Having done brilliantly to restrict their opponents to just over 200 after a scintillating start which saw Bangladesh rattle up almost a quarter of that without loss in the first five overs, Ireland’s chase lost its way against the home slow bowlers on a tricky track and they fell 27 runs short as Shafiul Islam applied the killer blows. Shakib Al Hasan opened with a spinner at one end and immediately introduced a second, with the skipper himself and Mohammad Ashraful later getting in on the act.

Paul Stirling was stumped off Abdur Razzaq and fellow opener and captain William Porterfield caught off his opposite number for 20 before Ireland’s best batsman Ed Joyce fell to Ashraful’s first ball when he gave a return catch. Before that wicket Ireland were strongly placed at 76 for two off 18 overs but when Andrew White – promoted to No 5 on the back of a prolific 2010 and in light of the spin attack – perished for 10 made mainly from reverse sweeps, nerves were starting to fray.

When Niall O’Brien, who got going as usual, fell for a useful 38 the advantage was with Bangladesh at 110 for five even though Andre Botha is far from the worst No 7 Ireland have had. Botha started slowly but, having hit Ashraful for six, Kevin O’Brien led the charge in Ireland taking 14 off his next over, prompting the home skipper to bring back seam at both ends. It was to prove a master-stroke. Unfortunately, with the stand worth a very valuable 41 and the initiative back with Ireland, O’Brien pulled Shafiul Islam – who was to finish with four for 21 – straight to the substitute fielder for 37 to tilt the balance back Bangladesh’s way. Run-rate never looked like being a problem but John Mooney struggled before departing without scoring as Ireland’s last hope, Trent Johnston, arrived with 42 still needed and a proverbial mountain to be climbed. His first-ball boundary had barely begun the task when, with 38 needed from the final 10 overs, Botha was bowled by Shafiul for 22 to send the big crowd delirious. They knew the end was nigh and a brief last wicket stand only delayed the inevitable.

Facing one of the tournament hosts in their own throbbing backyard was always going to be a challenging prospect, even for a seasoned side that has beaten Bangladesh in previous World Cup clashes. In any sport, visiting teams would want to silence a partisan home crowd – and few are noisier or more partisan than sub-continent cricket crowds – but when you have to contend with one of the world’s most destructive openers in Tamim Iqbal it makes the task that much more daunting. Slightly subdued initially in the unsuccessful chase of a mammoth total against India in the tournament opener, Tamim is nevertheless the perfect player to get his team off to a flying start and energise the crowd.

The first three overs each went for double-figure runs and Bangladesh had 40 on the board midway through the fourth with normal order resumed compared to last Saturday when Imrul Kayes actually outscored his notoriously explosive partner. Tamin was on 37 when Kayes brought up the Bangladesh 50 in the sixth but the over only went for two and Ireland soon had a bonus breakthrough when wicket-keeper Niall O’Brien brilliantly – the ball was called wide – stumped the latter off first change medium-pacer Mooney, who had been preferred in the team to Gary Wilson with Alex Cusack also absent.

Big Boyd Rankin had been taken off after bowling two overs for 22 with Porterfield slightly surprisingly turning to Mooney on a fairly lifeless pitch, but things were to get better for Ireland. The departure of Kayes brought in Junaid Siddique but he quickly perished to a run out when Joyce marked his return to the green ranks with a direct hit as the Bangla batsmen attempted a quick single. Ireland would have preferred to be rid of Tamim but the prize scalp soon followed when he sliced the ball behind square and captain Porterfield – who impressed in the field at the 2007 World Cup – took a diving catch to give Botha a wicket. A shocking spill by Porterfield off the returning Rankin reprieved his opposite number Shakib but the home captain patted the ball back to the ever-effective Botha in the very next over and Bangladesh were 86 for four.

That meant Porterfield was able to introduce teenage spin star George Dockrell at a time when the opposition weren’t exactly on a roll and the youngster duly began with a tidy maiden. At the mid-point of the innings, Ireland had restricted Bangladesh to 113 for four, a great effort especially in light of the flying start, and Mushfiqur Rahim’s boundary in Kevin O’Brien’s first over was his team’s first for 10 overs. The run-rate wasn’t alarming but a half-century partnership was building Bangladesh a good launch platform so Dockrell’s deserved breakthrough – he had Rahim caught off the top edge by White – was welcome. Seven seemed a bit low for Ashraful to be batting but he showed why by falling feebly to Dockrell and then White ran out Raqibul Hasan for 38 to make it 159 for seven.

Rankin continued to be expensive but Dockrell completed his quota having conceded only 23 runs and, remarkably, Stirling bowled two overs for only a single apiece late on to complement the nagging Botha before Johnston returned to take the final two wickets. Although Ireland would have taken a target of 206 after the first few overs, in the end it might actually have been a few less and at the interval few felt that the chase would be as straightforward as Australia’s against New Zealand earlier in the day.

Emmet O'Riordan (Irish Times) reports
Opportunity knocks fleetingly at the highest level of sport as Ireland found in letting a gilt-edged one pass in their opening World Cup encounter with Bangladesh in Mirpur. In the end the scorecard recorded a 27-run defeat for Phil Simmons’ side in the cauldron of the Sher-e-Bangla stadium as the Bangladeshi fans found their voices again and waved banners, one that read “Revenge is a dish best served cold” in relation to Ireland’s Super Eights victory over the Tigers in Barbados back in 2007.

On a track as slow as a wet weekend, Ireland bowled and fielded like demons to restrict the home side to 205, dragging them back from an explosive start that saw openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes score 49 runs in the first five overs. Needing just four runs an over, Ireland fell between stools in how they approached the chase against Bangladesh’s slew of slow bowlers and were missing the one real innings of class that was required.

