The win put Bangladesh ahead of England, who have scored five points, by one point from five matches brightening the possibility of a berth in the ICC Cricket World Cup quarter final.

The Tigers played 41.2 overs to reach their target and lost four wickets – Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees and Shakib Al Hasan.

Imrual Kayes played 113 balls and scored 73, including six boundaries while Mushfiqur Rahim 11 off 12 balls.

Defending their paltry 160, the Netherlands players enforced a tight fielding from the very beginning.

Mudassar Bukhari struck Bangladesh in the fourth ball of the first over. Tamim tried to push the good length and got an inside edge onto the off stump.

Junaid, who joined on Tamim’s departure, went back in the fifth ball of the 21st over. Peter Borren sent a short and wide ball. Though Junaid had time to concentrate before hitting it, he slapped it straight to Pieter Seelaar in extra cover. Seelaar made no mistake to grip it confidently.

Junaid played 53 balls and scored 35, including four boundaries.

Shahriar Nafees was the third wicket to fall. The fifth ball of the 35th over dislodged the bails as he tried to sweep it. Cooper tossed up the ball on the leg stump and takes it out. Shahriar scored 37 off 60 balls. He hit four boundaries.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan later joined Imrul but could not last long. He also fell victim to Cooper. The fourth ball of the 38th over sent him back to pavilion. Shakib tried to loft that inside out over the extra cover. Ryan ten Doeschate ran to the line of the ball, dived and took an excellent catch at cover.

Shakib went for one run off seven balls.

Mushfiqur Rahim later joined Kayes on the crease.

DUTCH INNINGS

The Dutchmen, uncomfortable on the crease from the beginning, found Bangladesh bowlers too difficult to play and folded for 160 runs in 46.2 overs.

Sent to field by the by Dutch captain Peter Borren, the Bangladesh bowlers made it tough for their opponents to add runs to the scoreboard with ease.

Shakib made the breakthrough for Bangladesh in the first ball of 10th over picking up the wicket of Wesley Barresi to the wild applaud of the crowd.

The ball went straight on and l struck Barresi on the pads when sending Shakib go down on his knee for his signature appeal. Convinced, the umpire raised his finger. The Dutch openers pondered for a while whether to seek a review but gave up later.

Barresi went back to the pavilion for 10 runs off 29 balls.

The second success for Bangladesh also came in spin ball in the 13th over.

One down Mudassar Bukhari tried to swing the second ball over midwicket ending up sending it high in the air. Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim rushed to take it calmly. Mudassar scored 6 off 13 balls.

The other opener, Eric Szwarczynski was on the non-striking end when Shakib bowled to Tom Cooper fifth ball of the 23rd over. Down the track after being hit hard, the ball got Shakib’s touch before rolling on to the stumps. Szwarczynski was outside the crease and had to return to the dressing room for 28 runs. He played 63 balls and hit an over boundary.

Cooper went back in the first ball of 26th over. He cut it away hard off the back foot. Shakib got quickly to his right and threw it very fast. Though it was quite outside the crease, Mushfiqur did a splendid job taking it low to his left and then lobbing it back on to the stumps. The umpire had no reason top hesitate or even call the third umpire.

Cooper was run out for 29 runs off 41 balls.

The fifth wicket was Kervezee, in the 33rd over. After the delivery from Suhrawadi Shuvo, he took two steps down the crease to play the ball over the midwicket. But the ball turned past the swipe to be gripped by Rahim who completed a comfortable stumping. Kervezee scored 18 from 24 balls.

Razzak was successful in the very first ball of the 38th over. Tom de Grooth fell for a leg before after scoring 4 runs off 15 balls. He went for a sweep to the flat and straight ball and missed it.

Atse Buurman took the third ball of the over, a full delivery from middle stump, and flicks it right in to the hands of Imrul Kayes in the short midwicket. He went back for 0, playing two balls.

The eighth wicket, Peter Borren, was run out for 3 runs in the third ball of the 41st over. After ten Doeschate sent the ball to the point, Shuvo dived forward and lobbed the ball under-arm to Mushfiqur Rahim. The wicketkeeper was very quick to take off the bails as Borren was short of his ground even after a despairing dive.

Abdur Razzak took the previous two wickets – AF Buurman and TN de Grooth — in the first and third ball of the 38th over. He picked up the wicker of Mudassar Bukhari in the 13th over.

The ninth wicket, Pieter Seelaar, was the first success of any Bangladeshi pacer in the match.

