gear, rickshaws, taxicabs and CNG-run three-wheelers braved the torrential rains and charged their passengers outrageously very high fares. Thousands of commuters were stuck in traffic jams in rush morning hours on the waterlogged streets.
The worst affected areas are Jatrabari, Motijheel, Mirpur, Kalyanpur, Shyamoli, Basabo, Goran, Azimpur, Dhanmondi, Minto Road, Press Club, Fakirapool, Moghbazar, Mowchak, Shantinagar, Kakrail, Uttara and the old parts of the city.

Activities at the Bangladesh Secretariat, the administrative hub of the country, could not be started till noon as many officials and employees failed attend their offices on time due to overnight heavy rainfall. Many of them entered the Secretariat at about 12:00pm while some others were still trying to reach their offices, sources said. Around 30 percent of the officials and employees remained absent due to the waterlogging at different parts of the capital.

Six lifts at different buildings inside the Secretariat went out of order after the Secretariat went under the knee-deep water. Officials of Fire Brigade, Power Development Board (PWD) and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) are trying to pump out the water.

The low developed over North Bay and adjoining Bangladesh coast Monday. The southwest monsoon was also strong over the North Bay and active over Bangladesh. Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Mongla were earlier advised to hoist local cautionary signal number three. Met officials foresee more rains over the next couple of days by the influence of the monsoon low.

Meantime Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday summoned top Dhaka WASA officials to her office over the water-logging in the city, a WASA official said. WASA chairman Golam Mostofa and acting managing director Mahbubur Rahman and several others went to meet with her at about 3pm, deputy chief public information officer at WASA Afsar Uz Zaman Khan said the reporters.

July 27, 2009

Bangladesh wins 1st ODI against West Indies, Razzak man of the match


Abdur Razzak made a triumphant return to the Bangladesh side when he helped the Tigers win the opening one-day international against West Indies by 52 runs on Sunday.

Razzak, who was prevented from bowling in international cricket in December 2008 due to a suspect action before having his suspension lifted in March, opened the bowling and took four wickets for 39 runs as Bangladesh defended a target of 247 at international cricket's newest venue of Windsor Park.

"I was not surprised when the captain gave me the new ball, especially the way the pitches have been playing in the Caribbean during this series," said Razzak. "When I played in the Caribbean in the 2007 World Cup, I also used the new ball, so it's normal. "But this was important for me. I was out of the team for eight months, and now I am back in the side, I am looking to do well."

The victory gives Bangladesh a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with the second ODI scheduled for the same venue on Tuesday, and the final ODI on Friday at Warner Park in St. Kitts.

Razzak again exposed the West Indies' frailty to spin bowling, after Bangladesh, sent in to bat, were restricted to 246 for nine from their allocation of 50 overs.

Mohammad Ashraful hit the top score of 57 and captain Shakib Al Hasan stroked 54 to lead the Bangladesh batting, despite Kemar Roach taking a career-best five wickets for 44 runs. But Razzak, who did not play in his team's successful Test series, then gave Bangladesh a boost, when he trapped West Indies opener Dale Richards lbw for one in the second over.

Bangladesh continued to build the pressure, particularly with their spin bowlers operating from very early, and West Indies slumped to 42 for four in the 12th over. Devon Smith and Dave Bernard Jr added 78 for the fifth wicket to stabilise West Indies.

But Shakib, bowling his left-arm spin, made the breakthrough in the 29th over, when he trapped Smith lbw for the top score of 65. Naeem Islam scalped Bernard caught at deep mid-wicket for 38 three overs later to leave West Indies 130 for six.

Rawl Lewis then put on 41 with Darren Sammy for the seventh wicket before Rubel Hossain bowled him for 21 in the 40th over. Bangladesh found little or no resistance from the remaining West Indies batsmen, although Sammy got 28 before Razzak trapped him lbw in the 42nd over.
"We lost the game with our batting," said West Indies captain Floyd Reifer.

