Ireland storm into Super 8′s

Nottingham, June 8 (IANS) The brilliance of the O’Brien brothers and pacer Trent Johnston Monday carried Ireland to the Super Eight stage of the World Twenty20 championship after knocking Bangladesh out the tournament with a six-wicket win in a Group A match at Trent Bridge here. Australian-born Johnston picked up three wickets for 20 in his opening spell to restrict Bangladesh to 137 for eight in 20 overs.

While chasing, the O’Brien brothers Niall and Kevin played crucial knocks as Ireland achieved the target with 10 balls to spare. Man of the Match Niall O’Brien hit a flamboyant 40 off 25 balls while his sibling remained unbeaten on 39 off 17 balls as Ireland romped home easily. Bangladesh returned home without a win while Ireland and India are the two teams from Group A to move to the Super Eight stage.

After losing to India in their opening match, Bangladesh were in a must-win situation against newcomers Ireland. But Bangladesh lost half their side by the 11th over with just 66 runs on the board. Opener Tamim Iqbal offered some resistance with his 22 while Mashrafe Mortaza hit a quickfire unbeaten 33 at the end, including 20 runs in the last over off Alex Cusack, to help Bangladesh post a respectable total on the board.

Bangladesh Innings

Tamim Iqbal run out (Niall/McCallan) 22 (28)
Junaid Siddique c Bray b Johnston 13 (5)
Mohammad Ashraful c Kevin b Johnston 14 (10)
Shakib Al Hasan c Wilson b Johnston 7 (7)
Mahmudullah st Niall b Cusack 7 (10)
Raqibul Hasan b McCallan 13 (20)
Mushfiqur Rahim c Mooney b West 14 (15)
Mashrafe Mortaza not out 33 (16)
Naeem Islam b Rankin 7 (9)
Abdur Razzak not out 0 (0)

Extras (lb 1, w 6) 7
Total (for eight wickets in 20 overs) 137

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Siddique, 1.2 overs), 2-40 (Ashraful, 5.3), 3-50 (Shakib, 7.1), 4-61 (Tamim, 9.1), 5-66 (Mahmudullah, 10.3), 6-90 (Raqibul, 15.3), 7-94 (Mushfiqur, 16.2), 8-117 (Naeem, 18.6)

Bowling:
Boyd Rankin 4-0-36-1
Trent Johnston 4-0-20-3
Regan West 4-0-25-1
Kyle McCallan 4-0-17-1
Alex Cusack 4-0-38-1

Ireland Innings

Jeremy Bray c Raqibul b Mortaza 2 (10)
William Porterfield c&b Razzak 23 (29)
Niall O’Brien c Hossain b Shakib 40 (25)
Gary Wilson c Ashraful b Mortaza 10 (15)
John Mooney not out 17 (14)
Kevin O’Brien not out 39 (17)

Extras (lb 4, w 3) 7
Total (for four wickets in 18.2 overs) 138

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Bray, 2.5 overs), 2-61 (Niall, 9.4), 3-71 (Porterfield, 11.2), 4-89 (Wilson, 14.2)

Bowling:
Mashrafe Mortaza 4-0-30-2
Rubel Hossain 3.2-0-31-0
Mahmudullah 3-0-23-0
Naeem Islam 2-0-9-0
Shakib Al Hasan 3-0-23-1
Abdur Razzak 3-0-18-1

Toss: Ireland, chose to field
Man of the Match: Niall O’Brien (Ireland)