Rubel Hossain sent a fuller delivery to allure Seelaar to waft across the line. Missing it completely, the Dutch batsman received the ball on his pad. He went back for 0 playing the whole over.

Adeel Raja was the 10th wicket to fall, being run out on 0. Ryan ten Doeschate drove off Shafiul’s fuller delivery towards the extra cover and invited Adeel for a single. Shahriar Nafees sent the ball from there to the bowler, who calmly took off the bails, Adeel could not be seen near the crease.

The Bangladesh skipper was also happy and said he would have bowled had he won the toss.

TEAMS

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain.

Netherlands: Eric Szwarczynski, Wesley Barresi, Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Alexei Kervezee, Tom de Grooth, Atse Buurman, Peter Borren, Mudassar Bukhari, Pieter Seelaar and Adeel Raja

The Tigers reached their targets in 49 overs losing eight wickets after a well articulated fielding that restricted the English side to a seemingly reachable score.

The fourth wicket partnership between Imrul Kayes and Shakib Al Hasan earned Bangladesh 82 runs to give the impetus to chase.

Abdur Razzak, the latest wicket, went back giving catch to Bresnan off Swann’s ball in the fourth ball of the 40th over. Earlier, Naeem Islam faltered in the first ball of the previous over, bowled by Azmal Shahzad.

Imrul failed to land safely as he attempted to change side in the last ball of 31st over, returning to the pavilion for 60 runs off 100 balls. He pushed the ball to deep square and started running. Azmal Shahzad sent an excellent throw to see off the opener after a good fight.

The spinners responded to Tigers skipper’s call at the early stage of the England innings conceding runs meagrely. However, Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan registered a 109-run partnership to give England some footing.

It was the second ball of the 13th over. Juanid hit the ball and stood there when he heard the call from Imrul to run. He launched himself from there but was late by a second or two maybe. Anderson, after an excellent piece of fielding, threw the ball straight to the non-striker’s end.

Junaid went back for 12 off as many balls, scoring two boundaries.

Raqibul Hasan had almost no clue when the fourth delivery from Azmal Shahzad in the 14th over ripped off his off stump. The ball pitched on the same side to go straight to send off Raqibul who was called in to hold wickets for some time. He played just two balls and was yet to register anything on the scorecard.

Earlier in the ninth over, Tamim mistook to judge the fourth delivery of Tim Bresnan, which was a fullish one. He tried to play it across and saw the stumps behind dislodged: clean bowled. He scored 38 off 26 balls, including five boundaries.

With Tamim going, a silence descended at the stadium as it was taken for granted that Mr. Dependable would lead through the innings to seal the much-expected win. Result of the match was going to set the course of both the teams’ journey through rest of the tournament

Naeem Islam, Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzak grabbed two wickets each while and Mahmudullah, Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain took one wicket each.

Spinners seize control over the whole match capturing seven wickets while pacers took only two wickets and another was run out.

Earlier, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan invited England to bat after winning the toss.

England have changed, Michael Yardy, Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen with Paul Collingwood, Ajmal Shahzad and Eoin Morgan.

Bangladesh made a change with the ever-underachieving Mohammad Ashraful omitted in favour of the combative off-spinning all-rounder Mahmudullah. Despite the collective failure of the batsmen, the rest of the line-up have been trusted to make amends for their shortcomings against West Indies.

Today’s win should be enough for England to advance to the knock-out rounds as they have five points from four Group B matches.

On the other hand, Bangladesh must not only beat England, but also defeat the Netherlands and South Africa to cement a place in the quarterfinals.

England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Matt Prior (wk), Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Paul Collingwood, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Ajmal Shahzad and James Anderson.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam.

Bangladesh, however, is in the record books with the lowest total ever made by a Full Member nation in World Cup history.

Disaster struck Bangladeshi batsmen from the very beginning of the innings as they crumbled one after another on their home ground in front of an expectant crowd.

Bangladeshi batsman Junaid Siddique made the highest score of 25 (27).

WI left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn grabbed four wickets while Kemar Roach and skipper Darren Sammy shared the other six wickets.

Earlier, Bangladeshi captain Shakib Al Hasan won toss and opted to bat.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kieron Pollard, Nikita Miller, Devon Thomas, Kemar Roach, Sulieman Benn

When asked of possible changes from the team that played against Ireland on February 25, Tigers captain Shakib Al Hasan confirmed that Riyad’s inclusion would be solely to equip the team in the off-spinning front. If picked, the 25-year-old all-rounder who played against India in the World Cup opener before being left out to accommodate Mohammad Ashraful will be expected to bowl his off-spin in the early Powerplay overs as well as provide batting support down the order.

