A superb bowling by Mohammad Saifuddin steered Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team to win the seven-match Youth ODI series 4-1 beating South African Under-19 side by 8 runs in the 5th match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Saturday.
Hosts Under-19 team opened the innings first after winning the toss and scored a moderate 257 for 9 in stipulated 50 overs featuring 90 runs in the 3rd wicket stand by opener Pinak Ghosh and two down Mehedy Hasan.
After the departure of opener Saif Hasan (33) and one down captain Nazmul Hossain Shanta (21) for 94 runs in 21.2 overs, opener Pinak Ghosh pairing with Mehedy Hasan guided the team to a good total of 184 runs in 39.2 overs in the 3rd wicket stand.
Pinak Ghsoh contributed the match highest 76 runs off 116 balls hitting four fours and two sixes while Mehedy Hasan scored 63 off 71 balls, including six boundaries.
Besides, lower order Shafiul Hasan (27) and Prosenjit Das (14) were the other Bangladesh batsmen reaching the double figure while another 15 runs of the innings came from extras.
Pacer Ziyaadd Abrahams was the most successful among the Proteas bowlers claiming six wickets for 58 runs.
In reply, South African Under-19 team were forced to fold their innings at 249 for 9 in quota 50 overs against superb bowling by local medium pacer Mohammad Saifuddin.
For South Africa, opener R Moonsamy scored the team highest 63 runs off 65 balls, featuring eight fours and one six.
Besides, AD Galiem (60), PWA Mulder (50), T De Zorzi (41) and BS Makhanya (11) were the other major contributors for touring South African Youth team.
Mohammad Saifuddin made major damage in the Proteas innings grabbing five wickets for 27 runs in his six-over spell in a crucial moment and was adjudged the man of the match.
Saifuddin was brought into the game in the 40th over with the visitors South Africa needing 66 runs off 66 balls with seven wickets in hand. Saifuddin took two wickets in his first two overs before creating mayhem in his fourth- the 48th over.
Then, he took three wickets in four balls, removing South Africa captain Sibonelo Makhanya, Dayyan Galiem and Lesego Senokwane.
A score of 193 for 3 suddenly turned to 231 for 8, leaving South Africa with only two overs to score the remaining 27 runs.
Nihaduzzaman then gave away 13 runs, which included three wides in the 49th over. Saifuddin bowled two no-balls in the final over but the last three deliveries were dots, and the visitors eventually fell short by eight runs.
Apart from Saifuddin’s five wicket haul, captain Nazmul Hossain Shanta, Mehedy Hasan and Saleh Ahmed Shawon took one wicket each for 26, 28 and 40 runs respectively.
In the remaining two ODI between Bangladesh and South Africa Under-19 teams will be held on April 21 and 23, both at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.
