Strauss 150 leads England to easy win over Bangladesh
It was time for the Birmingham crowd to witness a thrilling encounter between England and Bangladesh, as the two teams battled it out in the decisive game of the three-game series. Previously, England had won the first game comfortably before getting a stunner in the second ODI.
With Ravi Bopara replacing the injured Ian Bell in the final match of the tournament, England featured a strong batting line-up in front of an unaltered, yet threatening Bangladeshi side. It was the same side which shocked the England camp with a five run defeat earlier in the second game of the series.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mashrafe-Mortaza-c1917 delivery onto his stumps and was out without scoring a single run. The crowd was silenced. Bangladesh was ecstatic.
What Bangladesh did not anticipate was a partnership which lasted for the next 40 overs of the English innings. Together, Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott scored 250 runs, compiled with the help of some breath-taking strokes. The partnership was marked with over 25 boundaries and 5 sixes. With almost 10 overs to go and 8 wickets in hand, England could afford to launch from here to get a huge total on board.
However, England did face some turbulence in between, as they lost Luke Wright, Collingwood and Morgan without troubling the Bangladeshi bowlers. It was only until Ravi Bopara’s blitzkrieg innings that England was poised in a commanding position with 347 on the board. Bopara thrashed a 16-ball, 45-run rampage, giving England the kind of end which they needed.
Mashrafe Mortaza bowled like a champion. 10-2-31-3 are figures which are not seen often in ODI cricket these days. He was the only Bangladeshi bowler who was able to contain the onslaught of the English batsmen to some extent.
Bangladesh had their task cut out for them. A target of 348 to be chased in 50 overs was never going to be easy. It was a perfect platform for the likes of Tamim Iqbal, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Junaid-Siddique-c1749 and several other youngsters who had come through the ranks at Bangladesh and shown great promise.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajmal-Shahzad-c42489 to mid-off. Not the start that Bangladesh would have wanted, and it was down to Junaid Siddique to play a match-winning innings for his country.
The other opener, Imrul Kayes, was willing to take time and settle into the role he was expected to play in the remaining part of their chase. However, he soon was unsettled by some feisty short bowling by Shahzad. Bangladesh lost their second wicket and it seemed like the game was going away from them.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jahurul-Islam-c1624 and Junaid Siddique battled to continue the Bangladesh challenge in the game. They managed to put up a decent partnership of 40 runs in 5 overs before Bangladesh lost their third wicket in the form of Siddique. The Bangladeshi ship was sinking.
The next batsmen to follow, Shakib Al http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990 and Mohammad Ashraful failed to impact the game. By now, Bangladesh was reduced to 102-6, with almost 30 overs left.
In the end, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahmudullah-c1877 and Abdur Razzak were left to fight a lost battle. Both of them managed to delay the victory celebrations for England till the 45th over when Bangladesh was all out for 203.
England had won the match by a massive 144-run margin and also the series 2-1.
Ravi Bopara was the pick of the bowlers, claiming 4 wickets after giving away only 38 runs in his 10 overs. Earlier, Stuart Broad had kept the Bangladeshi batsmen in their shackles, bowling a tight line and length, and maintaining an excellent economy rate of 2.7 in 10 overs.
However, it was Andrew Strauss who won the award for the Man-of-the-Match, as well as the Man-of-the-Series for scoring 237 runs in the three innings he played in the tournament.
It was disappointing for fans who'd wanted a closely contested match, as instead they had to watch Bangladesh getting completely undone by the Englishmen after they had promised the world a thrilling contest in the final game. However, they will take with them, the cherished memories of the second ODI.
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