Habibul Bashar had said before the match that he believed Canada would be a tough opponent but

even the Bangladesh captain did not quite anticipate exactly how hard the North Americans would actually come at them.

"They really surprised us," said Bangladesh captain Bashar over phone on Thursday while reflecting on Wednesday's hard-fought 13-run victory against the team they had lost to inexplicably in their last meeting in the 2003 World Cup adding, "They were positive in their batting from the start and that impressed me. Remember they were chasing 279 and that is never easy against any opposition and especially a Test team. This Canadian side definitely looked stronger than the one we lost to in 2003."

Canada at one stage were 1781 with 14 overs to go and New Zealanders Geoff Barnett and Ian Billcliff had shared 177 for the

second wicket. "We were worried but silently confident at that point because we have pulled things around from such position recently. We knew how to win from such a difficult situation and the bowlers really showed their class during the closing stages of the match. I think the difference was our experience and our winning habit," said Bashar.

The Bangladesh bowling effort left the captain disappointed but he found real positives from the batting.

"We did not bowl and field as we can. This was good preparation as Canada put us under pressure. Normally (Shahriar) Nafees and Aftab (Ahmed) give us a flying start but both batsmen fell without scoring early on and then we were 30-3 when Tamim (Iqbal) got out. So the onus was on the rest of the batsmen and I was mighty pleased with the effort," said Bashar who put on 132 for the fourth wicket with man of the match Shakib Al Hasan who cracked 134 not out, his first ODI hundred and the top individual score for a Bangladeshi batsman in one-day cricket surpassing Nafees's 123.

"Shakib's was a brilliant knock. The way he paced the innings was

remarkable. He never missed putting away the bad balls and towards the end slogged beautifully. Our ploy was not to get bogged down and maintain a good run-rate which we managed to achieve. It was great playing with him and we both felt very comfortable batting together."

There was praise for Mohammad Ashraful also from the captain. Ashraful blasted a 45-ball 60.

"It was good to see Ashraful playing like Ashraful," said Bashar.

Bashar made a fine 57 in his 100th ODI appearance and became the first Bangladeshi batsman to complete 2000 ODI runs when he crossed 37. He is the third Bangladesh player to play in 100 matches after Mohammad Rafique and Khaled Mashud.

"I was not aware of the 100-ODI mark. It was only when a photographer wanted to take some special photos at the toss did I realise that."

The Bangladesh squad left Antigua on Thursday afternoon after training in the morning and is in Barbados now where they will play two more practice games against New Zealand (on March 6) and Scotland (March 8) before

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flying off to Jamaica on the 9th for the World Cup's opening ceremony.

On arrival in Bridgetown Bashar told the Nation newspaper that after planning for several months he believed Bangladesh can topple their Group B opponents and make the second round of the tournament.

"Everything is in place and everything looks very good. We had a very good week in Antigua where things have started to fall into place and we are shaping up very well for the World Cup," he said.