“(Mahmudullah) Riyad has been included in the twelve. They have four left-handers and he could be used in the Powerplay overs,” said Shakib during yesterday’s official press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

“We have enough spinners to bowl up to 40 overs,” he said, adding that if Ashraful is included, a batting promotion for the 26-year-old has not been discussed.

Shakib would make the final call on the morning of the game but it is likely that an unchanged line-up would be continued, despite the batting flaws in the win over Ireland.

“There were mistakes in the last game and we will rectify those. I think our batsmen are capable of achieving the targets they set themselves,” he added.

Having defeated the West Indies quite comprehensively the last time the two sides met in 2009, albeit under altered circumstances, Shakib was evidently not very concerned about his team’s chances, though he also pointed out that this is a far different proposition.

“They have some senior players, a good mix of experience and youth. We have to play our best to beat them. We have to play good cricket to win and if we do, it will be a step forward towards qualification to the next round.

“We are not banking too much on tomorrow’s (Friday’s) game but we are looking forward to the whole tournament,” explained Shakib.

Shakib’s heroics against West Indies during that milestone series in the Caribbean was topped off by his six to seal the victory at St George’s, but the all-rounder prefers looking forward.

“The memory of that series definitely comes back sometimes and yes, it was a turning point. But I wouldn’t like to dwell on it too much,” commented Shakib.

The 23-year-old also didn’t want to talk about the toss or the wicket but said that the Mirpur track would not be offering Bangalore-esque scores (338, 338, 327 and 328). “It is a different wicket,” said Shakib. “I don’t think we should talk much about the wicket and neither about the toss.”

Shakib also made a strong statement about the implementation of the Umpires Decision Review System (UDRS), endorsing the new law. “I think the UDRS is good for the lower-ranked sides. I don’t have any complaints and I think it should be used,” he said.

BANGLADESH-WEST INDIES ENCOUNTERS

Matches:16

Bangladesh won:3

WI won:11

Most fifties: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (4)

Most matches: Mohammad Ashraful (13)

The first ODI between the two sides was played in Dublin during the 1999 World Cup.

The fall of Boyd Rankin turned the crowd wild as the whole country prepare for party, recovering from the defeat in the WC opener against India.

Ireland, who defeated Bangladesh in both the last two WC encounters, suffered a 27-run defeat also in their second match during this year’s tournament.

Halfway through the crucial match, the Tigers were in big trouble after a poor batting performance. But in the field, the spinners began the job, removing first five wickets before passing the baton to the pacer, Shafiul Islam.

The young WC debutant, who had to undergo a lot of pressure for failing to do the job in their first match on February 19, registered his best bowling success, bagging four wickets for 21 runs in eight overs.

“Though he (Shafiul) was expensive at the beginning, but we know he will come back,” Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said during the presentation ceremony.

It was the last ball of 45th over. Rankin chipped to short midwicket to see Junaid Siddique taking the catch with ease. And he went back to the pavilion for three runs of 13 balls.

Shakib and Ashraful took two wickets each while Razzak and Naeem shared two wickets.

Earlier, Naeem Islam removed John Mooney, in the 40th over alluring the home side to dream for a victory.

The careless attempt of Mooney to sweep it and only managing to get a bottom edge into the stumps for a duck.

Earlier in-form batsman Kevin O’Brien, dragged down by Shafiul, pulled it straight down the throat of deep square-leg to invite substitute Suhrawadi Shuvo take the catch.

Shuvo did not falter, and the crowd burst in joy while O’Brien walked back to the pavilion scoring 37 off 40 balls.

Shafiul’s success came quite a long gap after skipper Shakib Al Hasan removed Irish wicketkeeper-cum-batsman Niall O’Brien in the fourth ball of the 28th over.

O’Brien tried to chip a single to square leg and Shakib’s deputy Tamim Iqbal, running in from the boundary, dived forward full length to scoop the ball inches off the turf, sending the crowd wild. O’Brien scored 38 off 52 balls, including three boundaries.

The spinners — Mohammad Ashraful, Abdur Razzak and Shakib — shared the previous five wickets.

Ashraful took the wickets of Andrew White and Ed Joyce.

Playing back to the fourth ball of the 25th over, White hung his bat out in defence and it spun back past the inside edge onto off stump after scoring 10 runs off 27 balls. Earlier in the 19th over, Joyce turned the bat against the spin, took a leading edge and popped back to the bowler.

