Bangladesh v Ireland, World Cup 2015 warm-ups, Sydney

Ireland bowlers, Balbirnie sink Bangladesh

Ireland 190 for 6 (Balbirnie 63*, Joyce 47) beat Bangladesh 189 (Sarkar 45, Mooney 3-32, Sorensen 3-31) by four wickets
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File photo - John Mooney's 3 for 32 slowed Bangladesh's batsmen down © Getty Images

Two days after they were thumped by Scotland in their first warm-up match, Ireland bounced back with a four-wicket win over Bangladesh in Sydney. The win was built on strong performances from their bowlers and an unbeaten fifty from Andrew Balbirnie.
While Ireland have received a confidence boost before the start of the tournament, Bangladesh's build-up appears shaky - the loss to Ireland was their fourth defeat in as many practice games in Australia. They lost both matches against a Cricket Australia XI side in Brisbane before the defeats in the World Cup warm-ups.
Bangladesh were put into bat and ran into trouble within the first ten overs, losing Tamim Iqbal and Mominul Haque cheaply. Anamul Haque and Soumya Sarkar added 58 for the third wicket before Andy McBrine dismissed Anamul in the 24th over.
Soumya held steady at the other end but was run-out in the 29th over after making 45 with two boundaries. Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman and Mashrafe Mortaza were dismissed in the twenties as John Mooney and Max Sorensen slowed down the scoring by picking regular wickets.
Mooney and Sorensen took three wickets each while Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell and McBrine took one each. Bangladesh struck only six fours in their 48.2 overs.
Ireland lost opener Paul Stirling in the sixth over and captain William Porterfield in the 12th, but Ed Joyce remained steadfast. Niall O'Brien and Gary Wilson were also removed swiftly and their wickets left Ireland tottering at 78 for 4 in the 25th over. Joyce and Balbirnie added 59 for the fifth wicket to get the side out of trouble.
Joyce made 47 off 87 balls while Balbirnie was not out on 63 off 79 balls with six fours. Balbirnie added another 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Kevin O'Brien, who made 23, before steering the side home with 19 balls to spare.
Taijul Islam took two wickets while Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan and Nasir Hossain took one each.
Bangladesh will travel to Canberra on Friday to prepare for their World Cup opener against Afghanistan on February 18 while Ireland take on West Indies in Nelson on February 16.