eBusiness Weekly
England responded to defeat in their World Cup opener by comprehensively beating Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala.
After last week’s heavy nine-wicket loss to New Zealand, Dawid Malan’s superb 140 from 107 balls formed the basis of a much-improved England’s 364-9.
Malan put on 115 for the first wicket with Jonny Bairstow and 151 from just 117 balls with Joe Root, who made a typically composed 82 from 68.
Root and Malan took the score to 266-1 in the 38th over but the loss of eight wickets for 96 runs meant England failed to take full advantage.
Their score still proved plenty, however, with seamer Reece Topley, brought in to replace spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali, bowling a fine new-ball spell.
He took two wickets in as many balls in the second over and bowled Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan for one in the sixth.
Liton Das held firm with 76 and Mushfiqur Rahim made 51 but the required run-rate was always climbing.
Topley returned to dismiss Mushfiqur – the left-armer finished with figures of 4-43 – and Bangladesh slowly slid to 227 all out in 48.2 overs.
The win means England move to Delhi, where they play Afghanistan on Sunday, with momentum and confidence boosted.
Perhaps crucially, their net run-rate is also significantly boosted.
Malan stands tall for England
England struggled to 282-9 in their tournament opener as they started their World Cup defence with an alarming thrashing by the Black Caps.
Malan edged to a 24-ball 14 in Ahmedabad but in the foothills of the Himalayas – at one of the most scenic grounds in the world – he showed a superb mix of power and placement to record his first World Cup ton.
The opening stand eased English nerves. Malan got into his work by flicking Mustafizur Rahman over deep square-leg for six early on.
He then drove anything too full and clubbed the Bangladeshi bowlers when they regularly dropped short and reached his century in 91 balls.
Bairstow was bowled for 52 – he went back to a quicker ball from Shakib – but afterwards Root, who passed Graham Gooch’s tally of 897 runs to become England’s leading run-scorer in World Cups, played in his trademark style, reaching 40 without fuss and becoming increasingly aggressive.
The pair put England’s record World Cup total of 397 under threat but, after Malan was bowled trying to heave away spinner Mahedi Hasan, the middle order failed as Bangladesh improved by mixing their pace and fielding well.
Buttler, who promoted himself to number four dragged on for 20, Root then skied a catch to Mushfiqur to depart for 82 and Liam Livingstone was bowled by Shoriful Islam next ball while Harry Brook picked out long-on, also on 20.
While not perfect, this was England looking more like their fearless selves.
Topley shines on return
England’s large total gave them breathing space when it came to defending on the controversial Dharamsala outfield, which was covered by bare, sandy patches.
It was notable how fielders from either side often refrained from dives and slides.
Topley was brought in because the venue, which is almost 1,500m above sea level, aids pace bowling.
He found movement to catch the edge of Tanzid Hasan’s bat and gift Buttler a simple catch, before the dangerous Najmul Hossain Shanto drove loosely to point a ball later.
Shakib looked to dig in but could do nothing when he was bowled by a beauty from Topley which nipped in and clipped the bails.
While Topley impressed, opening partner Woakes struggled with the new ball, as he did against New Zealand.
His first four overs cost 34 but he found the edge of Mehidy Hasan Miraz in his fourth over, before returning to take a feather of an edge from Das in his second spell.
Topley, though, was the standout.
As Mushfiqur tried to take the game deep by running ones and twos, the left-armer had him caught on the boundary after slicing an edge to deep third.
The Surrey quick’s one error was dropping Mahedi at mid-on off Adil Rashid but that, with Bangladesh crawling along to protect their net run-rate, only delayed the inevitable.
‘A really good performance, but we can still improve’ – what they said England captain Jos Buttler: “I think it was a really good performance to bounce back from a disappointing first game and we still feel there are areas to improve.
“I thought it was a fantastic score on that pitch, it got harder towards the end but we could’ve got more at the back end.”
Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan: “It was colder weather than the last game, you could even see the snow. That could have helped our bowlers, but we didn’t start well enough. If you give them a sniff, they will always come hard.
“We had a good plan, but we couldn’t execute. The ball swung nicely for five or six overs, but we couldn’t land the ball often enough.
“They could have scored 380 or 390, but we restricted them well. 330 we might have fancied our chances, but we needed a good start and didn’t get that.
“It’s a long tournament and we can’t put our heads down. We have to move on and think all of the positives we have been doing, focus on one game at a time.”
