NatWest Series, England vs Bangladesh: Ian Bell Leads England to 6 Wicket Victory over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747
The England cricket team is back on winning ways, after a slight hiccup in the two dead rubbers against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. England beat Bangladesh convincingly by 6 wickets in the first One-Day International at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
England have been in scintillating form in recent times; after winning the Twenty20 World Cup, they outplayed Australia in the first 3 matches of the NatWest series [Australia in England] to win the 5 match series 3-2.
Bangladesh really did not stand too much of chance against an in form English team.
The visitors, after winning the toss, elected to bat first, and the start was quite steady, actually. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tamim-Iqbal-c2640 and Imrul Kayes put on 40 for the first wicket in quick time, before Tamim was out lbw to Stuart Broad in the 7th over, after scoring 28 runs from 22 balls with 4 boundaries.
Kayes and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Junaid-Siddique-c1749 carried the momentum and put on 30 runs for the 2nd wicket. Kayes was then caught in the covers by Morgan off the bowling of James Anderson in the 14th over. He scored 14 runs from 34 balls with 2 boundaries.
Junaid and Raqibul Hasan then formed a solid partnership for the 3rd wicket; the pair showed composure and patience as runs were not easy to come by, and both continued to mix caution with aggression and made sure they did not lose their wickets, while continuing to punish the bad balls that came along.
The pair added 66 for the 3rd wicket, before Junaid was caught plum infront by the left arm spinner Michael Yardy in the 28th over; Junaid scored 51 runs from 70 balls with 5 fours.
Former captain Shakib Al Hasan then came to the middle and added 50 runs for the 4th wicket with Raqibul http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990. Shakib was caught by Anderson off the bowling of Stuart Broad at the end of the 40th over. He scored 20 runs from 36 balls with 2 fours.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mushfiqur-Rahim-c2045 then joined Raqibul and put on 36 runs for the 5th wicket, before Mushfiqur was caught by Wright on the bowling of Tim Bresnan after scoring 22 runs from 18 balls, with 2 sixes. Bangladesh, by then, were 222/5.
And soon after, Raqibul Hasan’s vigilant innings also ended, as he was run out while trying to get the strike back in the final overs. He scored an overall 76 runs off 95 balls.
Bangladesh ended at 250 for 9 in the allotted 50 overs. James Anderson took 3 wickets for England, and Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad tied with 2 each.
The target did not look too challenging for the formidable English batting line-up, and so it proved; Andrew Strauss and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Kieswetter-c51708 put on an excellent opening stand of 75 runs. Scoring at more than 7 runs per over, the openers took on the visitors’ attack and smashed it to all corners of the park.
The partnership was broken when Strauss was run out while going for a quick single. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahmudullah-c1877 hit the stumps directly, and Strauss was dismissed after scoring 50 runs from 37 balls with 7 fours.
In came Ian Bell, who had recently hit a brilliant hundred for England Lions against India-A. Bell continued that form and dominated the Bangladesh attack.
Kieswetter was dismissed in the 15th over via a catch by Faisal Hossain off the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan, after scoring 32 runs from 40 balls, with 3 fours and a six.
Paul Collingwood joined Bell at the crease, and with the required rate under 5, the 2 right-handers did not go for big shots and kept plugging away at singles and doubles.
Bell later opened up and started going for big shots, while Collingwood continued to keep the ball along the carpet. Collingwood was dismissed in the 31st over for 33 from 49 balls with a single boundary; he was caught behind off the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan. Eoin Morgan came in next and gave good company to Bell. Morgan was dismissed with just 31 more runs needed (he scored 23 off 26 balls), while Bell remained unbeaten on 84 and saw the team home, assisted by Michael Yardy.
England won with 6 wickets in hand and almost 5 overs to spare. Ian Bell was named man of the match for his match-winning innings.
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