(Cricket News) Defending world champion England shrugged off the outside noise from their humiliating loss against Bangladesh by beating Bangladesh by 137 runs. England have now moved to the 5th position in the points table and have undone the damage to their Net Run Rate by increasing it to +0.553.
Bangladesh won the toss, and they chose to bowl first. This decision proved to be a poor one, as England’s opening pair of Johnny Bairstow and Dawid Malan added 61 runs at the end of the first powerplay. The two openers showed no signs of stopping as both of them racked up half centuries. Shakib al-Hasan got the breakthrough, getting Bairstow dismissed on 52, but later on Joe Root arrived and stitched together a formidable partnership with Dawid Malan, giving the Bangladesh bowlers a run for their money.
Dawid Malan scored his maiden World Cup hundred in 91 deliveries. Joe Root joined the party as well, and he reached his fifty in 44 deliveries. Handy contributions from Jos Buttler and the lower order propelled England to score 364-9 in 50 overs.
End of first innings: England 364-9; Dawid Malan 140 (107); Joe Root 82 (68); Mahedi Hasan 8-71-0-4; Shoriful Islam 10-75-0-3.
Bangladesh had a great start to their innings as they hit three boundaries in the very first over. But things were put on hold by Reece Topley, who was making his World Cup debut. The left-hander took the wickets of Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Shanto in successive deliveries. Out came Bangladesh’s skipper and most important wicket, Shakib al-Hasan, who was also dismissed by Reece Topley for just one run.
The top-order collapse made things harder for Bangladesh, but Litton Das and the experienced Mushifiqur Rahim kept hopes alive for the Bangladesh fans by scoring consecutive half-centuries.
Each of the England bowlers shared a wicket as they bundled out Bangladesh for 227 as they opened their account with 2 points.
End of second innings: Bangladesh 227-10; Litton Das 76 (66), Mushifiqur Rahim (51) 64; Reece Topley 10-41-1-4; Mark Wood 10-29-0-1.
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