It looked like it might yet come again from the blade of Niall O’Brien, the hero of Ireland’s victory over Pakistan four years ago, but the left-hander fell to a stunning catch from Tamim running in from the square leg boundary after making 38. His younger brother Kevin also looked well set having added 41 in partnership with Andre Botha, including the game’s only six, only to perish after doing all the ground work in making 37 when sub fielder Suhrawadi Shuvo held on to a pull shot at deep square leg.

It provided Shafiul Islam with his first wicket, and the seamer would go on to excel with the new ball to extinguish Ireland’s hopes, taking four for 21 as Ireland were bowled out for 178 with five overs to spare. Ireland skipper William Porterfield pulled no punches in his assessment of the failings on the day, while promising that it will be quickly put to bed before the team travel on to India later today ahead of the clash with England in Bangalore on Wednesday. “It’s not hard to work out where we lost this game, we let ourselves down with the bat,” was Porterfield’s frank assessment. “After 50 overs it was pretty good and to claw it back after the first five or six overs with the ball we did really well. “You can’t afford that many soft dismissals throughout a tournament, let alone an innings, but we’ve just got have to bounce back from this, we can’t get too down. “We’ve got a lot of cricket still to play in this tournament. We’ve showed glimpses of what we can do there and we’ve batted well in the two warm-up games coming into this tournament. We have to leave the batting here and move on to Bangalore.”

The positives Porterfield pointed to mostly came in the first innings, although it was hard to have any optimism when Bangladesh’s openers tore into Boyd Rankin and Trent Johnston first up. The North County pair of John Mooney, earning his 100th cap, and Andre Botha stemmed the tide by taking the pace off the ball to great effect, and Mooney got his reward with the wicket of Kayes thanks to a brilliant stumping from Niall O’Brien. A direct hit from Ed Joyce ran out Junaid Siddique for three, before Botha claimed the key scalps of Tamim for 44, with Porterfield taking a low catch at point, and Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan with an acrobatic caught and bowled.

It left the home side on 86 for four, but a 61-run stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan shifted the initiative back in their favour. That was before 18-year-old George Dockrell got in on the act in an incredibly assured bowling performance on his 50-over World Cup debut. The left-arm spinner gave the ball plenty of flight, delivering it with accuracy to stifle the batsmen in the middle overs.

And when the frustration got too much, both Rahim (36) and Mohammad Ashraful (one) fell while trying to sweep, with Andrew White taking both catches at backward square leg. Dockrell would finish with figures of two for 23 from his 10 overs, an exceptional debut in the competition, but one that would eventually end up in the file marked “one that got away”

Ian Callender (Irish Daily Mirror) reports
Ireland’s batsmen froze in the heat of Mirpur as Bangladesh got their World Cup campaign back on track with a 27 runs victory. It was the match that neither side could afford to lose - Bangladesh after losing their opening match against India and Ireland because they will now probably have to be beat both England and the West Indies to have any chance of reaching the quarter finals.

Even though Ireland’s opening bowlers conceded half of their side’s 205 runs in just a third of the overs, a target of 206 in 50 overs should have been a formality for this powerful batting line up. But, one after one, they made a start and then, carelessly, found a fielder when they should have been going on to play the match winning innings.

The Tigers, roared on by a capacity 26,000 crowd, did not need asking twice. But it wasn’t the trial by spin which Ireland failed, rather it was 21 year old opening bowler Shafiul Islam, playing only his 25th one-day international and second World Cup match who finished them off. Shafiul, in his second comeback over, took the wicket of big-hitting Kevin O’Brien for 37 - the Railway Union all-rounder hit the only six of the day - followed it up by wrecking the stumps of Andre Botha and, just to make sure Ireland could not cause them any late problems, trapped Trent Johnston plumb in front.

Fittingly, Shafiul also took the wicket of last man Boyd Rankin, to finish with figures of four for 21, the best by a Bangladesh bowler in the World Cup, and send the crowd into raptures. Ireland captain William Porterfield didn’t know what had hit him as he admitted in the post-match Press conference. “We would have snapped your hand off if given 206 to chase at the start of the match (after losing the toss) but we kept losing wickets and you can’t afford to do that at any level, let alone in the World Cup finals,” he said. “It’s as frustrated as I have been in a while. We have let ourselves down which is a disappointment because our batting has been going well in the warm-up games. But we have to leave this performance behind us and come back strong in the rest of the tournament because we know that’s what we can do.”

Apart from Rankin (nine overs for 62) the bowling, as Porterfield claimed, “should not be questioned”. Johnston picked up the last two wickets to make his eight overs more respectable but John Mooney, Botha, the most successful with three for 32 and 18 year old George Dockrell, two for 23 in his first World Cup match, should all have been rewarded with a win. Instead, the batsmen let them down. Paul Stirling was stumped, Porterfield tamely found short mid-wicket and when Ed Joyce, in his first match back in Ireland colours, was beaten by the spin of Mohammad Ashraful, Ireland were 75 for three.

Still, there shouldn’t have been panic and although Andrew White struggled against the spin, Niall O’Brien was looking a million dollars. Having scored 38 with contemptuous ease, he picked out the fielder at deep mid-wicket and his disgust as he left the pitch was there for all to see. It appeared as if Ireland’s luck was in when Botha survived a TV review when the ball appeared to be hitting leg stump but two overs later Mooney played on and when Botha followed just three balls later the game was up for an Ireland side who are now in a ‘must-win’ situation when they meet England in their second match in Group B.

Richard Bullick, Emmet O'Riordan (Irish Times), Ian Callender (Irish Daily Mirror)