April 11, 2007
England Defeat Bangladesh by 4 Wickets
By
Adriel Richard
Barbados
England survived a nervous wobble to complete a four-wicket win over
Bangladesh in their World Cup Super Eight match Wednesday.
Chasing a modest 144 from their allotted 50 overs, England won with
31 balls to spare when Paul Nixon hooked a short, rising ball from
Mashrafe Mortaza to deep fine leg for four.
With semi-final places still not yet confirmed, England would relish
to two points they have collected for the win that took them to four
points. Michael Vaughan's side needs to win their remaining two
matches to stand any chance of finishing in the top four.
Bangladesh have just two points. Defending champions Australia and
New Zealand jointly lead the table with eight points while Sri Lanka
and South Africa have six each.
England would have been jittery when they slipped to 110 for six in
the 32nd over Wednesday. Nixon, however, kept his nerve along with
Paul Collingwood to carry England the rest of the way.
England's bowlers had gained generous bounce and movement from the
re-laid Kensington Oval pitch, and dismissed Bangladesh for 143 in
37.2 overs. Saqib-ul-Hasan top-scored for Bangladesh with an
unbeaten 57 off 95 balls - his fourth half-century - but no other
batsmen crossed 20.
Spinner Monty Panesar and fast bowler Sajid Mahmood were the pick of
the England bowlers. Panesar collected three wickets for 25 runs
from seven overs, and Mahmood snared three for 27 from 8.2 overs to
be named the Man of the Match.
James Anderson supported with two for 30 from eight overs.
England suffered an early setback in a brief spell before the
interval, when Ian Bell sliced a loose drive and was caught at
square cover off Syed Rasel for a 10-ball duck.
The Englishmen reached 21 for one in six overs before the interval,
and looked in control before Rasel had left-hander Andrew Strauss
adjudged lbw for 23 in the 14th over.
The introduction of the Bangladeshi spinners made English batsmen
somewhat nervous. Vaughan eventually succumbed when he top-edged a
sweep and was caught at fine leg off Abdul Razzak for the top score
of 30 in the 21st over.
Three overs later, Razzak sent England into panic, when Kevin
Pietersen was caught at mid-wicket for 10, flicking a well-flighted
delivery shoulder-high to the fielder.
Andrew Flintoff eased the tension with a rapid 23 that included a
six that landed on the roof of the new Garfield Sobers Pavilion, but
he and Ravi Bopara were both defeated by Mohammad Rafique's arm-ball
and were bowled in the space of five balls.
Nixon, who was not out on 20, and Collingwood, who was not out on
23, mixed enterprise with commonsense and steered England over the
hump.
Bangladesh's bowling triumvirate of Rafique, Rasel and Razzak all
collected two wickets.
Earlier, Bangladesh, sent in to bat, crashed to 65 for six before
Saqib and Mortaza consolidated the innings and added 47 for the
seventh wicket to add some beef to the total.
Mahmood made the breakthrough when he had Tamim Iqbal caught at
backward point for eight, fending off a sharply rising delivery.
Bangladesh could hardly believe their fortune, when their captain
Habibul Bashar was run out for four in unusual circumstances in the
sixth over.
Shahriar Nafees had chipped a delivery from Mahmood to mid-on, where
Vaughan floored a dolly catch. Bashar and Nafees attempted to steal
a single, but the England captain quickly picked the ball up and
hurled it to wicket-keeper Nixon, leaving the Bangladesh skipper
short of his ground.
To add insult to injury, Nafees was caught at second slip two overs
later by an alert Strauss off Mahmood for nine, when the batsman
top-edged a cut and Nixon spilled the ball.
Flintoff then beat Mushfiqur Rahim for pace and bowled him for seven
in the 11th over before James Anderson came back for a second spell
from the Joel Garner End to remove Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed
to catches to the wicket-keeper.
Though Saqib and Mashrafe mixed sound defence with aggression, their
efforts were never going to be enough, although England seemed to
prove the odds wrong.
SCOREBOARD
Match No. 38th, England vs Bangladesh, Super Eight, Kensington Oval,
Bridgetown, Barbados, April 12
Bangladesh:
Tamim Iqbal c Collingwood b Mahmood 8
Shahriar Nafees c Strauss b Mahmood 9
Habibul Bashar run out (Vaughan/Nixon) 4
Mushfiqur Rahim b Flintoff 7
Saqibul Hasan not out 57
Mohammad Ashraful c Nixon b Anderson 1
Aftab Ahmed c Nixon b Anderson 10
Mashrafe Mortaza b Panesar 13
Mohammad Rafique c Strauss b Panesar 0
Abdur Razzak c Collingwood b Panesar 15
Syed Rasel c Flintoff b Mahmood 4
Extras (lb 3, w 10, nb 2) 15
Bowling:
JM Anderson 8-0-30-2 (4w)
SI Mahmood 8.2-0-27-3 (2w)
A Flintoff 8-0-38-1 (2nb, 4w)
MS Panesar 7-2-25-3
PD Collingwood 4-0-14-0
RS Bopara 2-0-6-0
England:
IR Bell c Aftab Ahmed b Syed Rasel 0
MP Vaughan c Habibul Bashar b Abdur Razzak 30
AJ Strauss lbw b Syed Rasel 23
KP Pietersen c sub (Farhad Reza) b Abdur Razzak 10
PD Collingwood not out 23
A Flintoff b Mohammad Rafique 23
RS Bopara b Mohammad Rafique 0
PA Nixon not out 20
Extras (b 4, lb 8, w 6) 18
Bowling:
Mashrafe Mortaza 8.5-3-28-0 (3w)
Syed Rasel 10-3-25-2
Abdur Razzak 10-1-30-2
Mohammad Rafique 10-3-33-2 (2w)
Saqibul Hasan 6-0-19-0
Result: England won by 4 wickets
Man of the Match: SI Mahmood (England)
Umpires: SA Bucknor and SJA Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: RE Koertzen (South Africa)
Match referee: JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
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