Historic victory for Bangladesh

By Gemma Wright

In a tense and thrilling finish, Bangladesh have beaten England for the first time in any international cricket match, dismissing them in the final over for 231 in reply to their 236-7. The win ended a run of 24 ODI losses for Bangladesh in 2010, and means they have now beaten every major cricketing nation.

What should have been an easy total for England to chase down proved too much, and the Bangladesh bowling attack finally found the form to take their country to this historic win.

 Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to chase for the 8th time in a row. There were two changes to the England team that won the first of this 3 match series at Trent Bridge on Thursday. Shahzad came in for the injured Bresnan, and Tredwell was replaced by Trott to strengthen the batting line up, on a pitch that Strauss didn’t think was conducive to spin. Injury hit Bangladesh have lost Rahim (cheek) and Hasan (foot) for the rest of the series. They flew in Mohammed Ashfraful from Bangladesh, and Jahurul Islam, who missed the first match of this series through illness, returned to the side.

After a solid start from the Bangladesh batsmen, Iqbal fell early again, (b Shahzad c Kieswetter, 18 from 23 balls). Kayes provided the anchor of the Bangladesh innings, scoring a patient 76, before falling in the 44th over (c Collingwood b Shahzad). His third wicket partnership with Islam (40) of 83 was the highest of the Bangladesh innings, and came from 16.4 overs. It made for a subdued middle over lull, in which England’s fielding went downhill and the crowd became restless. This led to some shocking fielding from England, more often than not from Shahzad, who dropped two chances at mid on and one on the boundary.

The breakthrough came in the 29th over, when Shahzad had Islam caught behind with the score 148-3. Nine balls and one run later Collingwood bowled new batsman Shakib Al Hasan for 1. Something changed in England, they snapped back to life, and they became more energetic and enthusiastic in the field, and managed to subdue the scoring rate until the final three overs. Once again, the batting power play was left until the end. The first three overs of it went for just 17, with the final ball of the 48th over going for four, the first boundary in more than ten overs. Broad, bowling the penultimate over, went for 16, his last ball was blasted by Mortaza for six over long off. A run out farce in the final over took momentum back England’s way. Running one, Mahmudullah set off for the second and joined Mortaza at the non-strikers end. Kieswetter removed the bails with a flourish, and the Bangladesh captain, having eventually left his crease, was out for 22 from 25 balls. Bangladesh finished with on 236-7, which proved to be just enough.

Called in for his 3rd ODI for England, Shahzad was the pick of England’s bowlers, finishing with figures of 41 for 3 from his 10 overs. His figures would have looked much better had his 5th over not gone for 14. Anderson (9-0-46-0) took no wickets proved more economical than in recent times. His run-rate here of 5.11 was notably better than his 7.40 in the first ODI of this series. Broad (10-0-60-1) let himself down with his final over, which went for 16. Barely a match goes by now where Broad does not throw a tantrum, either against his own team mates or the umpires. He went for both today, Luke Wright taking some abuse from Broad, and not for the first time.

Worrying news for England; Ian Bell left the field in the tenth over after falling awkwardly on his ankle whilst attempting a catch at midwicket. He was taken to hospital for an x-ray, which confirmed that he’d broken the 5th metatarsal on his left foot. It is now likely that he will miss all of the Pakistan series. ‘I went up for a catch and felt pain as soon as I landed. I knew straight away it was something serious. This is obviously extremely disappointing for me. I’ve worked very hard to get back into the England squad and have been feeling in excellent touch over the last few matches. But as a professional sportsman I accept that injuries happen and it’s now up to me to work closely with the medical staff at the National Performance Centre and Warwickshire on  a rehabilitation programme that will get me back playing as quickly as possible.’

England got off to a flying start in their reply, Strauss quickly reaching 33 from 36 balls, before being caught behind by Jaharul, off the bowling of Hossain. Despite England only having ten men to bat due to Bell’s injury, England still looked to be in command. But regular wickets falling gave the Bangladeshi’s hope, and when Collingwood was out lbw to Razzaq for 10, and Morgan to the same fate and same bowler for 1, suddenly England were in real trouble. With the run rate creeping up, Jonathon Trott held up one end, but none of his team mates’ stepped up to form the partnership that was needed to save this game for England.

A brief partnership with Stuart Broad came gave the England fans hope, but when Broad was caught at backward point by Shakib, off the bowling of Mortaza for 21, the 29 needed from 23 balls looked much less likely. Tight overs’ from Mortaza towards the end kept the run rate over seven an over. When Anderson was out caught and bowled Mortaza in the final ball of the 49th over with ten runs needed the Bangladeshi’s went wild. Confusion rained on and off the pitch as the visiting team uprooted the stumps and began celebrations. But then came a hobbling Ian Bell struggling down the steps of the pavilion, left foot encased in bandages. He was to bat with Morgan as his runner. The English fans erupted in great applause. Ten to win from six balls and Trott on strike. Could the two Warwickshire batsman prove the heroes of this game? No. After two of each of the first two balls of the final over, Trott edges the third ball from Jahurul Islam to the keeper, and the Bangladesh team and fans celebrated for the second time in five minutes. Trott left the field obviously distraught, and England were left with several questions to answer before the series decider at Edgbaston on Monday.

This is England’s third ODI loss in four games. Captain Andrew Strauss admitted that they made mistakes; ‘our fielding was sub-standard and we lost too many early wickets. Chasing 236, if you don’t get bowled out you win the game.’ He went on to say that Swann probably would have made a difference in this game, and the team were 20% off where they should have been. ‘All credit to Bangladesh though, they thoroughly deserved this win. Their spinners bowled really well and put us under pressure.’ Bangladesh captain Mortaza said ‘you don’t understand what this win means to us… To beat them at home with all their preparation for the Ashes – it’s a great win.’ Coach Jamie Siddons admitted ‘it’s hard to keep getting beaten. Now I think they (the Bangladesh team) realise they can beat anyone.’