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Windies survive Ireland scare

February 16, 2004 19:59 IST

West Indies beat Ireland by a mere six runs at the Khulna Divisional Stadium.

After his side had pegged back the West Indies to 265 for 8, Ireland's Kevin O'Brien spearheaded a gripping response that almost snatched a shock victory for the European Champions.

O'Brien amassed 95 runs at a run-a-ball to put Ireland on the verge of victory but a lower order collapse that included two run outs enabled the West Indies to scrape to victory.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, West Indies began in electric fashion and had 100 runs on the board by the fifteenth over.

But Ireland's change bowlers Greg Thompson and Andrew Riddles checked the West Indies progress. The spinners claimed impressive figures of 5 for 49 and 3 for 42 respectively to ensure the West Indies were restricted to an attainable target.

Ireland coach Adrian Birrell was disappointed with the defeat.

"We didn't do ourselves any favours at the start or end of the match," said Birrell.

"We bowled and batted well in the middle of the match but we let them get away to too good a start."

West Indies coach Clyde Butts was surprised by Ireland's performance.

"Full credit to the Irish, we did not expect them to perform as well as that. They bowled well and had a real chance of beating us today," said Butts.

Aussies win easily

Australia beat Canada by six wickets at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium

Australia's U/19s made light work of a modest Canada target to win their Group A encounter by six wickets with 21 overs to spare in Rajshahi.

Put in to bat, Canada lost four early wickets but Gavin Bastiampillai and Soham Anjaria rallied, putting on 92 for the fifth wicket. Bastiampillai became Scott Coyte's third victim on 37 while Anjaria went on to reach 50 before being stumped.

A 30-run contribution from Umar Bhatti helped lift Canada's total to 164 all out from 45.1 overs.

Australia's reply was brisk with four of the top five batsmen all contributing over 20. Top scorer was Theo Doropoulos with 57 who was named Man of the Match.

Debutantes Uganda thrashed by SA

South Africa beat debutantes Uganda by eight wickets at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium

The Proteas restricted Uganda to 125 all out from 48.4 overs. Waylain September was the pick of the bowlers taking four wickets for 14 runs in his 10 overs. Only Hamza Saleh offered significant resistance with 26 runs from 72 balls in the middle order.

South Africa wasted little time in overhauling the Uganda total. Openers Clint Bowyer and Andrew Birch put on 95 for the first wicket before Bowyer was run out on 43.

Birch remained unbeaten on 56 and claimed the Man of the Match award as his side won with 22 overs to spare.