After the breakthrough Razzak gave removing opener Paul Stirling in the sixth over, skipper Shakib Al Hasan did not make mistake to read the character of the wicket and took the ball himself to bowl the 10th over. Success came in the very first ball.

Coming round the wicket, Porterfield went back and flicked the ball straight to Raqibul at midwicket. He went back to the pavilion scoring 20 runs off 30 balls, including two boundaries.

Seeing Shafiul Islam conceding six runs, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan replaced him in the third over by right-arm offbreak bowler Naeem Islam. And he proved his worth by giving only two runs. Abdur Razzak continued from the second over.

The first success came in sixth over. Razzak’s third ball in the over to Paul Stirling was a very full delivery, like a york. As the Irish opener jabbed down on it and stumbled out of the crease, the ball dribbled back towards wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim who proved fast to break the stumps. The batsman called for a review but replay showed he was quite off from his mark.

Stirling scored nine runs, including a boundary.

Earlier, a nightmarish batting debacle enforced by a resolute Ireland in the field sent awe to the home side bundling it for just 205 runs after the Tigers chose to bat first winning the toss.

Hit hard in its power-centre, the Tigers narrowly managed to play till the 50th over but still had four balls to spare.

The 10th wicket, Naeem Islam, tried something inventive getting down on one knee to play a scoop, seemingly encouraged by his skipper Shakib Al Hasan, off the second delivery from Johnston over short fine leg. And that was all. He got too much bat on it and it looped straight to Dockrell. Naeem went for 29 off 38 balls, an inning having three boundaries.

A large crowd in red and green who occupied large part of ‘Home of Cricket’ and thousands others glued in front of TV screens held their breaths in wait hoping the Tigers recover the loss and put a fighting score to register the first win in the 2011 tournament of cricket’s biggest show.

But all the top order batsmen frustrated them. No-one could hit even a half century.

Tigers skipper Shakib Al Hasan who had paired with a resolute wicket-keeper-cum-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim was looking cool on the crease at the beginning. But he ultimately proved suffering inside the early wicket fall and lofted a catch to his offside on the fifth ball of 15th over just to be dropped by Porterfield at point.

However, Ireland hit again: Andre Botha’s second delivery in the 16th over was a puzzle for Shakib prompting the promising skipper give an easy catch back to the bowler. Silence descended on the homeside.

Sitting anywhere in the world a spectator can feel the heat generated by the must-win game for both the sides.

Winning the toss, Shakib opted to bat first. Many might assume the skipper might then have in his mind the popular view that Bangladesh should bat first in case of win in the toss. Bangladesh’s decision in the World Cup opener against India to field earned the team a huge flak from many quarters no matter whether they had all the considerations including the wicket’s situation, dew factor, bowling and batting strength etc in their minds. The 87-run defeat on February 19 forced the skipper to face a lobby of questions over the following few days on the unexpected topic, though he defended all through.

A typical devastating Tamim Iqbal introduced his signature shots as he opened Bangladesh innings hitting double boundaries earning 10 runs in the first over. Tigers’ journey later shot people’s expectations to a new height as Tamim kept swinging his bat to all the directions.

In the seventh over came the blow: Imrul went back to the pavilion. It was John Mooney’s third ball pitching on the leg and seeming to be a wide ball when Imrul made the fatal mistake of connecting it to flick. In a stunning work, wicketkeeper Niall John O’Brien picked it up awe-striking the crowd. Playing 12 balls, Imrul scored 12 with two boundaries.

The shock gave Tamim little time to recover. Within just two overs the one-down, Junaid Siddique, lost his berth on the crease. Most of those in the field had hardly noticed or cared for hurrying to send back the ball to the wicketkeeper in a chance to send Junaid off. But his lazy running cost him his wicket: Ed Joyce’s throw hit direct and Junaid was a fraction short of his safe mark. He could score just three playing eight balls before returning.

Already forced to slow down the run taking, Tamim was dumbfounded by his own execution of Botha in the first ball of the 12th over. He sliced the ball only to send it straight to William Porterfield standing in the square-off. A massive wicket for Ireland and, most probably, the biggest threat too, was wiped off much to the dismay to the spectators. The 43-ball-inning earned Tamim 44 runs, including seven boundaries.

The nightmarish disorder on the host batting line-up, which was already suffering from an acute pressure of expectation in the must-win game, had called for a resolute stance and partnership and that is what Bangladesh Shakib Al Hasan and his former deputy and, also the wicketkeeper, Mushfiqur Rahim was looking forward to.

