The second match for both England and Bangladesh in the “Group of death” proved to be quite heavily one-sided in favour of the English as they walloped a hapless Bangladesh side in convincing fashion, winning by eight wickets with 35 balls to spare, while chasing a modest total of 125.
Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah Riyaz won the toss and decided to bat first at the Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi. The choice didn’t turn out to be an extremely smart one as Moeen Ali was fantastic with a new ball in hand, picking up two of the top three Bangladesh batsmen in his first two overs. His new-ball partner Chris Woakes was also excellent, bowling some tight lines to stifle the Bangladesh innings. The Bangla side’s struggling powerplay finished on 27/3.
With experienced duo Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim out in the middle, Bangladesh looked to rebuild their innings, and looked to have settled the initial collapse. They stitched together a brief partnership, and as they looked to get a move on and play some shots, Liam Livingstone trapped the “pocket-rocket” Mushfiqur in front of the stumps.
A few overs later, Mahmudullah also had to walk back, after Livingstone enticed him to try and go for the big shots, only to find a fielder. Bangladesh were in all sorts of trouble, six down for 83 with five overs to go.
The last five overs saw some action on both sides as the Bangla tail looked to wag a bit, with Mehedy Hassan and Nasum Ahmad getting some boundaries, while death-overs specialist Tymal Mills cleaned up the Bangladesh lower order, picking up three wickets and a run-out. This meant that the Bangladesh innings folded for a mere 124/9 after 20 overs.
A target of 124 was never going to be challenging for the extremely powerful England batting lineup. The Three Lions’ chase started off well, with Jos Buttler and Jason Roy getting a few boundaries each. Buttler fell within the first six overs as England ended the powerplay at a commanding 50/1.
With Roy and the ominous Dawid Malan at the crease, England consolidated their good start, as they kept attacking, looking to finish off the chase early, building on their already good net run rate. Roy accelerated quickly, and made a well-constructed half century, as England inched closer to the Bangladesh total.
Roy was ultimately dismissed for 61 off just 38 balls, but it was too little, too late for the Bangla tigers. He had taken the game away completely, and with more than seven overs still to bowl, the damage had already been done.
After Roy’s dismissal, Jonny Bairstow joined Malan in the middle, with close to no work left to do. The two batsmen chased down what was remaining in just a few balls, as Bairstow finished off in style, scoring the winning runs with a four through the mid-wicket region to seal a huge win for the English and a massive setback for the Bangladeshis.
Brief scores
Bangladesh- 124/9 in 20 overs (Mushfiqur-29(30), Nasum-19(9), Mills-3/27, Livingstone-2/15)
England 126/2 in 14.1 overs (Roy-61(38), Malan-28(25), Shoriful Islam-1/25)
England won by eight wickets with 35 balls to spare
