Cricket Natwest Series – England beat Bangladesh in first One day International; Ian Bell shines
Winning is an infectious habit and it seems as if England has gotten into it. England continued on their impressive cricketing season as they brushed off Bangladesh in a one-sided affair at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The English never seemed in trouble and were always in control, in an ominous manner for the rest of the series for the Bengali tigers.
Bangladesh’s only victory of the day came early when they won the toss and elected to bat first. Their strategy was to rack up an impressive score and then try and skittle out the English batting. It seemed that their plan might actually work as they got off to an impressive start, making 40 runs before the first wicket fell in the 7th over. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tamim-Iqbal-c2640, it seemed, was treating this one day international as a T20 as he raced to 28 off only 22 deliveries before he was trapped leg before wicket by Stuart Broad. Bangladesh looked to consolidate their innings thereafter but this conceivably led to a slowing down of the run-rate. James Anderson was the next bowler to strike for the English as he had Imrul Kayes caught by Eoin Morgan for 14 runs. While his opening batting partner seemed to be playing T20, you could be forgiven for thinking Kayes was playing test cricket.
It was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mushfiqur-Rahim-c2045 soon followed Shakib back to the pavilion after scoring a quick 22 runs off 18 deliveries.
With Raqibul on the other end, wickets started falling in the pursuit of quick runs as the Bangladeshi tail tried valiantly but kept losing wickets. Raqibul, himself fell after he was run out for a very patient 76 off 95 deliveries which contained 7 fours. The English bowling kept it tight and kept the score to a respectable but still fightable score of 250 in 50 overs for the loss of 9 wickets.
James Anderson picked up 3 wickets for a very expensive 74 off 10 overs while Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad picked up 2 wickets each.
If Bangladesh were to win this game, they would have had to pick up wickets quickly and skittle out England. Their best endeavours came to nothing in the opening overs as Captain Andrew Strauss smashed the Bangladeshi bowling to all parts of the ground. Strauss led from the front and was in belligerent mood as he reached his half century. He was dismissed for 50 after he was run out through some nifty fielding by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Kieswetter-c51708 for 32 with the score on 93 in 14.2 overs. If the Bangladeshis thought they suddenly had a chance and could go through the English batting line up in a hurry, they had another thing coming.
Ian Bell played a glorious innings, filled with patience, grace and excellent shot making to take England home from there. He was ably supported by Collingwood who made 33 and Morgan who made 23. Bell, himself, was the man of the moment as he made a half-century and saw the English home, remaining not out on 84 – an innings which contained lots of singles and doubles and only 6 fours. In the end, it was easy for England as they reached the target in the 46th over with 6 wickets and 29 deliveries in the bank.
Ian Bell was named man of the match as England started the NatWest Series in a portentous manner for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
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