Many Bangladeshis and supporters of the Tigers were, no doubt, praying then for it. But Shakib seems to have failed to take the pressure. Before leaving the crease for the pavilion, he scored 16 off 20 balls.

With Raqibul Hasan as the new partner, Mushfiqur did not seem hasty at all. And this, no matter to how little extent, caused the Irish to frown. So there were attempts, deliberate ones, to break the partnership. The success came in the third ball of the 34th over. Dockrell stroke to earn Irish the breakthrough. White did the rest, taking s sharp catch sending Mushfiqur off to pavilion for 36.

The torturous innings of the seventh wicket, Shafiul Islam, ended as he pops forward and plays around a straight ball from Botha. He called for a review but it only confirmed the worst, heading half-way up leg stump. He scored only two off 17 balls.

Bangladesh team: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain.

Ireland team: WTS Porterfield, PR Stirling, EC Joyce, NJ O’Brien, AR White, KJ O’Brien, AC Botha, JF Mooney, DT Johnston, GH Dockrell and WB Rankin.

A large crowd in red and green who occupied large part of ‘Home of Cricket’ and thousands others glued in front of TV screens hold their breaths in wait to see the middle-order recover the loss and put a fighting score to register first win in the 2011 tournament of cricket’s biggest show.

Tigers skipper Shakib Al Hasan who has paired with a resolute wicket-keeper-cum-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim was looking cool on the crease at the beginning. But he ultimately proved suffering inside the early wicket fall and lofted a catch to his offside on the fifth ball of 15th over. But he was lucky that Porterfield dropped the catch at point.

However, Ireland hit again: Andre Botha second delivery in the 16th over was a puzzle for Shakib. Result: the Bangladesh skipper gave an easy catch back to the bowler. Silence descended in whole Mirpur as well as the whole country

In front of a sell-out crowd the Bangladesh captain stunned everybody by taking the decision to bowl in the day-night affair. He might have had the dew factor in mind when taking the decision, but the dew turned into a thunderstorm in the likes of Indian opener Virender Sehwag and World Cup debutant Virat Kohli, who toyed with the erratic and nervous Bangladesh bowling and eventually sealed the fate of the match at the halfway mark.

Riding on Sehwag’s — who came here with a mission to avenge their defeat in the 2007 World Cup in West Indies — blistering knock of 175 and Kohli’s well-composed unbeaten hundred, India put Bangladesh under a pile of runs with 370 for four in their share of 50 overs, to dampen the enthusiasm of an electrifying home crowd who gave the entire stadium a festive mood from the morning.

The audience also included the President of Bangladesh Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

With a mountain to climb, the Bangladesh batsmen had virtually nothing to lose but could take some confidence for the next game against Ireland on the 25th, as all the top order batsmen got some runs. However, it hardly had any impact on the match as Bangladesh finished their 50-over quota at 283 for nine.

The fans’ high expectation with the match started to fade very early as a dashing Sehwag set the tone by hitting the first ball of the World Cup for four though covers. The right-hander never looked back after that as he exercised his mastery over the ordinary Bangladesh bowling attack. He seemed a little too excited initially, as he tried to belt the cover off all the deliveries bowled by the hapless Bangladeshi new ball bowlers Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain; both struggled with their line and length.

The experienced left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, brought into the attack in the fifth over looked good in his first over but the fact was that by that time the two Indian openers had settled, especially Sehwag.

Sehwag played shots all over the park during his career-best innings and the way he played it looked like ‘a club team’ was bowling against an international opponent. None of Bangladesh’s bowlers were able to put pressure at any stage of the match.

The first breakthrough for the home side came when Sachin Tendulkar fell victim to a run out for 28 runs, but it didn’t make much of a difference as Sehwag, who had almost reached his target of batting till 50 overs, dominated proceedings. Credit must also go to young Kohli, who once again proved his ability as a new star in India’s vaunted batting line-up.

Kohli was not out on 100 off 83 balls that contained eight fours and two sixes.

Back to Bangladesh’s innings, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes got off to a confident start before Kayes was bowled by Munaf Patel to put an end to the 56-run opening partnership; arguably the best part for the cheering Bangladesh fans after the carnage of India’s innings. Bangladesh desperately needed something special from Tamim, but the left-hander was surprisingly not his belligerent self. Instead he scored a cautious 86-ball 70 that featured three fours and a six, while his partner Kayes tried to accelerate the score during his 29-ball 34 that contained seven boundaries.

