Bangladesh avert another embarrassment

Bangladesh 139 for 6 (Keshvani 5-29) beat Canada 136 (Jethi 42) by four wickets
Scorecard

Bangladesh made heavy weather of beating a spirited Canadian side, as memories of their senior team's humiliation in last year's World Cup came flooding back into the picture.

On that occasion it had been a dreadlocked plumber-turned-seamer, Austin Codrington, whose five-wicket haul condemned Bangladesh to defeat. This time, it was a young offspinner Shaheed Keshvani who applied the heebie-jeebies, taking 5 for 29 in his ten overs. But unfortunately for Canada, their total of 136 was insufficient to engineer another upset.

Canada won the toss, batted first and collapsed to 36 for 5 as Talha Jubair and Nazmul Hossain tore through the top-order, with the aid of a run-out. But Karun Jethi belted Canada towards a reasonable total with 42 from 26 balls, and added 70 for the sixth wicket with Soham Anjaria (27).

Bangladesh's openers Naeem Islama and Nafees Iqbal opened the run-chase with a half-century partnership but then, with a comfortable victory in sight, Keshwani ripped through the middle-order - aided and abetted by a series of loose shots. The prospect of an embarrassing defeat was finally averted by Nazim Uddin, whose 27 not out took Bangladesh to victory in 34.5 overs.

Canada's coach Franklyn Dennis was disappointed despite the tight-ish finish. "I'm not very pleased with today's performance," he said. "We expected to win matches in this tournament and we haven't yet come close."

Bangladesh's opener Nafees was pleased to see his side return to winning ways but was frustrated by his own soft dismissal. "The last few days have been disappointing," he admitted. "I have not been satisfied with my batting and today I made the wrong decision and was out."

Ireland 329 for 9 (Morgan 117) beat Uganda 206 (Arinaitwe 42) by 123 runs
Scorecard

Eoin Morgan hammered 117 from 129 balls, and Kevin O'Brien continued his good form with 70 from 87, as Ireland swept past Uganda in their Plate Championship encounter at Chittagong. The pair added 166 for the third wicket to form the backbone of an imposing total of 329 for 9. Uganda performed creditably in their run-chase, but were eventually bowled out for 206 with four overs to spare.

Ireland won the toss and chose to bat, but suffered an early setback when Gary Wilson was run out for 5 in the fifth over (22 for 1). Morgan and his captain William Porterfield then added 59 for the second wicket, and by the time Morgan and O'Brien had completed their hefty effort, Ireland had wickets in hand and licence to go after the bowling. Andrew Riddles (23 from 15) and Simon Wells (33 from 11) did just that, and though the innings was interrupted by two late run-outs, 82 runs still came from the last seven overs.

Not content with his batting heroics, Morgan took the new ball and grabbed wickets with his first and fourth balls as Dennis Musali and Arthur Kyobe were snapped up for ducks. But Uganda refused to buckle, as Hamza Almuzahim and Davis Arinaitwe produced a pair of 40s to stabilise the middle order, before Patrick Ochan (26 not out) and Danniel Ruyange added 32 for the tenth wicket.