Defending champions register 137-run victory in Dharamsala
England got their World Cup 2023 campaign back on track with a familiarly dominant display with the bat as the defending champions defeated Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala on Tuesday.
England were thrashed by nine wickets in the opening match of the tournament by New Zealand in Ahmedabad. Not only had they lost, but also suffered a huge drop in their net run rate. They needed an equally big win to bring back some parity, and they did so perfectly at the picturesque HPCA Stadium.
Opener Dawid Malan smashed 140 and enjoyed century-plus partnerships with Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root to help England post 364-9.
Malan combined with Bairstow in a 115-run opening stand to give England a terrific start after being put into bat by Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan.
Even after Bairstow departed for 52, there was no respite for Bangladesh as Malan raised 151 runs with Root, whose 82 followed his 77 in the tournament opener against New Zealand.
Root also overtook Graham Gooch as England’s all-time leading run-scorer in ODI World Cups.
Malan smashed five sixes and 16 fours in his 107-ball innings before losing his off-stump to spinner Mahedi Hasan (4-71).
Shoriful Islam (3-75), who had sent back Jos Buttler in his previous over, dismissed Root and Liam Livingstone from successive deliveries but Sam Curran denied him a hat-trick.
England kept losing wickets at the death and despite being well-placed at 296-3 in the 40th over, fell short of the 400-run mark. But in the end, they had more than enough in the bank.
Playing his first match of the tournament, left-arm quick Reece Topley (4-43) wrecked Bangladesh’s top order in the first six overs to set England up for an easy victory.
Bangladesh were all out for 227 in 48.2 overs, and it could have been a bigger defeat but for battling knocks by Litton Das (76) and Mushfiqur Rahim (51).
Bangladesh shot out of the blocks, with Das hitting three consecutive fours off the first over bowled by Chris Woakes.
But they were quickly reduced to 14-2, with Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto unable to cope with the pace and movement of the tall Topley, who replaced Moeen Ali in the side.
That became 26-3 when captain Shakib was bowled by the left-arm pacer and the expensive Woakes then got in on the act, enticing an edge from Mahedi Hasan. From there, it was only a matter of time.
While batting has worked very well for England in white-ball cricket, the same can’t be said about their bowling, especially after the injury to pace ace Jofra Archer.
However, Topley is proving to be an invaluable limited overs bowler, which should allow Buttler to got for an additional specialist in the XI at the expense of an all-rounder.
England captain Buttler said it was important for his team to make a statement after the first match where the Kiwis chased down 283 inside 37 overs.
“Really good performance. It was important for us after a bad performance earlier. It was fantastic to see Dawid Malan stand up and get a big hundred after what happened first game,” the wicketkeeper batsman said.
Source: The National
