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Ireland knock Bangladesh out of World Twenty20

NOTTINGHAM, England - Trent Johnston and the O’Brien brothers combined to help Ireland send Bangladesh crashing out of the World Twenty20 here on Monday.

Johnston, the burly Australian-born seamer, grabbed 3-20 in his opening spell with the new ball to restrict Bangladesh to a modest 137-8 after Ireland elected to bowl under an overcast Trent Bridge.

The O’Brien brothers, Niall and Kevin, ensured the Irish did not falter when it mattered most with the bat to lead their side home with 10 balls to spare.

Niall made 40 off 25 balls, while Kevin completed the easy win with an unbeaten 39 off 17 balls that included four boundaries and two sixes.

Bangladesh, who had lost their opening game against defending champions India, return home with two defeats, while the Irish move into the Super Eights from group A along with the Indians.

“Ireland bowled and fielded better than us today. We just didn’t bat very well at all,” said disappointed Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful.

Ireland’s man of the match Niall O’Brien admitted the cool conditions helped his side.

“We were hoping it would be chilly and overcast and that suited us,” he said.

Ireland skipper William Porterfield said that the contribution of Johnston with the new ball was key to victory.

“We took the new ball because we thought it would swing. We got early wickets and that put us in the driving seat,” he said.

“The O’Briens played positively and took the game to the Bangladeshis. We’re delighted to be in the Super Eights.”

Bangladesh, who needed to win the game to stay in the tournament, lost half their side by the 11^th over with just 66 runs on the board.

Opener Tamim Iqbal was the only frontline batsman to offer any semblence of resistence, making 22 before he was run out.

Mashrafe Mortaza hit a quickfire 33 not out towards the end, including 20 runs in the last over from Alex Cusack, as the last three wickets added 71 valuable runs.

“We won the toss, got early wickets and if you had said that we would restrict them to around 140 at the start, we would have been happy with that,” said Johnston.

“I haven’t taken the new ball for a while but the conditions were conducive to swing bowling.”

The Irish were sitting pretty at 61-1 in the 10^th over when three wickets fell for 28 runs, including that of Niall O’Brien, who holed out against Shakib Al Hasan.

Kevin O’Brien took charge after his brother’s dismissal, lofting Abdur Razzaq and Shakib for sixes, to help Ireland surpass the victory target of seven runs an over.

Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Rubel Hossain.

Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Jeremy Bray, Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Regan West, Gary Wilson.

Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Nigel Llong (ENG)

TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)