Ireland skipper Trent Johnston remained in an upbeat mood despite seeing his side lose by 84 runs in the 2nd ODI.

"We just didn't get our 3 disciplines right today. I thought we did pretty well in the field today to restrict them to 246. The bowlers did better, and I thought Dave Langford-Smith was outstanding today to get his 3-43."

"I felt it was a chaseable total. If I'd been batting first, it's the sort of target I'd have liked to post. We lost early wickets, and weren't able to keep the wickets in hand that was required. That was the difference in the two teams. They had a solid start and at 199 for 2, always had plenty in reserve. We battled well, and I was happy at the way we fielded and bowled."

Despite being 42 for 0, Ireland lost a clutter of wickets, and soon the game slipped away. Where had it gone wrong?

"The turning point for me was the spectacular catch by Nafees which got rid of Eoin Morgan who has been in such great form for us. The guy took it one-handed running back over his shoulder at cover, and that was a huge blow to us. I thought we looked to have more purpose about our batting today, and we scored a lot more boundaries in the first 15 overs."

Johnston disagreed with the Bangladesh press view that his team had played poorly saying, "I wouldn't say that. I've felt that we've been very competitive at times, but haven't just put together the complete performance yet. We're slowly adapting to the conditions, but it's difficult playing in 92F heat coupled with the extreme humidity."

On playing in front of huge crowds (there were 22,000 at the game today), "It's just a great experience for the guys to be playing in front of such a huge and fanatical support. I'm told there is a 40,000 full house expected for Saturday, so the noise will be just deafening and the atmosphere electric. It's something special for us, and hopefully it'll lift our game, and we can finish on a winning note."

Bangladesh Quotes Courtesy of www.tigercricket.com

Mohammad Ashraful

Whether the wins against Ireland raises the confidence level of the team?

Obviously it is a great confidence booster. If you remember we won a lot of matches against the likes of Zimbabwe and Scotland in 2006-07 and that created a winning habit which really helped when we were up against stronger teams in the World Cup. I think the victories here will also boost our performance in the international matches to come.

On Farhad Reza’s spell of 5/42

We scored 246 but still needed the bowlers to come good and Mortaza (Mashrafe) and Reza bowled very well upfront. Reza is working really hard and he got his reward today. His performance helped the team a lot.

Whether the team fell short of a more substantial total?

We should have got some more runs in the last 10 overs but lost too many wickets for around 70-odd runs. The initial target was 230 but if we had batted a bit more sensibly then we could have made a bigger score.

Given Reza’s success whether he missed Syed Rasel?

They are different types of bowlers. Rasel swings the ball while Reza’s deliveries skid on to the batsmen. Rasel is not here because of our team combination and Reza did his job beautifully.

If this Ireland team is weaker than the one that beat Bangladesh in the World cup 2007 Super Eight match in Barbados?

Not really. At one stage today they needed something like 121 in 20 overs with five wickets standing and the game was far from finished. I think they are struggling with the weather and wicket here and they are more comfortable playing in conditions that we had in Barbados. They are a good side.

Whether it is possible to record a series whitewash?

Of course, provided we play our best cricket.

Bangladesh Coach Jamie Siddons

His feelings after a first series win as Bangladesh coach?

Definitely I am happy. It was nice to hear the team song in the dressing room. They deserve it. They stuck to the team rules, put up some runs on the board and defended that. Very happy for that.

On Farhad Reza

He took Rasel’s place in the side and bowled at the start and in the middle. He got reverse swing when he came back and took five wickets. It’s a great performance for a guy of his height and stature to play like he did. He has a bit of all-round ability and at the moment he is a very valuable member of the team.

Whether it was a gamble to pick Reza instead of Shahadat Hossain?

That’s true. Probably this is not our ideal scenario long term. But certainly he fitted the bill today on our wicket but probably it is not ideal to open the bowling with someone like Farhad rather than a genuine opening bowler. But his all-round capabilities is something we lack. It was a risk and we reaped the rewards today but it is not going to happen all the time. We are trying to find the right balance and put a competitive team out there.

On the wicket?

I think it was pretty good. We almost made 250 and they were cruising to get 250. I don’t think there were too many demons in that track. The ball didn’t stop or anything and didn’t stop batsmen from playing their shots. It probably suited our spinners but everywhere we go the pitches tend to suit our opposition and we are giving them a a little bit of our own at the moment. It is a good wicket for us.

 Farhad Reza

On the one handed back-tracking catch at cover by Shahriar Nafees Ahmed and the diving catch by Aftab Ahmed at point off his bowling?

I guess if those two catches were not taken then I would not have got the five-for. The catches by Aftab and Shahriar were simply amazing.

His plan when he was asked to bowl with the new ball and then in the middle?

I did not actually plan anything and just tried to bowl to the field set by the captain. The wickets came automatically.