Bangladesh earned first two points of the ICC World Cup 2011 after they defeated Ireland by 27 runs at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur. Chasing 206 runs to win, Ireland were all-out for 178 runs in the 45th over.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. Tamim Iqbal started off in an aggressive manner bringing Bangladesh’s fifty in the sixth over before John Mooney removed Imrul Kayes (12). Number three batsman Junaid Siddique (3) was soon back into the pavilion after he was run out by Ed Joyce and Tamim Iqbal too perished soon after as Bangladesh lost three wickets for 15 runs. Tamim Iqbal scored 44 runs from 43 balls with seven fours.
Skipper Shakib Al Hassan (16) could not last long and it took a 61-run partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim (36) and Raqibul Hasan (38) to bring the Bangladesh innings back on the track. Mohammad Ashraful (1) failed yet again and other batsmen failed to keep going. Naeem Islam (29) hit a couple of boundaries to take the score past the 200-mark and Bangladesh were all-out for 205 runs in the 50th over.
Chasing just above four runs an over, Ireland lost Paul Stirling (9) and William Porterfield (20) early in the innings. Ed Joyce (16) and Andrew White (10) too could not do much with the bat and both the batsmen succumbed to the part time spin of Ashraful. Ireland kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were finally dismissed for 178 runs. Niall O’Brien (38) top scored for Ireland while the only other notable contribution came from Kevin O’Brien who hit three fours and a six for his 37 runs.
For Bangladesh, Shafiul Islam took 4/21 from his eight overs, which are the best bowling figures for a Bangladeshi bowler in the World Cups. Ashraful chipped in with 2/42 and skipper Shakib Al Hassan took 2/28 off his eight overs. Tamim Iqbal was declared the man of the match for his quick-fire 44 runs.