Recent Match Report – Bangladesh vs England 20th Match, Group 1 2021/22
Tymal Mills, Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali shared seven wickets, as England dominated with the ball
England 126 for 2 (Roy 61, Malan 28*, Shoriful 1-26) beat Bangladesh 124 for 9 (Mushfiqur 29, Mills 3-27, Livingstone 2-15) by eight wickets
England continued their imposing start to the T20 World Cup with a second powerplay-inspired victory of the competition, as Bangladesh emulated West Indies in being overwhelmed in the opening exchanges of the contest before being dispatched in a low-key run-chase for an uncompetitive eight-wicket scoreline.
Moeen continued a staggering start to his tournament. In a format where familiarity tends to breed contempt, he has now bowled all seven of his overs straight off the reel at the top of his two innings – four in a row against West Indies for 2 for 17, and a further three with 2 for 18 today. Liton Das tried briefly to hit him off his length with consecutive fours down the ground, but he scuffed a third such blow to deep-midwicket to depart for 9 from 8 balls before a rash swipe one ball later did for his fellow opener Mohammad Naim too.
At the other end, Woakes thumped a two-paced deck with a typically proud seam and tight line, and when he extracted the priceless scalp of Shakib Al Hasan – via a top-edged pull and a superb leaping take from Adil Rashid – there was little that Bangladesh’s other two senior statesman, Mahmudullah himself and Mushfiqur Rahim, fellow veterans of every T20 World Cup since 2007, could do to change the narrative.
Moeen’s impact at the top of England’s innings transformed the permutations for Morgan through the middle overs – particularly once it became apparent that the extra pace of Chris Jordan and – at that stage of the innings – Tymal Mills was offering a hint of a route back into the contest for Bangladesh. After conceding 12 and 11 runs respectively in their first forays, Morgan turned instead to the variations of Liam Livingstone, who skidded his third ball through Mushfiqur’s attempted reverse-sweep and extracted a crucial breakthrough on review.
Afif Hossain followed in Livingstone’s next over – desperately run-out as Mills at backward square fumbled a simple pick-up and coaxed the batters in an aborted attempt at a stolen second. And such was the panic that Livingstone was creating, that Nurul Hasan all but ran himself out too from each of his first two balls.
And his work was duly completed when Mahmudullah – Bangladesh’s last remaining hope – scuffed another ripping legbreak straight to point for 19 from 24.
Slowness does it for Mills at the death
A minor dent to England’s progress followed when Rashid, entrusted with one half of the death overs in a worthwhile experiment, was bludgeoned with some success by the left-hander Nasum Ahmed, who targeted the short leg-side boundary for the only two sixes of the innings.
England’s only duff note against West Indies was the slight tangle they got in while trying to rush to their 56-run target. They made no such errors this time around. Jason Roy marked his 50th T20I cap with a rampant knock of 61 from 38 balls, his five fours and three sixes including a massive straight strike off Nasum to bring up his half-century. In adding 39 for the first wicket in 28 balls of the powerplay, he and Jos Buttler ended any fears of a twist in the tale.
Dawid Malan had been overlooked in that West Indies romp, but his reappearance at No. 3 resulted in another typically fuss-free knock of 28 not out from 25, as he ticked along at a tempo that met the match requirements – nothing more, nothing less. Jonny Bairstow sealed the deal with a pull for four through midwicket with 35 balls left unused. The World No.1 T20I outfit are looking ominous in these early exchanges.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
