Bangladesh and England had last played an ODI against each other in 2011 World Cup. While in 2011 Bangladesh was more at home, in 2015, England were more at home in Australian conditions but the result was no different. But century from Mahmudullah and fiery bowling from Rubel Hossain ensured that the pain for England and the joy for Bangladesh was more this time. England’s exit would surprise none though, but Bangladesh’s performance is certainly a big threat to the team it will meet in the quarterfinals. Bangladesh has now completed the list of four quarter-finalists from Group A which has New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka as other three teams.
World Cup 2015: Schedules and Results
Bangladesh faced England in one of the toughest challenge of their World Cup history that too in a not-so spin-friendly conditions as they enjoy at home. At stake was the dream quarterfinal position, which on paper belonged to England even before the World Cup started. Bangladeshi batsmen scored their first World Cup century, added biggest World Cup partnership too and then the bowlers surprised all by giving only 1 extra run in the match where England lost only by 15 runs.
Match Statistics
- MOM: Mahmudullah
Bangladesh lead England 2-1 in World Cup rivalry.
103 by Mahmudullah is the first century by Bangladesh in World Cup.
141 run partnership (5th wicket) between Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur is their highest one for any wicket in World Cup.
Only 1 extra run by Bangladesh in 48.3 over.
4/53 made Rubel the most successful bowler of the match.
1 maiden in the match, boweled by Anderson.
50s: 89 Mushfiqur, 63 Ian Bell, 65 Butler
275 is the highest ODI total of Bangladesh vs England.
3rd time that England is knocked out at early stage of World Cup.
Anderson Strikes, Bangladesh Reaches 275
England sent Bangladesh to bat as if they were sending them to wolves. Anderson proved the decision correct too by sending back the openers Imrul Kayes (2) in first over and Tamim Iqbal (2) in third over. But, Soumya Sarkar (40) added 86 runs for third wicket with Mahmudullah to lead the challenge. Shakib (2) could not provide any confidence to the team, but Mushfiqur (77-ball 89 runs) had the biggest World Cup partnership of 141 runs for Bangladesh at the right time for the team as Mahmudullah (138-ball 103) became the first centurion of his country in World Cup.
After 40 overs they were 200+ losing just 4 wickets. But the English bowlers gained some control after 45th over and Bangladesh could reach only 275/7. Sabbir Rahman (14) was the last one to go.
For England, Anderson showed glimpse of some form with the only maiden over of the match and grabbing 2/45 in 10 overs. Broad (1/52), Jordan (2/59) and Moeen Ali (1/44) were other successful bowlers of the team. Woakes (0/64) and Root (0/6 in 1 over)) also bowled.
England Fall Short by 15 runs
England were ahead of Bangladesh in the run rate for a longer part of their innings. But Bangladesh picked up wickets whenever the match appeared to be slipping away from them and on top of that 6 bowllers gave away only 1 extra run in 48.3 overs.
Moeen Ali (19) gave the first breakthrough by running himself out in 8th over adding 43 runs with Bell, who went on to score 63 runs. Alex Hales (27) was caught behind in 20th over on the bowling of Mortaza. The 27th over bowled by Rubel Hossain resulted in twin strikes with Ian Bell and Morgan (0) departing leaving England at 121/4.
From there on spin of Shakib and Taskin made run scoring difficult for English batsmen. James Taylor (1) was grabbed by Taskin while Joe Root (29) fell to Mortaza as England looked towards exit at 163/6 in 36th over. But, Butler (52-ball 65) and Woakes (40-ball unbeaten 42) almost snatched the match away from Banglash.
With nerves rising, Bangladesh dropped some catches too. Yet, their effort paid off when in the 46th over Taskin got Butler. In the next over Chris Jordan was a victim of another atrocious run out despite having all state-of-the-art technology leaving England to 238/8 in 46 overs.
Woakes and Broad (9) added 22 runs and England needed only 15 runs in the last two overs with two wickets in hand. But the 10th over of Rubel and 49th of the inning was bowled by the fiery pacer Rubel Hossain who had already grabbed twin wickets of Bell and Morgan in 27th wicket. Now, in 49th over he did not allow Woakes to come to the batsmen end as in 3 balls he bowled Broad and Anderson (0) starting a celebration which was nothing short of winning the cup.
The celebration was well deserved. Exceptional team performance by the Bangla tigers and erasing the marks on paper that counted them knocked out after the group stage. With one match remaining in the group stage against New Zealand, Bangladesh has jumped to second position in the Points Tally.
England on the other hand had nothing to complaint except the run out Chris Jordan. They never played like contender of next round in their 5 matches. Deservingly, they would get a big rest to brainstorm.
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