Sri Lanka beat UAE by 14 runs

Asia Cup, 2nd Match

Sri Lankan players celebrate the fall of a wicket during a T20 match. File Photo: AFP

Star Online Report

Sri Lanka came out in front in an absorbing encounter of the Asia Cup 2016 against UAE by 14 runs at Mirpur Stadium today.
Needing only 130 to win, UAE batters failed to rise to the occasion and threw away a wonderful opportunity to cause an upset. The gung-ho approach by most of the UAE batters resulted in their downfall against Sri Lankan bowlers.
For Sri Lanka, captain Malinga finished the game with four wickets for 26. Kulasekara took three while Herath captured two with his left-arm spin.
UAE’s Swapnil Patil was the top-scorer with 37. The next highest score in his team was 13.

Sri Lanka v United Arab Emirates

UAE: 115/9 (20/20 over)

Sri Lanka: 129/8 (20/20 over)

The 18th over of UAE’s chase produced another wicket as captain Amjad Javed was caught in the deep for 13. Amjad cleared his front leg and swung hard. He had the elevation but not the distance.
Malinga returned in the 17th over to remove UAE’s Patil for 37. Patil gave his side hope of an upset as long as he stayed at the wicket.
Patil faced 36 balls and smashed three fours and two sixes in his knock
The crucial seventh wicket partnership for UAE produced 38 runs, and took them closer to their target.
Sri Lanka took the sixth UAE wicket in the tenth over when Saqlain Haider was caught by Chandimal for one run. Haider attempted a big slog but only managed to get a top-edge.
UAE were falling away…
UAE lost their fifth wicket in the 8th over, and were totally thrown off-track from their chase by Sri Lanka.
Rangana got his first scalp when Shaiman Anwar failed to deal with a short delivery. Anwar went back to cut but managed an edge to the keeper after scoring 13 runs.
UAE were reeling only four overs into their chase as another double-strike dented their hopes of an upset against their much-vaunted opponent.
Kulasekara rocked UAE in his second over with two wickets. He first sent back Muhammad Kaleem for seven and then dismissed Mohammad Usman for six.
Usman got a thick edge to slip while Kaleem was caught by Mathews at mid-off
UAE were rocked early by the ‘Slinga’ Malinga as the Sri Lankan captain bowled with deadly accuracy from ball one.
Mohammad Shahzad was the second UAE wicket to fall when he was fooled by Malinga’s slower ball. Shahzad attempted a leaden footed drive, was through with the shot before the ball crept under the bat to hit off.
Malinga got his first wicket with his first ball. His full and swinging delivery close to 140ks rapped Rohan in front for naught. A great start for Sri Lanka!
Earlier, UAE managed to restrict Sri Lanka to 129 for eight with a superb display in the field under the lights at Mirpur.
Sri Lanka collapsed after the 68-run opening stand, and lost their last nine wickets for 58 runs.
UAE skipper took three wickets for 25 in four overs. Both Mohammad Naveed and Mohammad Shahzad captured two wickets each.
Sri Lanka lost two wickets in the last over bowled by Shahzad. UAE bowler only gave away six runs and sent back Kapugedera for 10 and Kulasekara for 7 respectively.
UAE took wickets at regular intervals late in the innings, and grabbed their fifth in the 17th over when Sri Lanka’s dependable batter Mathews was trapped in front for eight runs.
Rohan Mustafa got the important scalp of Mathews with a non-turning ball fired in. Mathews couldn’t connect with an ambitious reverse sweep, and the umpire raised his finger.
Sri Lanka lost their fourth wicket with five overs left in their innings. Mohammad Naveed got the better off Shanaka. Shanaka managed five from 11 balls, and just couldn’t get the ball away.
Sri Lanka stumbled in the 14th over, and lost their third wicket, the crucial one of Dinesh Chandimal after the batter had reached his half-century.
Amjad made another impact with the ball, and his contributions allowed UAE to claw back into this game. His back of a length ball outside off brought out the slog from Chandimal, and mid wicket was waiting to grab the catch.
Dinesh Chandimal made 50 from 39 with seven fours and a huge six. He looked most comfortable at the crease, and played some attractive shots on his way to fifty, his second in T201.
Amjad Javed fought back after Sri Lanka enjoyed a superb start, and got the second wicket in the 12th over to the delight of his teammates.
Siriwardana perished to a short ball that cramped him for room. He looked to pull but miscued it deep midwicket where Haider didn’t make any mistake. He scored only six runs.
Sri Lanka stuttered with the two-wicket burst in quick time from UAE.
UAE captain Amjad Javed finally gave his teammates and fans something to cheer about after he managed to stop the Dilshan-Chandimal stand at 68.
Dilshan fell in the tenth over. He tried to pull a short ball outside off and his mis-hit carried to Usman at deep midwicket. Sri Lanka opener scored 27 from 28 with four fours.
Sri Lanka openers Dilshan and Chandimal give their side a strong start against UAE in the second game of the Asia Cup 2015 at Mirpur Stadium.
Sri Lanka opening duo of Dilshan and Chandimal gave their team a strong start against UAE, and exploited the power-play overs extensively.
Both Dilshan and Chandimal were in no-nonsense mood and tried to whack anything in their arc out of the ground.
UAE bowlers failed to stop the run flow as they were too full, and allowed the batters to drive disdainfully.
United Arab Emirates, led by Amjad Javed opted to bowl first and make use of the conditions with the hard, new ball against Sri Lanka led by the ‘Slinga’ Malinga at Mirpur stadium.
The match will be a major test for UAE as they look to continue their good form from the qualifiers, where they won all three matches against Afghanistan, Oman and Hong Kong.
Some new match-winners have emerged, which could help them not be just another Associate participant among the big boys.
After the 2-1 loss in India, Sri Lanka have a chance to ease their way into the Asia Cup by taking on the UAE in their first match.
The return of the captain Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Rangana Herath and Nuwan Kulasekara will give the team a major boost as they look to start gathering themselves ahead of the World T20, where they have a title to defend.
Mirpur had a green top for the Bangladesh-India encounter but it is unlikely that a similar pitch will be greeting Sri Lanka and UAE.
A surface devoid of grass and with slower speed can be expected. There is rain in the forecast but nothing that should threaten the game.
This is the first encounter between Sri Lanka and UAE in T20Is, although the teams have met in ODIs in 2004 and 2008.
Sri Lanka
DSNFG Jayasuriya, TM Dilshan, LD Chandimal (Wicketkeeper), AD Mathews, TAM Siriwardana, CK Kapugedera, MD Shanaka, KMDN Kulasekara, HMRKB Herath, SL Malinga (Captain), PVD Chameera
United Arab Emirates
Rohan Mustafa, Muhammad Kaleem, Mohammad Shahzad, Muhammad Usman, Shaiman Anwar, Amjad Javed (Captain), Saqlain Haider, SP Patil (Wicketkeeper), Qadeer Ahmed, Ahmed Raza, Mohammad Naveed

