Cape Town, Mar 20 (AP/UNB) — South Africa beat Sri Lanka in a Super Over to decide a frantic and often farcical first Twenty20 at Newlands on Wednesday.

The teams finish tied in a helter-skelter end to the regulation 20 overs a side after South Africa collapsed from a position where victory seemed certain and had to scramble a single off the last ball of its chase to tie the scores.

As the South African tailenders sneaked through for that tying run, Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella missed a straightforward throw at the stumps that would have given Sri Lanka victory.

South Africa clawed its way to 134-8 to force the Super Over after Sri Lanka had earlier posted 134-7.

South Africa batted first in the Super Over and made 14, with David Miller cracking a six and a four off Sri Lankan captain Lasith Malinga.

South Africa chose legspinner Imran Tahir to bowl Sri Lanka's Super Over and he conceded just five — although that still included two dropped catches and two wides.

That was only half the story of a thrilling match.

South Africa threw away its winning position and only just managed to tie and Tahir was the savior for the home team then, too.

He came in to bat with South Africa needing two to win and one to tie.

He inside edged straight to Dickwella behind the stumps but Tahir and Dale Steyn still scuttled through for the tying run. Dickwella's throw from close range missed the stumps and the ball also then hit Tahir, who was sprinting down the pitch to complete the run.

South Africa should have won comfortably much earlier after Miller (41) and Rassie van der Dussen (34) put the pedal down in the 15th over of the run chase, with Miller cracking three fours and a six and taking 20 runs off the over by Isuru Udana.

Van der Dussen hit a six and a four in the next over and South Africa needed just 18 runs from 24 balls after that.

Malinga brought himself on to bowl and that sparked South Africa's collapse.

Van der Dussen was caught and Miller ran himself out going for a needless second run in the space of two balls of Malinga's over. South Africa went on to lose five wickets for 15 runs, two of them run outs.

Even when South Africa needed six runs off the last two overs, and four off the last over, it still couldn't do it.

Malinga bowled brilliantly, conceding just one run and bowling Kagiso Rabada in the penultimate over.

Needing three off two balls, JP Duminy was run out going for a crazy second run to set up the last-ball scramble.

After he and Tahir managed to tie the scores, Steyn smiled and shook his head, summing up the game.

Dhaka, Mar 19 (UNB) – Willes Little Flower School and College retained Dhaka Metropolis title of the Prime Bank School Cricket Tournament on Tuesday.

They beat Ahmedbagh Adrasha High School by eight wickets in the final at Zahurul Haque Hall ground of Dhaka University.    

Sent to bat first, Ahmedbagh were bundled out for 67 runs with Emon Khan making 20 and Labib 11 runs.

Joytu Barua grabbed three wickets while Hridoy and Afnan took two wickets each.

In reply, former national school champions Wills Little Flower chased down the target losing only two wickets with Afnan Islam making unbeaten 36 and Shams Shahadat unbeaten 22 runs.

Afnan, the younger brother national cricketer Shadman Islam, was adjudged the match of the match. 
 

Dhaka, Mar 19 (UNB) — Bangladesh will participate in the forthcoming World Cup in England with their strongest-ever team, hopes the former captain of the Tigers and current selector Habibul Bashar. 

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is all set to announce the preliminary squad for the World Cup. Before that, Habibul said they are taking the time to announce the team because they need to think about many things. 

“We play a World Cup once in every four years. So it is a special occasion for us. At the same time, the World Cup squad is different from any other squad. Actually, every event is important, but the World Cup is special,” Habibul told the reporters on Tuesday at BCB headquarter. 

“We are (selectors) thinking in many ways to select the team. We are going to play the World Cup with our strongest-ever team; if you look back to the previous World Cups. We have an experienced bunch of cricketers. We had never got this before,” Habibul further said.

The New Zealand series, which has ended in an unexpected way, was Bangladesh’s last full series before the World Cup. The Tigers disappointed in the series as they lost all of five matches that they have played. In the ODI series, they displayed poor performances. They replicated the same acts in the Test series as well. 

“We went to play in New Zealand with pretty much of expectation. But we failed in an unwanted way. So we are disappointed with this. The injuries to several key players were harmful to us. At the same time, some of the players lost their rhythm. If we had played well in New Zealand, it would have helped us to go to the World Cup with a lot of confidence,” he also told. 

But the former captain does not want to stay focused on this misfortune but he wants the team to move on. Habibul believes that one bad series did not make the team a bad team. 

“We had nothing to worry about the series what we have done with. We will think about it but not too much. I don’t think our team transformed into a bad team just because of a poor series. This is the same team who has played well in the last one and two years. We have won some series, we have played in the final of last Asia Cup as well. We are taking the last series just as a poor one. It can happen to any team in the world,” Habibul added while talking to the reporters.

