About the only thing that Bangladesh had in their favour was that South Africa had not won their first match in the tournament either. But that really would not stop them from chasing such a low total with some overs to spare.
They chose to open the bowling with Razzak. Pelser did not quite care who was bowling and threw his bat at the second ball, getting it through point for a four. That seemed to set the tone for South Africa but Bangladesh were good in the field and they threw themselves around, preventing singles and saving boundaries.
Aziz was the bowler they targeted most. To be truthful, he was not at his best and he seemed to be bowling more slowly than usual. He bowled two overs for 18 runs, not terrible by T20 standards, but the next most expensive bowler after him had also bowled 2 overs but for 9 runs. Bangladesh did not have another real bowler in their lineup to take his place.
They decided to have Tamim bowl the 2 overs instead. He actually was not that bad, only going for 11 runs from his 2-over spell. The South African openers had not been troubled yet, though. The run rate required after 12 overs had gone up to 5.7 per over, but with wickets in hand that would be no problem.
Dolar Mahmud finally got the first wicket. Amla went LBW to a good slower ball that would have hit middle and leg. He went for 19 off of 34 balls, but it perhaps was what South Africa needed as it brought AB de Villiers to the crease. AB was a man capable of scoring quickly when necessary.
Mahmud celebrates the wicket of Amla
Razzak came back to get Pelser LBW off of the first ball of a new spell. He really gave the ball a good rip and it just turned enough to beat the outside edge and rap Pelser on the back foot. He went for 42 with 8 fours and the rest in singles.
The bowlers and the fielders gave the new batsmen absolutely nothing to work with and with 5 overs to go the required rate had jumped to 7.2 per over. Still nothing that South Africa would not be able to handle, everyone thought.
AB proved just that when he smashed Islam for two fours in the 17th over to swing things back South Africa?s way. Anyone who was hoping for a Bangladesh upset was starting to lose that hope quickly. Those hopes went right out of the ground when Smith hit a well-timed six over long on in Shakib?s next over. Shakib had his revenge, though, getting Smith LBW two balls later.
The field seemed to change with every ball and Bangladesh really did well, cutting off the boundaries and keeping the batsmen to singles only. South Africa just about kept themselves in it so that by the last over they needed only 9 runs. Nothing that was unusual in T20 cricket but anything could happen. Shakib was the man entrusted with the ball and everyone in the ground looked on and waited with anticipation.
He took his time in setting his field. The boundaries were well covered. Long off, long on, deep midwicket, third man, deep point. The rest of the fielders were all saving the single. Backward point, extra cover, mid on, fine leg. Once he was satisfied, he came in to bowl.
The first ball went to the left of the fine leg for a single. 8 from 5.
AB played the second ball square on the leg side. Deep midwicket ran in to intercept it and threw the return back as quickly as he could to limit the batsmen to just one. 7 from 4.
Shakib encourages his fielders
The third ball was swept well but could not beat the short fine leg. The batsmen did not risk the single. 7 from 3. On the South Africa bench, nobody wanted to take their eyes off of the action. More than a few people looked nervous. The Bangladesh coaching staff also looked on with their breath held.
Shakib?s fourth ball was well struck but only out to deep midwicket, who fielded well and restricted them to a single. 6 from 2 but more importantly, one hit away from a victory.
AB marked his guard again. He took a moment to look at the field carefully before settling into his stance. Shakib bowled. AB swung and connected, but the ball went straight up. It went out to long off, who ran in hard thinking that the catch could be taken. When it was clear that the ball would fall before him, he slowed down and got it on the bounce before throwing to Shakib at the non-striker's end. 5 from 1.
A single hit would win the match for South Africa. A single, slightly less well-timed hit would tie the match. Where would Duminy aim for? Fine leg seemed like a good option. The leg side boundary was relatively short, but it was well-protected by a couple of Bangladesh's best fielders. But for Duminy to hit it there he would have to do well. Shakib would pitch the ball well wide of off stump with fine leg in the circle and that was clear to all.
Shakib himself had a word with his vice captain, Aziz. They seemed to decide that Duminy would probably look straight for the boundary. Mahmud came into the circle from the third man boundary. A dangerous tactic, having both third man and fine leg up. The man in the circle at cover dropped back so that there was now a deep extra cover as well as a deep backward point.
Finally the field was set as Bangladesh wanted it. Shakib came in to bowl. It was pitched on a good length outside of off stump, slightly spinning in. Duminy came onto the front foot and swung from the hip. It went out to the left of long on, who ran across well and got there quickly to collect. The return came back to Shakib with the batsmen only having run a single.
There was the briefest moment of silence in the entire ground as everyone came to the realization that what they saw had really just happened. Then everyone exploded all at once. Everyone ran to Shakib, who was ecstatic. The South Africans looked crestfallen. Graeme Smith even looked a little angry.
Shakib celebrates the Bangladesh victory
End of South African innings ? 100/3(20), Pelser 42(45), Mahmud 1-14(4)
Bangladesh win by 3 runs
Code:
South Africa - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
B Pelser lbw b Razzak 42
H Amla lbw b Mahmud 19
A de Villiers not out 20
G Smith lbw b Al Hasan 10
J Duminy not out 9
D Vilas
D Wiese
R McLaren
S de Kock
F de Wet
R Pietersen
----------------------------------------------
Extras: 0
TOTAL: (3 wkts, 20 overs) 100
**********************************************
O M R W
----------------------------------------------
A Razzak 4 0 19 1
D Mahmud 4 0 14 1
T Aziz 2 0 18 0
S Al Hasan 4 0 17 1
N Islam 4 0 21 0
T Iqbal 2 0 11 0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-61 2-61 3-89
**********************************************
Bangladesh won by 3 runs
**********************************************
It took some time to set things up for the post-match ceremony as everyone just seemed to be working in a state of shock. Eventually things were ready and after the introductions, Graeme Smith was invited to come up.
He said that a score of 103 should definitely be gettable no matter who the opposition is. But credit had to go to the Bangladesh fielding in particular. The bowlers were looking to contain and not really take wickets, and they bowled to their field settings well. He was extremely disappointed to not be going on to the next stage of the tournament but clearly if they did not know how to go about chasing 100-odd then they really did not belong in the next stage anyway.
Graeme Smith was not a happy man
Shakib came up to be interviewed next. He was all smiles and clearly his voice was full of excitement. He was asked to comment on winning first of all and he said that when they set such a low target nobody really believed that they could defend it, but they stuck to the basics and it paid off in the end for them. Their batting needed to improve a lot if they were to make things easier for them in the next stage though.
He was then asked about his final over. He replied by saying that 9 runs is easy to get in T20 cricket but he had to make sure that he did not bowl any bad balls and he trusted his fielders to do their job. That was all there was to it, really. He is congratulated on the win and wished good luck for the next stage.
Tamim is the man of the match. He says that he is enjoying his batting recently but he wants to go on and make bigger scores. With more time in the middle that will come and he hopes to keep contributing big to the team in the super eights.
What a win! Honestly I played the match and I STILL don?t believe it. But I?m in the super eights and hopefully I can get the batting right so I make a stronger showing there too. T20 in ICC10 is so-so with their simulations. Only a few guys can really keep batting for a while and it seems like Bangladesh doesn?t really have a lot of those guys.
Also, do the pictures add more to the story? It will take me longer to update with pictures since I have to find them and upload them elsewhere (can never trust if a pic will go missing on an external site) but if it really adds a lot then I'll do it for each update. Not going to be easy as time progresses and I end up with all computer-generated players but...we'll address that when the time comes I guess.
