147 may be the perfect score in snooker, but it was not enough for Sri Lanka, who were beaten by five wickets by a Bangladesh side inspired by 19-year-old debutant fast bowler Rubel Hossain and an ever-improving Shakib Al Hasan in their final ODI tri-series match in Mirpur...
Bangladesh's win set up a repeat encounter in the final as with Hossain in superb form with the ball they bowled Sri Lanka out cheaply before Shakib's unbeaten 92 from just 69 balls saw them home with more than seven overs to spare...
Bangladesh made good their choice to field first when Mashrafe Mortaza removed Upul Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara without scoring and after Naeem Islam and Mahbubul Alam had snared Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Kapugedera for 28, it was over to Rubel..
At the time, Sri Lanka weren't going along too badly thanks to a typically belligerent half-century from Sanath Jayasuriya. The veteran left-hander had smashed 54 from 64 balls with seven fours before he became Mortaza's third wicket in the 21st over...
Rubel then took the rest of the wickets to fall for bowlers (Jehan Mubarak being run out for 10). Angelo Mathews (2), Thilan Thushara (0), Nuwan Kulasekera (5) and Ajantha Mendis (0) were then men dismissed leaving Muttiah Muralitharan unbeaten on six...
Rubel bowled 5.3 overs, returning four for 33 as Mortaza picked up three for 25 and they looked to have put themselves in with a good chance of recording only their second victory over Sri Lanka...
However, Bangladesh then appeared hell-bent on throwing the match away as they slumped to 11 for three, both openers Tamim Iqbal and Zunaed Siddique running themselves out for nine and nought respectively and Mushfiqur Rahim caught behind off of Thushara for one before a half-century stand between captain Mohammad Ashraful and Shakib Al Hasan got them back on track...
Ashraful played watchfully for his 26 in 41 balls, hitting only one four as the pair put on 91 for the fourth wicket, Shakib Al Hasan moving to his 10th half-century in ODIs...
Ashraful was dismissed when he was caught by Jayasuriya off of Kulasekera and another collapse might have been imminent, especially when Raqibul Hasan was out for three, but this was Shakib's day, however, and he earnt the man of the match award by blasting 10 fours and two sixes before Naeem Islam put the finishing touches to one of their best performances of recent times by winning the match by hitting Mendis for a four and a six...
The other team involved in the tournament is Zimbabwe, who beat Bangladesh by 38 runs before being beaten by 130 runs when they came up against Sri Lanka...
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