A chalk-and-cheese partnership of 109 between Jonathan Trott and the fit-again Eoin Morgan hauled England out of a spin-induced nosedive in Chittagong, but Bangladesh started
and finished their bowling effort with aplomb to set themselves an obtainable target of 226 on a sluggish deck in their must-win Group B encounter.After losing the toss and being asked to set the agenda, England shipped three tame wickets in the space of their first 17 overs, as they dribbled along to 53 for 3. But Trott's obdurate accumulation melded perfectly with Morgan's calm yet inventive repertoire, as England cobbled together an innings that could yet prove defendable in the conditions.
However the chase pans out - and Tamim Iqbal will fancy the challenge - it has already been a spirited effort from Bangladesh's maligned cricketers. They attracted opprobrium by the bucketful following their 58-all-out humiliation against West Indies last week, but responded with the sort of unity in the field that had defined their hard-fought victory over Ireland.
The left-arm spin of Abdur Razzak was especially impressive. It was he who stunted England's ambitions with his first-ball removal of Matt Prior, and he did not concede a single boundary until Ravi Bopara larruped the third ball of his final over through the covers. Even then, Razzak had the last laugh, as two balls later Bopara tried the same trick and picked out Naeem Islam in the covers. England's inability to cash in on the batting Powerplay once again proved telling, with 33 runs and two wickets coming in their five overs.
From the moment Shakib Al Hasan won the toss for Bangladesh and invited his opponents to set the match agenda, the absurd pattern of England's campaign resurfaced with a vengeance. With the tag of favourites proving once again to be an unwelcome burden, they managed a grand total of four boundaries in the first 20 overs of their innings, and produced one of the most doziest dismissals of the tournament to date, when Prior - on 15 - set off for a single with the ball already nestled in Mushfiqur Rahim's gloves.
But Morgan, freshly returned to the squad in the wake of Kevin Pietersen's hernia, demonstrated that the broken finger he sustained in Australia is a thing of the distant past. Though he was eventually well caught at deep backward square with 11 overs remaining, his 72-ball 63, with eight fours, changed the dynamic of England's innings.
Bangladesh remember Morgan all too well. In Dhaka 12 months ago, he rescued England from certain defeat with a bloodlessly brilliant 110 not out, his maiden England century. That certainty of shot selection was his hallmark once again. Rather than allowing himself to be bogged down by the conditions, he used the slow track to his advantage, advancing to the spin of Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah to hit them off their lengths, before milking the resulting gaps in the field to transform a run-rate that had been flatlining at the moment he came to the crease, following the timid dismissal of Ian Bell for 5 from 23 balls.
Trott, meanwhile, did as he always does, pushing along in his own bubble of concentration, oblivious to the pressures of run-rate and falling wickets. He had a close shave on 24, when a split-frame TV replay saved him from a run-out, and a ripper from Shakib almost pinned him lbw on 43. But his calm eye for an leg-side opportunity picked off two boundaries to complement his steady flow of singles, and it took a clever piece of deception to end his innings on 67 from 99 balls, when Shakib saw the batsman advancing and tossed the ball wide, for Junaid Siddique to clean up at long-off.
However the timing of his departure, early in the Powerplay and with six full overs remaining, once again caused England to stumble. Graeme Swann was promoted to have a bash and responded with 12 from 8, including a first-ball switch hit for four. But he then hoisted a slog back to the bowler, Shakib, before Tim Bresnan slapped a low full-toss from Rubel Hossain to backward point. With two overs remaining, Ajmal Shahzad then wafted a slog at Shafiul Islam to lose his middle stump for 1, and with Jimmy Anderson barely able to lay a bat on the remainder of the over, Paul Collingwood was left to scramble 14 from 13 balls before being run out by a direct hit with two balls remaining.
With Kevin Pietersen and Stuart Broad both out of the tournament with injury, England were forced to ring the changes to the team that overcame South Africa by six runs in Chennai, with Michael Yardy also stepping aside in favour of Collingwood's allround knowhow. Having successfully defended 171 in that match, England will have to rediscover that same tenacity - albeit with one specialist spinner instead of four - having watched Razzak and Naeem Islam squeezed all ambition out of the top-order in a boa-like spell that limited England to 19 consecutive singles between overs 7 and 17.
The impetus was lost from the moment that Prior, in an extraordinary brain-freeze, strolled out of his crease after missing a leg-side delivery from Razzak, and was smartly stumped by Mushfiqur, who whipped off the bails in a touch-and-go attempt, but then had the presence of mind to pull the stump out of the ground as well as Prior hung his head in self-recrimination instead of scrambling to regain his ground. He was gone for 15 from 20 deliveries, and at 32 for 1 in the eighth over, England's jitters were already tangible.
Andrew Strauss reclaimed his status as the tournament's leading run-scorer in the course of his 31-ball 18, but the fluency that had been the hallmark of his previous performances was nowhere to be seen as he eventually took on a cut shot that was too close to his body, and skidded a fast edge to Junaid at slip. And then Ian Bell, nominally England's best player of spin, produced a timid aberration of an innings, which ended with a flaccid flick to short midwicket off Mahmudullah.
Bell in Ashes mode would have used his feet to every delivery, and ended up with significantly more than 5 from 23 balls. Thanks to Trott and Morgan, a measure of momentum was restored to England's effort. But they are still incapable of taking any of their games by the scruff of the neck.
England 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ian Bell, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Paul Collingwood, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Ajmal Shahzad, 11 James Anderson.
Bangladesh 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Raqibul Hasan, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Naeem Islam, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Shafiul Islam.