Junaed Siddiqui (37), Shakib Al Hasan (55) and Mushfiqur Rahim (25) made contributions that only helped their side to reduce the margin of defeat.

The massive defeat will definitely bring the Tigers back to the ground from the flight of fancy they have been on of late.

SCORES IN BRIEF
INDIA: 370 for 4 (Sehwag 175, Kohli 100 not out, Gambhir 39; Mahmudullah 1-49, Shakib 1-69, Shafiullah 1-69)

BANGLADESH: 283 for 9 (Tamim 70, Shakib 55, Junaed 37; Patel 4-48, Zaheer 2-41, Harbhajan 1-41)

Result: India won by 87 runs.

Man-of-the-match: Virender Sehwag.

The International Cricket Council has allotted three additional matches to Bangladesh along with the five it was given earlier after Pakistan was dropped from the list of co-hosts. Instead of one venue, the ICC wants Bangladesh to use two stadiums for the matches.

The government had earlier decided to host the matches at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium and the opening ceremony at the BNS. But with the changed scenario, it has to choose another venue for the matches.
Cricket organisers said there should not be any hesitation in selecting the BNS as the other venue, though it is currently occupied by football and athletics after cricket made an exit from the venue in 2005.
They alleged that the four-party alliance government had banished cricket from the stadium only because it is named after Bangabandhu. They sent newspaper clippings to the media that carried the news of their movement against the move during the period.

The cuttings bear the names of top organisers and former players, who had expressed solidarity with them during the period and are now involved with the BCB in various capacities. The organisers said they should now come forward and use their power to bring cricket back to its previous home.

Moshiur Rahman Tutul, an official of Indira Road KC, Iqbal Yusuf of Kalabagan KC, Tabarukul Islam Arif of Nabin Sangha, Tarikul Islam Titu of Mohammedan Sporting Club spoke, among others, at the press conference.

India will host the final and one semifinal while Sri Lanka will stage the other semifinal. The other two quarterfinals will be hosted by the two co-hosts.

Bangladesh will stage eight matches at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on February 18, 2011. India will host 29 of the 49 matches across eight venues and Sri Lanka will host 12 in three venues.

“We [the board] are happy that we got two quarterfinals but it is true that we expected a semifinal. Sri Lanka wanted to hold the opening ceremony, giving us the semifinal but we kept the opening ceremony and were given the quarterfinals,” revealed BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus.

“Now that the number of matches are confirmed we are definitely looking forward to working hard and wasting no time,” said Yunus.

The BCB will decide on three venues for the eight matches with one kept as alternate before the International Cricket Council (ICC) hold their inspection of the venues.

“Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Fatullah Stadium, Bangabandhu National Stadium and Chittagong Divisional Stadium are the ICC approved Test venues so we would decide on the three venues for the World Cup before ICC comes for their inspection,” added Yunus.

BCB has less than two years now to be prepared for the opening ceremony as well as the matches but Yunus sounded confident of being ready.

“I think two years is enough time and I think it’s best if we don’t waste time and start working towards it,” said Yunus.

Cricinfo adds: The World Cup’s organising committee also decided to shift the tournament secretariat from Lahore to Mumbai. BCCI’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was appointed the event’s managing director in place of Pakistani banker Salman Butt. The organising committee, headed by ICC vice-president Sharad Pawar, will include an operations and planning group comprising the Bangladesh Cricket Board senior vice-president Mahbubul Anam, Indian board secretary N Srinivasan, Sri Lanka’s Duleep Mendis and Shetty. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive, said IS Bindra, the special adviser to the ICC, would be a key person in the management of the World Cup.

He swept aside questions on whether Pakistan would boycott the World Cup in protest at being denied hosting rights, saying “we will cross the bridge when we come to it.” The ICC had to decide on the redistribution of Pakistan’s 14 matches after it removed the country from the list of hosts because the “uncertain political situation” would have made it difficult to “deliver a safe, secure and successful event” in Pakistan.

Lorgat said the security concerns of the various ICC members and the players would be addressed with the formation of a special committee headed by Shashank Manohar, the BCCI chief, to oversee security details. “The security arrangements are very important and a special committee… would put together security plans for the successful conduct of the World Cup in 2011,” he said.

“We are confident of organising a very successful World Cup,” Lorgat said.

The subcontinent last hosted a World Cup in 1996, when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka shared the games. The final was in Lahore, where Sri Lanka beat favourites Australia in a famous win.