Bangladesh pulled off another shocking victory at the 2007 Cricket World Cup on Saturday, beating world No. 1 team South Africa by 67 runs.

Put in to bat by South Africa captain Graeme Smith, Bangladesh posted its best-ever World Cup score of 251 runs, with Mohammad Ashraful scoring 87.

Bangladesh's Mashrafee-bin-Murtaza bowls against South Africa on Saturday during the Super 8s Cricket World Cup match in Georgetown, Guyana.
(Aman Sharma/ Associated Press)

South Africa's much-vaunted bowling attack failed to fire, although Andre Nel took 5-45 on his return to the lineup at the Guyana National Stadium.

In reply, Smith fell early for 12 and, although Jacques Kallis scored 32 in 36 balls, he was out at 63 for two wickets. From then on, wickets tumbled steadily until Mark Boucher and Justin Kemp fell in successive balls to leave the score on 87 for six.

South Africa had no answer to Bangladesh's medium-pace seam and spin attack, and was bowled out for 184, with only an injured Herschelle Gibbs resisting at 56 not out. The loss means it has only four points from four Super 8s matches and could now get caught by host West Indies or England in the race to capture semifinal places.

"It was a very poor day for us, but credit to Bangladesh, they took their opportunities and finished the game well," Smith said.

"We had them under pressure at times, but we released that pressure. We finished the game badly with the ball. We never got our disciplines right and our basics throughout the day were very, very poor. If you don't get those basics right, you can't expect to win games.

"We have got to regroup pretty quickly and the next two games (against West Indies and New Zealand) are obviously crucial."

The victory for Bangladesh means it now has two points from four games, and is level with England and West Indies.

"Any victory is important for Bangladesh," said captain Habibul Bashar. "But this is the No. 1 team, and it's a good feeling and we're still in the Super 8s."

It was the second time in the championship that Bangladesh upset one of the favoured teams. In group play, it beat India by five wickets in Trinidad on March 17, sending star-studded India out in the first round.

During the World Cup, South Africa was named the official top one-day team by the International Cricket Council, the rankings based on results in the 12 months up to April 1.

Put in to bat on a lifeless wicket, Bangladesh paid South Africa's bowlers little respect and paceman Makhaya Ntini was smashed for 61, including 28 runs from his last two overs. Bangladesh scored 80 off the last 10.

Team captain fails

Nel, who had not played since the team's first World Cup game against Netherlands, was the pick of the bowling, having replaced allrounder Andrew Hall. Shaun Pollock was economical, but unable to take any wickets.

Openers Javed Omar and Tamim Iqbal made a solid start, seeing off the combination of Pollock and Ntini in the first 10 overs.

Nel struck in the 14th over. Omar cut hard at a ball high and wide outside off stump, and Smith took an athletic catch at backward point with the score on 42.

Team captain Habibul Bashar failed again after scoring just five. Nel took a catch from his own bowling. Bashar's dismal run of form at the World Cup — he has scored just 57 in five innings — left Bangladesh on 59-2.

In the 20th over, Iqbal flicked a ball from Nel just over wicketkeeper Mark Boucher's head for four. He then tried an enormous slog off the next ball, edging it to Boucher to give Nel his third wicket and leave Bangladesh on 69 for 3. Iqbal scored 38 in 59 balls.

Ashraful became stronger with each over against a bowling attack that looked off colour apart from Pollock and Nel. He played a series of delightful sweeps for his 12 fours, finally falling to one sweep too many in the last over when South Africa finally placed a fielder, Charl Langeveldt, at deep square leg for the shot.

By then Ashraful had totted up 87 off 83 balls in his 11th one-day international half-century.

Bangladeshi bowling attack in form

Smith was the first to go in South Africa's innings with the score on 18, bowled trying to cut Syed Russel.

The in-form Kallis looked contemptuous of the Bangladesh bowling as he clubbed his way to 32 with five fours before miscuing a lofted on-drive to Iqbal at mid-on. Ashwell Prince was run out by Aftab Ahmed for one, and Kemp (7) and Boucher (12) were unable to stick around for long.

Gibbs limped to the crease with Prince as a runner and batted bravely, but the Bangladeshi bowling attack gave little away.

Gibbs and Pollock added 45 for the seventh wicket before Pollock was superbly run out by Iqbal for 17. Nel scored only one before he gave a simple caught and bowled to Mohammad Rafique, who bowled a spell of one for 22 from his 10 overs.

Abdur Razzak was the pick of Bangladesh's bowling, taking 3 for 25.