GSP claim grows stronger as EPZs improve labour rights

Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Bangladesh's claim for the restoration of trade benefits to the US market has got stronger as the government took measures to improve labour rights in factories housed inside the export processing zones.
The existing workers welfare associations (WWAs) in the EPZ factories will act as collective bargaining agents (CBAs) similar to trade unions, once the Bangladesh EPZ Labour Law 2016 is passed in parliament.
The cabinet last week gave the nod to the draft of the law, which will supersede the EPZ Workers' Welfare and Industrial Relations Act 2010.
Allowing trade unions in the EPZ factories was the last of the 16 conditions put down by the United States Trade Representative, the chief trade negotiation body for the US government, to regain the Generalised System of Preferences scheme.
Under the new rules, 30 percent workers of a factory would have to ask the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza), the regulatory body for the EPZs, for the formation of the WWAs by filling in a form.
Once the Bepza verifies the applications and allows the WWAs, there would be a referendum among the workers for holding polls to elect the WWA leaders.
The government was initially rigid about allowing such rights in the factories housed inside the EPZs owing to its commitment to foreign investors that unionism would not be allowed within the zones.
EPZs' foreign investors were divided on the issue of unionism, but the government gave it the go-ahead, giving the utmost importance to winning back the GSP.
Currently, more than 4.4 lakh workers are employed in the 453 factories in eight EPZs. These factories attracted investment of $3.74 billion so far from home and abroad.
Another 121 factories are under construction in the EPZs.
In fiscal 2014-15, the EPZ factories exported goods worth $6.11 billion.
After the twin industrial disasters of Tazreen Fashions fire and Rana Plaza building collapse, the US government in June 2013 suspended the GSP scheme for Bangladesh on grounds of serious shortcomings in workplace safety and poor labour rights.
Under the scheme, Bangladesh used to export 0.54 percent of its total shipments to the US in a year, which amounted to about $26 million.
The USTR, however, laid down a 16-point action plan for the Bangladesh government to win back the trade benefits.
One of the conditions was the amendment to the labour law to allow workers the full freedom of association, which the government complied in July 2013.
Since then, the government has also allowed more than 350 new trade unions.
The government has also upgraded the department of chief factory inspector to a directorate and recruited more than 200 new inspectors, as per the action plan.
It has also built a publicly accessible database on factories and arranged training programmes for garment workers.
Three inspection agencies -- Accord, Alliance and National Action Plan -- have completed inspection of 3,800 factories and have recommended remediation works to improve structural, fire and electrical safety.
Yet, the US government feels the government has to do more, leaving out Bangladesh from the list of 122 nations for whom GSP was restored last June.
The USTR has not set a timeframe for the next review on Bangladesh's progress in meeting the US requirements.

IFC buys 5pc of City Bank

Star Business Report

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has invested more than Tk 131 crore to hold 5 percent of local City Bank's shares.
The IFC will pay Tk 28.3 for each share, which includes a premium of Tk 18.3.
Rubel Aziz, chairman of the City Bank; Sohail RK Hussain, managing director of the bank, and Wendy Jo Werner, country manager of IFC, signed an agreement in this regard at the capital's Westin Hotel yesterday.
The City Bank, which is a first generation private bank, has applied to Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and other relevant regulatory authorities for approval of the equity sale to the IFC.
The IFC provides debt, equity and guarantee products in sectors, including financial markets, infrastructure, agribusiness and manufacturing to help enhance employment opportunities, fuel growth and spur innovation.
The IFC's equity investment ranges between 5 percent and 20 percent of a company's shares, according to its website.
It said equity investments provide developmental support and long-term growth capital that private enterprises need.

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The corporation also invests directly in companies' equity and also through private-equity funds.
In the fiscal year ended on June 2015, equity investments accounted for about $3.2 billion of commitments IFC made for its own account.