The Bangla New Year did little to revive Bangladesh’s sagging cricketing fortunes as they went down to South Africa by 83 runs in the TVS Cup triangular series here today. Chasing a stiff target of 295 for victory, Bangladesh were shot out for 211 in 49.3 overs to crash to extend their world record sequence of consecutive defeats to 34 matches. SCOREBOARD South Africa: G Smith st Mashud b Rafique 45; H Gibbs run out 62; J Rudolph c Aziz b Rafique 44; H Dippenaar not out 66; N McKenzie not out 55 Extras (b-4, lb-10, w-6, nb-2): 22 Total (For 3 wkts, in 50 overs): 294 Fall of wickets: 1-112, 2-133, 3-189. Bowling: Aziz 7-0-50-0, Baisya 10-0-54-0, Mahmud 2-0-29-0, Rafique 10-0-43-2, Kapali 10-0-45-0, Sanwar Hossain 4-0-23-0, Ashraful 7-0-36-0 Bangladesh: J Omar c Boucher b Ntini 9; M Ashraful C boucher B adams 52; H Bashar b Dawson 18; S Hossain lbw Pollock 1; A Kapali lbw Pollock 27; Akram Khan lbw Pollock 15; K Mashud c Smith b Dawson 11; K Mahmud c McKenzie b Ntini 40; M Rafique b Dawson 15; T Baishya b Pollock 3; T Aziz not out 1 Extras (lb-1, w-14, nb-4): 19 Total (All out, in 49.3 overs): 211 Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-82, 3-83, 4-112, 5-140, 6-141, 7-174, 8-204, 9-210. Bowling: Ntini 9-1-51-2, Willoughby 8-0-32-0, Pollock 9.3-0-36-4, Dawson 10-1-26-3, Adams 10-0-42-1, Smith 3-0-23-0 Only opener Mohammad Ashraful and Khaled Mahmud were able to notch up decent scores against a disciplined South African attack led by former captain Shaun Pollock who finished with figures of four for 36. Ashraful scored 52 runs while Mahmud played an important 40-run knock towards the end which enabled Bangladesh to cross the 200-run mark. Earlier, the South African batsmen made merry as Herschelle Gibbs, Boeta Dippenaar and Neil McKenzie scored attractive half-centuries to help the team to an imposing 294 for three. Dippenaar and McKenzie remained unbeaten on 66 and 55 respectively in an unbroken 105-run partnership for the fourth wicket while Gibbs made 62 runs after South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat. Though the home team put up a vastly improved performance, they never seemed to be in the hunt as pressure kept mounting on them after the fall of every wicket. With two defeats in a row in this tournament, Bangladesh are as good as out of contention for a berth in the final. The home team got off to one of their best starts in recent times as both the South African new ball operators Makhaya Ntini and Charl Willoughby strayed in line and length in the early stages. (PTI)
