A brilliant century by opener Saif Hasan enabled touring Bangladesh A team to clinch the three-match unofficial ODI series 2-1 beating hosts Sri Lanka A by 98 runs in the rain-interrupted 3rd and last match at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday, reports UNB.
The second string Bangladesh team, which made a frustrating start losing to the hosts by seven wickets in the first one-dayer, bounced back in the series beating the Lankans by one wicket in the last-ball thriller in the 2nd match to level the three-match series 1-1 on Thursday last.
Earlier, both the four-day matches between two teams ended in draw.
Sent in to bat first in the day's series decider, the Bangladesh A team, riding on 117 runs by opener Saif Hasan, scored a mammoth total of 322 runs for 9 in stipulated 50 overs.
Promising opener Saif Hasan pairing with another opener Mohammad Naim made a good foundation of the Bangladesh innings, contributing 120 runs in 22.2 overs in the first wicket stand.Saif quick-fired 110-ball 117 runs featuring 12 fours and three sixes while Mohammad Naim scored 76-ball 66 runs, hitting five fours and two sixes.
Besides, captain Mohammad Mithun (32), Nurul Hasan (17), Anamul Haque (15), Afif Hossain (12) and Sanzamul Islam (12) were the other major contributors for Bangladesh.
SA Fernando grabbed four wickets for 50 runs while MVT Fernando took three for 69 runs.
In reply, Sri Lanka A team scored 130 runs for 6 in 24.4 overs when the match was stopped due to bad weather. At that time, the revised winning target for Sri Lanka stood at 229 runs in 24.4 overs.
After the dismissal of first two wickets in 27 runs, one down PHKD Menis partnering with SMA Priyanjan contributed 64 runs in the third wicket stand, but finally failed to reach the tough target due to middle order collapse.
Mendis scored 65-ball 55 runs with the help of two fours and three sixes, Priyanjan made 35-ball 34 runs and DS Weerakkody made 18 runs.
Saif Hasan and Ebadat Hossain took two wickets each conceding 25 and 26 runs respectively.
