Dhaka, Feb 23 (UNB) — Ahead of the three-match Test series against  hosts New Zealand, Bangladesh have recorded great batting display on the first day of a two-day practice match against New Zealand XI at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln. 

At the end of day 1, Bangladesh have scored 411 for six wickets. Shadman Islam (67), Liton Das (62), Mahmudullah Riyad (59) and Mehidy Hasan (51) have scored the fifties for the Tigers while Tamim Iqbal (45) and Soumya Sarkar (41) contributed with the bat. 

To ensure the chance of batting practice for all of the guys, four of Bangladeshi batsman retired out. 

In the opening stand, Tamim and Shadman scored 113 in 30.5 overs. Tamim was the first man to get dismissed by the 23-year-old pacer Blake Coburn. Shadman get dismissed as the second batsman scoring the highest innings of 67 for the team. After the dismissal of Shadman, Mominul Haque fell for 20 off 30 deliveries. 

Bangladesh lost the fourth wicket at 381 runs with losing Taijul Islam for 14. Before his departure, four of the Bangladesh batsmen retired out to ensure the chance for all of the guys. 

All of the batsmen, who have scored the fifties  showed poor performance during the three-match ODI series against the hosts. Their fifties came as a relief for the Tigers. If they can replicate this performance during the Test series as well, Bangladesh can hope something memorable in the coming days. 

The first Test of the series will take place from February 28 while the next two will be played on March 8 and 16 respectively.
 

Bridgetown, Feb 23 (AP/UNB) — Shimron Hetmyer and Sheldon Cottrell played the starring roles as West Indies beat England by 26 runs to level the five-match series of one-day internationals 1-1 on Friday.

Put into bat by England, West Indies chalked up 289-6 in its 50 overs with middle-order batsman Hetmyer smashing an unbeaten 104 from 83 balls as Windies scored 81 in the last ten overs.

"My celebration was for my girlfriend," Hetmyer said." I try to do good things whenever she is around. The guys will be hoping she's always around!"

Veteran opener Chris Gayle also chipped in with 50 from 63 deliveries, while Shai Hope made 33.

England made a terrible start to its reply, slumping to 60-3, but captain Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes staged a fightback with a fourth-wicket partnership of 99.

Morgan hit 70 and Stokes made 79 before both fell in quick succession, and the rest of the batting failed to deliver as the tourists were bowled out for 263 in 47.4 overs.

Cottrell took 5-46 and fellow paceman Jason Holder returned figures of 3-53.

"We made mistakes, it hurt us and the West Indies deserved to win," Morgan said.

Zurich, Feb 23 (AP/UNB) — Peru will no longer host the Under-17 World Cup in October after being stripped of the tournament by FIFA on Friday over concerns about the infrastructure.

The decision was taken by the bureau of the FIFA Council which features the six regional confederation presidents and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

The tournament was due to be staged in October after Peru was awarded the competition last June.

But following various inspection visits, FIFA said it found a "number of organizational and infrastructure challenges linked to the event delivery."

FIFA is evaluating alternative host countries, which were not specified.

England is the defending champion after winning the 2017 edition in India.

Milan, Feb 23 (AP/UNB) — When it comes to scoring in Serie A, only Cristiano Ronaldo is more prolific than Krzysztof Piatek.

But only just.

Netting in AC Milan's 3-0 win over relegation-threatened Empoli on Friday, Piatek moved to 18 league goals this season — only one behind Ronaldo in his first campaign at Juventus.

The 23-year-old Piatek has struck 26 times in 27 appearances in all competitions, with seven coming in the six games since he joined from Genoa last month.

"The credit goes to him but also to the whole team," Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso said. "They put him in the right condition to score."

Franck Kessie and Samu Castillejo scored the other goals, while Milan also had two others disallowed on video review.

Milan kept a firm grip on fourth spot in Serie A and the last Champions League berth, moving four points clear of Roma which visits Frosinone on Saturday.

The Rossoneri also closed the gap to city rival Inter Milan to one point, with the Nerazzurri travelling to Fiorentina on Sunday. The Milan derby is on March 17.

"We have to take it game by game, without looking at the table," Gattuso said. "You feel the pressure just by putting on the Milan shirt in this stadium. It's been a few years since we've been playing for something important, we need to play for it with really great desire."

All the goals on Friday came in the second half, as Milan improved dramatically after the break and took control with two quickfire goals.

Piatek broke the deadlock in the 49th minute from close range after the ball had been rolled across to the Poland international by Hakan Calhanoglu.

Castillejo had been involved in the buildup and he set up Milan's second two minutes later with a threaded pass for Kessie, who placed a deft chip over Empoli goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski.

The Spanish forward got on the scoresheet himself in the 67th minute, tapping in at the near post after a cross from Andrea Conti, who was making his first start in 544 days.

Empoli, which has not won away from home this season, remained three points above the relegation zone.

London, Feb 23 (AP/UNB) — A controversial goal by Javier Hernandez helped West Ham to a 3-1 come-from-behind victory against relegation-threatened Fulham in the Premier League Friday.

Ryan Babel gave Fulham the lead in the 3rd minute at the Olympic Stadium when he tapped in a cross from Jean Michael Seri.

Hernandez leveled in the 29th when he appeared to use his hand to jab the ball in at the fast post following a corner. Referee Lee Mason and his assistants missed the offense, which should be spotted by video assistant referees when they come to the Premier League next season.

West Ham took the lead in the 40th minute when center back Issa Diop headed in another corner. Michail Antonio made certain of the win in stoppage time at the end of the game after he was set up by Marko Arnautovic.

Manuel Pellegrini's West Ham is ninth in the standings, while Claudio Ranieri's Fulham is eight points from safety with 11 games remaining.

"Time is running out but we never give up," said Ranieri.