The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Visiting Bangladesh A team suffered a five-wicket defeat to hosts Ireland in the first one-day match at Bangor in Ireland Sunday.

The match was reduced to 44-over per side due to rain.

Replying to a much easier target of 111, Ireland eased to victory scoring 112 in 28 overs at the loss of five wickets.

After losing opener Paul Stirling for just a single, Reinhardt Strydom (40) and Andrew (11) added 47 for the second wicket stand to settle the nerves for the hosts.

Andrew Poynter (8) and Gary Wilson (10) both went cheaply, but number four Andre Botha remained not out with 30 off 35 balls including six boundaries to lead Ireland to the win with 5 wickets and 16 overs to spare. K McCallan was the other unbeaten batsman with 3.

Arafat Sunny and Rubel Hossain bagged two wickets each for 22 and 39 runs respectively while pacer Nazmul Hossain took the other wicket.

Earlier chose to bat first, the second string Bangladesh side could manage 110 for 9 in 44 overs. They made a decent start until in the 12th over as skipper Junaed Siddiqui and Imrul Kayes put up 41 runs in the opening stand before Junaed departed for team highest 23 off 32 balls featuring four boundaries.

After that the Bangladesh A side seemed to lose control of the match losing quick four wickets -- Farhad Hossain 3, Kayes 21, Nayeem Islam 1, Nadif Chowdhury 0 -- in just 26 runs, leaving the total at 67/5 in 27.2 overs.

The miseries for the tourists further deepened when wicket keeper Dhiman Ghose 7, Rajin Saleh with a sluggish 13 off 63 balls, Nazmul Hossain 1 and Syed Rasel 11 also departed cheaply.

Arafat Sunny not out 10 and Rubel Hossain not out 2 remained till the end to enable their side somehow crossing the 100 mark.

McCallan was the most aggressive bowler claiming 3 wickets for just 10 runs in 9 overs while Botha took two wickets for 21 runs.

Bangladesh A team, which made a draw in the three-day match with their Irish counterpart Wednesday, conceded an 82-run defeat to Ireland in a 20/20 encounter on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the tourists will wrap up their Ireland campaign with another 50-over match against Ireland A team at Stormont on Tuesday (July 1).

Bangladesh team will go to England on July 3 to play five three-day and three one-day matches before returning home on August 4.