Celebrations delay England and Bangla teams

Andrew Strauss and Shakib Al Hasan's men were stranded for almost four hours at the stadium after Bangladesh's stunning World Cup win over England sparked wild celebrations in the streets of Chittagong.

Around 10,000 hollering fans turned up for an impromptu midnight carnival in front of the teams' hotel on Friday, and the beating drums and the chants of "Tiger, Tiger, Shakibs are Tigers," could probably be heard hundreds of miles away in the capital city of Dhaka.

The festivities, however, blocked all traffic movement in the roads leading up to the hotel, which meant the players had to stay put until the early hours of Saturday morning at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

"Yes, the teams were delayed from departing the stadium because of the celebrations," Rabeed Imam, media manager in Chittagong for International Cricket Council, told Reuters.

Ali Abbas, media co-ordinator for the local organising committee in Chittagong, added: "The players did not get annoyed even though they were stranded for nearly four hours after a hectic match."

Following last week's stone-throwing incident at the West Indies team bus, which followed Bangladesh's humiliating nine-wicket defeat by the twice World Cup champions, police had planned to ban crowds from entering the roads through which the teams would travel.

However, the plan was not implemented following Bangladesh's nail-biting two-wicket win over England since no one was causing any trouble, said a police officer.

There were reports of similar scenes of jubilation throughout the country in which many of its 160 million live in poverty but is one of the most cricket-mad countries in the world.

It was only when the police deemed the route was safe for travel did the two teams head back to their hotel.

"The teams returned in their respective buses to the hotel around 2.30 a.m. (2030 GMT)," a senior manager of the official team hotel said.

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