Ireland batsmen, who had no inkling about how to play the play the turning ball, were easy pickings for wily Bangla spinners, who bundled them out for 178 in 45 overs with some help from pacer Shafiul Islam, who passed a fitness test in the morning. Shafiul, who grabbed three of the last four Ireland wickets, finished with figures of 4/21.

Ironically, it was part-timer Mohammad Ashraful’s innocuous off-spin that turned the match Bangladesh’s way after frontline spinners Abdur Razzak, skipper Shakib Al Hasan made the initial breakthroughs. Playing in place of Mahmudullah, Ashraful, who had earlier played a horrendous shot to get out cheaply, made amends by dismissing the experienced duo of Ed Joyce (16) and Andrew White (10), fooling both with a clever variation of pace and trajectory.

Ireland’s hopes of sneaking an improbable win under the lights rested on the O’Brien brothers, Niall and Kevin. While Niall, looked more compact of the two, Kevin showed he had the big shots. They contributed 38 and 37, respectively, but threw away their wickets after having played themselves in.

Joyce’s soft dismissal to Ashraful showed why he failed to win an England Test cap and skipper William Porterfield’s unshakable faith in gangly pacer Boyd Rankin was hard to fathom, particularly as he struggled with both length and direction right through the Bangladesh innings.

In the end, it was a crucial 23-run ninth-wicket partnership between Naeem and Razzak, that made all the difference. Bangladesh, who got off to a rousing start through their openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, ought to have posted a total in excess of 250 after Shakib elected to bat.

Tamim, who top-scored with 70 against India, looked to be in super touch as he cut, drove and flicked Rankin and Trent Johnston to log 44 off 43 balls that won him the Man-of-the-Match award. With Kayes also joining the party with a brilliantly square-driven boundary off Rankin, Bangladesh raced to 50 off 5.4 overs.

A smart leg-side stumping off a wide, effected by wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien to send Kayes packing, and Joyce scoring a direct hit from mid-off to catch Junaid Siddique short of the crease, brought Ireland back in the game.

Alarm bells started ringing in the Bangla dressing room when Tamim played a lazy cut off Andre Botha shortly afterward and was held by Porterfield at point. Shakib began with a flourish, but refused to mix caution with aggression despite being dropped by Porterfield at point off Rankin when he was on 15. He paid the price for pushing early at a Botha delivery as the ball popped up for nicely for the bowler to hold.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Rokibul Hasan rebuilt the Bangladesh innings with a sensible 61-run partnership for the fifth wicket before the former had a rush of blood and departed, top-edging an intended sweep off left-arm spinner George Dockrell. And with Mohammad Ashraful departing much in the same fashion two overs later, early ‘dinner’ was on cards. However, Roqibul (38), Naeem (29) and Razzak (11) ensured that Bangladesh spinners had something to bowl at.

Once Pakistan introduced spin, Kenyan wickets fell quickly with Afridi unplayable in the day-night match at Mahinda Rajapakse stadium. Only Collins Obuya, with 47, and three other batsmen managed to reach double figures as Kenya — bowled out for a paltry 69 in their first match against New Zealand on Sunday — faltered again.

Pakistan headed for a 300-plus total thanks to Umar Akmal (71), Misbah-ul-Haq (65), Kamran Akmal (55) and Younis Khan (50) as four batsmen scored half-centuries for the ninth time in a World Cup match.

Man of the match Umar, 21, playing his first World Cup tie, gave the innings a final flourish, sharing a rapid 118-run stand for the fifth wicket with in-form Haq who was equally aggressive during his 69-ball stay.

With Umar and Haq in full swing, Pakistan racked up 70 runs in the batting powerplay, with the junior Akmal hitting four boundaries off one Elijah Otieno over.

Haq, Pakistan’s best batsman in the recent Test and one-day series in New Zealand, also added 45 for the fourth wicket with Khan before giving impetus to the innings with Umar to help Pakistan put up an impressive total.

Haq, whose first scoring shot was a six, hit one more six and a single boundary, while Umar notched eight boundaries and a six before holing out off Thomos Odoyo who finished with 3/41.

Odoyo conceded 20 wides in an embarrassing team total of 46 extras.

Kenya equalled the highest number of wides bowled in a one-day innings of 37 conceded by the West Indies against Pakistan at Brisbane in 1989.

Pakistan had been sluggish at the start with openers Mohammad Hafeez (nine) and Ahmed Shahzad (one) falling in quick succession, leaving their team struggling at 12/2.

Hafeez was the first to go, failing to keep a drive down as a diving Seren Waters picked up a beautiful catch at short mid-wicket.

Two overs later, Shahzad, who scored his first run after 13 deliveries, was caught by skipper Jimmy Kamande off Odoyo.

Khan and Kamran revived the innings through a solid 98-run stand for the third wicket, pushing for singles off some tight bowling.

Pakistan next take on Sri Lanka, winners against Canada in their first match, on Saturday. Kenya meet Sri Lanka on March 1 with both matches in Colombo.

The copmplete scoreboard is here .

Points table till now
Teams Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts Net RR
Group A
N Zealand 1 1 0 0 0 2 +7.620
Sri Lanka 1 1 0 0 0 2 +4.200
Australia 1 1 0 0 0 2 +1.820
Zimbabwe 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1.820
Canada 1 0 1 0 0 0 -4.200
Kenya 1 0 1 0 0 0 -7.620

Teams Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts Net RR
Group B
India 1 1 0 0 0 2 +1.740
Bangladesh 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1.740

DATE MATCH VENUE
12-Feb-11 Kenya Vs West Indies R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
12-Feb-11 Bangladesh Vs Canada Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong
12-Feb-11 Ireland Vs New Zealand VCA Stadium, Nagpur
12-Feb-11 South Africa Vs Zimbabwe MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
12-Feb-11 Sri Lanka Vs Netherlands SSC Ground, Colombo
13-Feb-11 India Vs Australia M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore
15-Feb-11 Ireland Vs Zimbabwe VCA Stadium, Nagpur
15-Feb-11 Bangladesh Vs Pakistan Sher-e-Bangla stadium, Mirpur
15-Feb-11 Australia Vs South Africa M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore
15-Feb-11 Sri Lanka Vs West Indies R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
15-Feb-11 Kenya Vs Netherlands SSC Ground, Colombo
16-Feb-11 Canada Vs England Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah
16-Feb-11 India Vs New Zealand MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
18-Feb-11 England Vs Pakistan Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah