UK: 18+ USA: 21+ | Begambleaware.org | T&Cs apply | Play Responsibly
England came back roaring into contention as they cruised to a 137-win over Bangladesh in their second match of the 2023 World Cup on Tuesday. Played at the HPCA Stadium in Dharmasala, Bangladesh never found any momentum in their chase of 365 as they fell to 227 all out in their innings.
After having routed by New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament, England needed to respond in a manner that reaffirmed their defending champions status and they did that with aplomb.
The only thing that Bangladesh got right was the calling at the toss and once they had elected to field first, they came away in a hurry.
Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan added 115 for the first wicket in a little over 17 overs but even after that partnership was broken, England did not look back. Malan carried on the good work, and in conjunction with Joe Root, he took the England score to 266.
The Bangladesh bowling was in tatters by then, conceding more than seven an hour, with Malan hitting five sixes and 16 fours in his knock of 140.
In doing so, Malan also propped up to 740 runs for the year and a whopping average of 74.5. Only one other batsman in the top-10 run-getters’ list has a better average than him.
Root chipped in with a 68-ball 82 and while England would have liked to do a lot better than the 66 runs they got in the final 10 overs, they still ended with the second-highest score of this tournament.
Mahedi Hasan bagged four wickets including three in those final 10 overs while Shoriful Islam chipped in with three including two in two at one stage.
If Bangladesh had to make any fist of the chase, they needed a solid start from their top four, much like what the English side had. Reece Topley, however, had other ideas.
Third strike for England as Topley removes Shakib Al Hasan 🤯
Watch it right here 👇#CWC23 | #ENGvBANhttps://t.co/DSwlswJhhi
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) October 10, 2023
Brought into the side in place of Moeen Ali, Topley’s left-arm seam bowling did a lot of damage to the Bangladesh top-order, send Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Shanto and Shakib al Hasan back in the first six overs of the innings.
From there on the match was headed just one way and despite a fighting 76 from Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim’s gritty 51, Bangladesh knew they were out of it. Some lusty hitting towards the end of the innings helped Bangladesh tip over the 220 mark but the end came quickly after that.
With this result, both England and Bangladesh now have two points from two matches, behind New Zealand who have four from their two.
Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!