Habibul hinted that they are reluctant to add many new faces in the World Cup team. Instead of doing that, they are more comfortable with selecting the tasted players who have done well in past. 

“The last series will not make much impact in the team selection for the World Cup. Mushfiqur Rahim was poor during the last series, but it does not mean that he will not be picked up for the biggest cricketing tournament. We believe the World Cup is not an ideal stage to examine the team combination. The pressure in the World Cup is more than any other series or tournament. So it is risky to depend on the young guns more in the World Cup. But still, we are observing the ongoing Premier League. If someone does something special, we might consider him,” Habibul said to the reporters. 

Before the World Cup, Bangladesh will participate in a tri-series in Ireland where they will face West Indies alongside the hosts. The Tigers will play at least four ODIs in this series. This series will surely help the Tigers to adapt to the condition of England.
 

Dhaka, Mar 19 (UNB) - Anamul Haque hit his second century of the season and Abhimanyu Easwaran also struck a ton to lead Prime Bank Cricket Club to their third win in the ongoing Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (DPDCL) on Tuesday at Savar against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.

Prime Bank batted first after losing the toss and accumulated a huge 344 for six wickets in spite of losing the first wicket in 5 runs. In reply, Sheikh Jamal tumbled for 206/4 in 37.1 overs. The match ended early due to the rain, and as a result, Prime Bank won the game by 29 runs (DLS method).

Anamul struck 101 off 120 balls with eight fours while Easwaran hit 133 off 126 with 10 fours and on six to his name. Ariful Haque was the other batsman to shine with the bat as he struck 67 off just 32 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Tanbir Hyder took two wickets for Sheikh Jamal while Shahidul Islam and Taijul Islam took one wicket each for them.

In reply, Nasir Hossain (76) and Nurul Hasan (54*) hit fifties for Shiekh Jamal, but they failed to chase the target (236 in 37.1 overs) as the rain forced to end the game early.

Easwaran won the man of the match award for his 133.

With this win, Prime Bank are at number two on the points table. On the other hand, Sheikh Jamal are at number nine with three losses and one win from four matches.

In the other match of the day, the defending champion of the league, Abahani Limited, beat Shinepukur Cricket Club by five wickets.

Shinepukur batted first and tumbled for 203/9 in 50 overs. Afif Hossain was the best batsman of Shinepukur with his 48.

Mosaddek Hossain took three wickets while Rubel Hossain and Nazmul Islam bagged two wickets each for Abahani.

Abahani chased the target in 48.3 overs (206/5). Wasim Jaffer and Soumya Sarkar made a solid foundation of 62 runs in the opening stand. Soumya fell for 33 but Wasim hit 76 off 106. Nazmul Hossain Shanto also contributed 42 off 52.

Left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam took three wickets but failed to avoid a loss for his team Shinepukur. Eventually, Abahani won the game by five wickets.

With this, Abahani won all of their first four matches of the season and cemented their place at number one on the points table. On the other hand, Shinepukur lost all of their four matches, and they are now at number 11 in the points table.

Dhaka, Mar 19 (UNB) — Abdul Mazid’s brilliant knock for Mohammedan Sporting Club was eclipsed by Legends of Rupganj’s four-wicket victory on Tuesday in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (DPDCL).

It was Mohammedan’s first loss in their fourth league match.

Although they scored 295/7, Rupganj reached the target in 49.2 overs (296/6) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Sent to bat first, Mohammedan lost their first wicket of Avishek Mitra when the score was 13. They lost another wicket posting 50 runs on board.

Mazid kept going and hit his seventh hundred in List-A career. He scored 107 off 126 with five fours and three sixes. Nadif Chowdhury hit 64 off 47 balls with four fours and four sixes to help the team put up a challenging target.

Chaturanga de Silva, the Sri Lankan recruit, hit 23 off 9 balls.

For Rupganj, Mohammad Shahid took three wickets for 70 runs in 10 overs while Rishi Dhawan and Muktar Ali took one each.

In reply, Rupganj captain Naeem Islam starred with the bat scoring 85 off 92 deliveries. He guided his team to defeat Mohammedan for the first time in the season.

Along with Naeem, Mominul Haque (55) and Rishi Dhawan (51) also struck the fifties for Rupganj.

Eventually, Rupganj reached the target with four balls remaining.

Shafiul Islam took two wickets for Mohammedan.

Mohammedan are now at number three on the points table with three wins in four matches. On the other hand, Rupganj are at number four with three wins in four matches.