GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Bangladesh caused an upset of epic proportions when they hammered South Africa by 67 runs in a Super Eight match of the cricket World Cup here on Saturday. The world's best one-day side could not make more than 184 in reply to Bangladesh's decent 251 for eight in a match which was just the kind of shot in the arm the World Cup needed.

The World Cup was moving along at a predictable pace evoking a yawn all around but Saturday's stunning outcome would surely revive hopes of teams such as England and West Indies, eyeing a semi-final berth.

South Africa now find themselves on shaky grounds as their remaining three games of Super Eight stage are against formidable sides West Indies (April 10), New Zealand (April 14) and England (April 17).

On the other hand, it's the second upset which Bangladesh has caused and if the first one against India was financially catastrophic for the organizers, the one on Saturday would surely revive interest in the remaining three weeks of the showpiece event. Bangladesh owed their win to an exceptional innings from middle order bat Mohammad Ashraful (87) and then the fine effort in the field from its bowlers and fielders.

South Africa in the afternoon were confronted with a tough but not insurmountable target even though the pitch, with every passing hour, was increasingly yielding help to spinners. South Africa had no answer to the nagging accuracy of medium-pace seam and spin attack of Bangladesh and were forced into submission.

Left-arm spinners Saqibul Hasan (2-49) Abdur Razzak (3-25) and Mohammad Rafique (1-22) did the maximum damage, choking South Africa in the middle overs. Skipper Graeme Smith's (12) early dismissal was a setback but nothing hurt the team more than three dismissals which happened in the space of 25 balls.

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