"We didn't get the start we wanted from the top, and this is something that is worrying us at the moment. "We are not getting enough partnerships at the top of the innings. We are quite happy with the balance of the team."

Earlier, Ashraful held the Tigers' top-order together, and when he was dismissed, Shakib kept his nerve to take advantage of the powerplay in the closing overs to help Bangladesh post their highest total against West Indies.

Shakib said: "We were always confident with the final total we posted because we knew the pitch was playing a little slowly and we had four spinners in our side. "I have been surprised by the nature of the pitches in the Caribbean. I thought they would have had more bounce and pace. But it suited our spinners, and Razzak came back into the side, bowled well, and did a good job for us."

July 26, 2009

HSC result published, pass rate 72.78 percent

A student of Viqarunnisa Noon College speaks to her loved ones by mobile yesterday to break the news of her success in HSC exams.

The results of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations 2009 held under the country's 10 education boards were published yesterday, with average pass percentage of 72.78. A total of 20,136 students under all the education boards secured GPA-5.


Jubilant examinees of Notre Dame College flash victory sign as the college retains the number-1 position in terms of number of GPA-5 scorers. Notre Dame students scored highest 1,207 GPA-5.


Happy faces crowd Dhaka City College as it held on to second place in terms of number of GPA-5 scorers. Dhaka City College students scored second highest 934 GPA-5.


This year Viqarunnisa Noon College held on to third place in terms of number of GPA-5 scorers. Viqarunnisa Noon College students scored 531 GPA-5.


Top scorers of Chittagong College, their college secured first position in Chittagong Board in terms of number of GPA-5 scorers.


Examinees of New Govt Degree College Rajshahi pose for the camera after their college secured first position in Rajshahi Board in terms of number of GPA-5 scorers.


High scorers of Boyra Women's College in Khulna celebrate their results.

July 22, 2009

Eclipse evokes cheers in Panchagarh

Tens of thousands of people packed into a sports stadium in Panchagarh today with some weeping and shaking with fear as the moon passed over the sun for a full solar eclipse.

Around 100,000 people descended on the town of Panchagarh, a normally sleepy home to 30,000 people, according to district chief Banamali Bhoumik. "People filled the stadium hours before the eclipse took place," he said. "When the sun was covered, some people cried while others were shaking in fear as the moon ate up the sun completely.

"The whole stadium erupted in thunderous applause as soon as the sun emerged again." Bhoumik said thousands of devout Muslims prayed during the eclipse, believing the rare celestial event would trigger natural disasters in the impoverished country.

FR Sarker, the head of the Bangladesh Astronomical Society, said the total eclipse lasted less than four minutes, during which time stars were visible in the sky. "There were some clouds, but they shifted so we have still seen the best solar eclipse of our time. A cold spell hit the town as soon as the total eclipse began."

Bangladesh wins first-ever away Test series

Bangladesh stand-in captain Shakib Al Hasan (L) sprints into history in dashing style while his partner in a match-winning fourth wicket stand Rokibul Hasan (R) plays a delicate cut shot on the fourth day of the second Test against the West Indies at the National Stadium in Grenada on Monday.


The historic first-ever away Test series victory of the national cricket team against the West Indies was the talk of the sports arena on Tuesday as everyone greeted the Tigers for their brilliant success in the Caribbean.

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Sina ibn Jamali (L) is having a sweet festival with the board officials and national team sponsor Grameenphone's chief communications officer Rubaba Dowla (R) while celebrating Tigers' first-ever away series triumph at the BCB's Sher-e-Bangla Stadium headquarters yesterday.

July 15, 2009

Tigers win 1st away Test


Bangladeshi cricketers celebrate their victory at the end of the final day of the first Test match between West Indies and Bangladesh at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent.

Ford eyes strong foothold


2010 EXPERIENCE: Models (in the foreground) pose at the launch of Ford's new car at the Uttara showroom of AG Automobiles Ltd, the local agent of the US auto giant. Commerce Minister Faruk Khan (second from left in the background) attended the programme as chief guest.
Bangladesh Today