Pakistan beat Bangladesh

Saint Lucia -  Pakistan made an encouraging start to the defence of their Twenty20 World Cup title with a 21-run win over Bangladesh on Saturday.

Openers Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt made identical scores of 73 and shared a 142-run partnership that laid the platform for Pakistan's impressive total of 172 for three.

Bangladesh recovered from a slow start to make a late charge at their target with Mohammad Ashraful belting 65 and Shakib Al Hasan 47 but their dismissals ended their team's slim hopes and they finished on 151-7.

Pakistan face Australia on Sunday in their final Group A match while Bangladesh tackle the Australians at Barbados on Wednesday needing to win to have any hope of making the playoffs.