In an exciting rain-shortened match, Bangladesh defeated Ireland by just two wickets in a practice one-dayer at the Stormont in Belfast.
Ireland had scored 81 for 1 in 18 overs when the heaven opened up. The match was then reduced to a 32-over game after a short delay. Ireland went on to score 179 runs in the stipulated 32 overs. J Molins top scored with 64.
Bangladesh's target was reset to 206 in 32 overs using the D/L method.
Bangladesh lost Ashraful early on but opener Javed Omar and Nafees Iqbal put up a 126-run partnership before Javed fell for 39 (144/2).
Javed played a perfect foil to the aggressive Nafees, who scored a blazing 70-ball 100 and was eventually declared man of the match.
After Nafees' departure, Bangladesh suffered a spectacular collapse, losing 5 wickets for just 20 runs. Debutant captain Rajin Saleh was instrumental in staying unbeaten at one end as the wickets fell regularly at the other end. This was 21 year old Rajin's first outing as a captain in the absence of regular skipper Habibul Bashar, who was ruled out of the Champion's Trophy tour due to injury.
At one point, BD's target of 46 from 48 balls was increased to 27 runs off the last 3 overs. In the end, Bangladesh won scoring the needed 1 run off the last ball of the last over.
Scorecard from: Cricinfo
Scorecard from: Irish Cricket Union
Ireland v Bangladesh
29 August 2004
Stormont, Belfast
One Day International
Result: Bangladesh won by 2 wickets
Toss: Bangladesh
Umpires: J McCall, J Wiseman
MoM: Nafis Iqbal
Latest update at: 8:43 PM
IRELAND
J Molins c sub (Tareg) b Rajin Saleh 64 Tapash Baisya 7 0 30 1
J Bray b Tapash Baisya 16 Nazmul Hussain 6 0 31 0
A Botha c Tapash Baisya b Khaled Mahmud 23 Mushfiqur Rahman 2.2 0 10 0
A White c Nazmul Hussain b Rajin Saleh 12 Rajin Saleh 3.4 0 28 2
P Gillespie not out 19 Khaled Mahmud 7 0 41 1
K McCallan run out 2 Manjurul Islam 6 0 24 0
D Joyce not out 17
N Shoukat
J Bushe
G Cooke
A McCoubrey
Extras (b 3, lb 12, nb 3, w 8, p 0) 26
Total (5 wkts, 32.0 overs) 179
FOW: 1-27 (J Bray) 2-89 (A Botha) 3-120 (A White) 4-136 (J Molins) 5-141 (K McCallan)
BANGLADESH (Target = 206 in 32 overs; Current rate = 6.44; Required rate = NaN)
Javed Omar lbw b White 39 Shoukat 7 0 34 0
Mohammad Ashraful c Botha b McCoubrey 8 McCoubrey 3 0 17 1
Nafis Iqbal c White b Cooke 100 Botha 6 0 33 2
Rajin Saleh not out 21 McCallan 4 0 25 0
Aftab Ahmed lbw b Botha 0 White 6 0 43 1
Khaled Mashud b Botha 4 Cooke 6 0 43 3
Manjurul Islam Rana b Cooke 2
Khaled Mahmud b Cooke 0
Tapash Baisya run out 7
Nazmul Hussain not out 1
Mushfiqur Rahman
Extras (b 0, lb 11, nb 0, w 13, p 0) 24
Total (8 wkts, 32.0 overs) 206
FOW: 1-18 (Mohammad Ashraful) 2-144 (Javed Omar) 3-162 (Nafis Iqbal) 4-169 (Aftab Ahmed) 5-177 (Khaled Mashud)
6-182 (Manjurul Islam Rana) 7-182 (Khaled Mahmud) 8-204 (Tapash Baisya)