Sports Desk(wp/cricinfo):
England 278 for 6 (Duckett 63, Billings 62, Stokes 47*) beat Bangladesh 277 for 6 (Mushfiqur 67*, Sabbir 49, Imrul 46, Tamim 45, Rashid 4-43)
Pic: England won Series by 2-1..
Hold the pose and watch the ball disappear down the ground high into the
crowd. Such was the perfect manner in which Chris Woakes settled a
wonderful one-day series. Little speaks more highly of England than the
fact they turned up in Bangladesh the first place but, having turned up,
they fulfilled their aims on the field as they ended Bangladesh's run
of six successive series wins in ODIs on home soil.
Bangladesh have an impressive lists of conquests to their name, but they
have still not beaten England in a bilateral series, losing this one
2-1 as they went down in Chittagong by four wickets with seven balls to
spare. Their 277 for 6 looked formidable on a slow pitch that turned
substantially for
Adil Rashid as he took ODI-best figures of 4 for 43. But the pitch quickened
slightly as the dew fell, their finger spinners failed to find the same
purchase and England met the run chase with imagination and maturity.
When Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales withdrew from the Bangladesh tour
because of safety concerns, England made it clear that there would be no
retribution, while stressing that nothing could be taken entirely for
granted: life has a habit of moving on was the gist from Andrew Strauss,
MD of England cricket.
Life has moved on, not enough to exclude them - Morgan will skipper on
the ODI leg in India - but after this victory it will be enough for
England to contemplate their deepening batting options with mounting
excitement as they prepare to host the Champions Trophy and World Cup in
forthcoming years.
Ben Duckett and
Sam Billings,
two batsmen to benefit from others' absence, were prominent figures in
England's successful chase. Both lodged half-centuries that represented
their best England ODI scores. Duckett's, his second of the series,
again built on a county season that brought him player-of-the-year
recognition, while Billings played with zest as he capitalised on Jason
Roy's absence from the top of the order because of injury.
Considering the shenanigans in the second match in Mirpur, after which
the match referee doled out two fines and a reprimand, it was perhaps
fortunate early in England's run chase that it was Billings who collided
with Mashrafe Mortaza, the bowler, who wandered into his path as he
sought a second run. Some well-modulated, polite protest sorted that one
out. A swept six against Mashrafe announced that he was set and the
shot continued to sustain him until, on 62, it also brought his downfall
when he top-edged Mosaddek Hossain to deep square.
Billings has dash; Duckett scores quickly without you entirely noticing.
He is an inventive cricketer, able to expose the field with a mix of
sweeps, ramps and inside-out drives; a stout batsman with a permanently
puzzled expression that might have been sketched for Toy Story. In
one-day cricket, perhaps in Tests too, he can become a favourite. He
perished to a ramp shot against Shafiul Islam, an alert keeper's catch
for
Mushfiqur Rahim.
With James Vince having fallen lbw in Nasir Hossain's first over and
Bairstow bowled by Shafiul, misjudging the length as he tried to pull,
England were 99 short with 19 overs by the time Jos Buttler reached the
crease. A slower ball from Mashrafe silenced him, then Moeen Ali chipped
him feebly to mid-on. But Ben Stokes played with restraint and, only
when Woakes was put down by Imrul Kayes at first slip off Taskin Ahmed -
a head-high catch with 21 needed from 21 balls - did England feel that
momentum was with them.
Perhaps influenced by the heated exchanges in Mirpur, even if only sub
consciously, England had recalled Liam Plunkett, their most aggressive
fast bowler, as a mid-innings enforcer. It was the wrong call. The
Chittagong pitch was so slow that it was no time to be The Enforcer -
even Dirty Harry would have taken the day off - but it turned from the
outset. Liam Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder, must have rued a missed
opportunity to bowl his left-arm spinner on a surface like this.
Fortunately for England, Rashid had the sort of day when the heavens
bestowed kindness upon him. Two long hops and a full toss accounted for
three of his wickets and, on each occasion, his raised index finger
looked like an exercise in positive thinking rather than a gesture of
unadulterated triumph. But he turned the ball bigger than anybody and
that contributed to his sense of threat, enough to take the
Man-of-the-Match award. And he is England's leading wicket-taker in ODIs
this year.
By the time that England had dispensed with the openers, Imrul and Tamim
Iqbal, Bangladesh would have felt quite settled at 106 for 2 in the
23rd over. Tamim became the first Bangladesh batsman to reach 5,000 ODI
runs with a collector's item - swatting a bouncer from Woakes in front
of square. But reputations shift and it was the wicket of Imrul that
England most hankered after, illustrated by a wasted review when he was
31 as they searched unsuccessfully for a hint of glove as he reverse
swept Moeen. Stokes broke the stand, Imrul clipping him to square leg.
Rashid then took four of the next five wickets to fall, repeatedly
stymieing Bangladesh's ambitions. Tamim, reaching for a short ball, got
it as far as Vince at cover; Mahmudullah hit another long hop in the
same direction. Sabbir Rahman, at least, received the high-class kill
his sprightly innings deserved as Butter held an edge off a fierce leg
break. Nasir Hossain was Rashid's last victim, this time courtesy of a
full toss sinking faster than the pound.
Moeen wicket also possessed fortune as he defeated the left-hander,
Shakib Al Hasan, on the outside edge and was stumped by Buttler who
inadvertently flapped the ball onto the stumps and was fortunate that
the bails fell off before he crashed his gloves into the timber.
Bangladesh held their nerve as 10 overs elapsed without a boundary and
by the end of the innings Mosaddek and Mushfiqur had been rewarded with
an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 85 in 12 overs.
Mushfiqur's unbeaten 67 from 62 balls was his first half-century in 21
knocks, with England blowing two good chances to remove him. He might
have been run out on 26 when Mosaddek sent him back but Bairstow missed.
Then on 44 he struck Woakes down the ground but Stokes, having made
good ground for the catch, had four bites before putting it down. With a
bat in his hand, and a series to win, Stokes was to allow no such
liberties.
