England vs Bangladesh, 2010: Bangladesh has confidence boosting victory ahead of One Day Series
The Bengali Tigers won their 2nd warm-up match against Middlesex in their tour of England, Ireland and Scotland. The 50 overs match was played at the headquarters Lord’s, London, where Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat.
Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes started the innings for the Tigers, and everyone was expecting Tamim to repeat his century performance at Lord’s against the English side in May, 2010. Tamim started his innings with some beautiful drives, and made 28 off 20 balls with the help of 6 fours, when he was bowled by Robbie Williams in the 6th over of the play. Junaid Siddique came as a result, but did not stay for long, as his delivery was caught by Roland-Jones on the individual score of 10 (off 12 balls). Jahurul Islam and Kayes played a magnificent innings, which saw them putting up 143 runs on the 3rd wicket stand. Jahurul was unlucky not to complete his century; he added a valuable 88 to the score-line when he was caught in deep on the last ball of the 39th over. The score now read 222-4. Kayes, a wonderful performer in Sri Lanka during the Asia Cup, scored 77 off 92 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 4 fours, before he was caught by Smith off the bowling of Roland-Jones. Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim helped their side achieve the 300 milestone. For Middlesex, Danny Evans and Robbie Williams took 3 and 2 wickets each, respectively. The Bengalis gave a huge task of chasing 302 to Middlesex, who were without their key players in this match.
In reply to the 301 score by the Tigers, the English club side didn’t look comfortable from the start, where their first batsman returned to the pavilion when the team hadn’t even opened their account. John Simpson was clean bowled by Mashrafe Mortaza in the first over, and Jackson Thompson soon followed suit; his delivery was caught by Tamim Iqbal off the bowling of Shafiul Islam in the fourth over. He contributed only 8 runs off 11 balls. Owais Shah and Dawid Malan gave the club side some hope, when they put up 87 runs on the 3rd wicket stand. But Malan’s run out (in the 21st over, after he had contributed 32 runs) shattered the hopes of the Middlesex side, and the whole side keep losing their wickets, collapsing in the 40th over after scoring just 160 runs. Bangladesh won the match by a huge margin of 141 runs. Owais Shah scored the highest runs (61 off 72 balls) for the Middlesex team. Shafiul Islam and Mashrafe Mortaza took 3 and 2 wickets respectively for their side.
This victory was very important for the Bangladesh team, as they had an embarrassing defeat to Sussex earlier, when their whole side collapsed after just contributing 104 runs against Sussex. Sussex won that match by a wide margin as well: a staggering 149 runs. The Bengali Tigers are in England in the second leg of the series where after the test series, the team moved to Sri Lanka to play the Asia Cup. Bangladesh couldn’t put up good show in the tournament, as they lost all their matches (against Champions India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan).
During this tour, Bangladesh will be heavily depending on Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan for the One-Day series. Both have experience of playing in different conditions, and will act as the backbone of their batting line-up. With the inclusion of two young and promising batsmen, Imrul Kayes and Jahurul Islam, their batting will be strengthened. In the bowling department, the responsibility rests on Mashrafe’s shoulders. He has the capacity to anchor the bowling of his side. Shafiul Islam and Abdur Razzak’s support in crucial times can win Bangladesh matches.
Bangladesh will play 3 One-Day Internationals against England on the 8th, 10th and 12th July at Nottingham, Bristol and Birmingham respectively. Barring the first match, all the matches will be played in daylight. After this series, the Bangladesh side will move to Ireland for playing 2 One-Day Internationals against Ireland at Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont, Belfast on 15th and 16th July, 2010. After playing against the Irish side, the team will move to Scotland to play one One-Day International against Scotland at Titwood, Glasgow on the 19th of July, 2010. During their stay in Glasgow, the Bangladesh side will also play a match against Netherlands on 20th July, 2010. This tour will be good practice for the upcoming World Cup, to be played in the subcontinent from February next year.
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