Bangladesh's wait for completing a full circle of victories against all Test playing nations was extended to at least one more match as the Tigers went down to England by two wickets in the closely fought second match of the Beximco ODI series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
Inspired by a good batting performance, the spinners worked their web around the English batsmen and ran them agonisingly close to a defeat, but 23-year-old left-hander Eoin Morgan stood valiantly to deny Bangladesh a glorious feat, in the process ensuring the 3-match series with second straightwin.
Chasing a modest 261, England were under the cosh from the start and were three down for 68 when Morgan strode in. He was lucky to survive a huge leg before appeal when on 13, but grew in stature to weather the storm. England looked dead and buried when they lost their eighth wicket with only four overs to spare and 32 runs to win.
The large expectant crowd had already started to celebrate, little apprehending what drama was yet to unfurl. Morgan unleashed his brutal force in the first four balls of the 49th over from Shafiul Islam for ten runs with two boundaries. A double in between two boundaries brought up his second hundred in one-day cricket, his first came 2007 when he played for Ireland against Canada.
Morgan then hurled Shafiul's fifth ball over square leg for six to seal an enthralling encounter in favour of the English. The crowd, very vocal till very late, were stunned into silence.
When defending a not-so-threatening total of260, the last thing a team needs is dropped chances, but to make life miserable for the Tigers, catches were dropped aplenty. Wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim's confidence from his good knock did not spill over to his wicketkeeping, while Mahmudullah Riyad seemed the latest to be caught by the 'butter-finger' bug.
Shafiul Islam struck in the very first over making Craig Keiswetter knick one to slip having survived a similar danger the earlier ball through Rahim's indiscretion.
Cook tried to stamp his authority with some imposing boundaries as England raced to fifty in the ninth over after left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq was brought in to the attack Razzaq struck gold in his second over trapping Kevin Pietersen for 18. Razzaq's wicketless stint snapped after five matches, Pietersen's misery compounded. Sixteen runs later, Razzaq took the very-important wicket of Paul Collingwood in the same fashion and became the joint high-est wicket-taker for Bangladesh in GDIs, with Mashrafe Mortaza on 135 dismissals.
After building a 40-run partnership with Eoin Morgan, English skipper Alastair Cook became the first victim of his opposite number, 10 runs past his second half-century in two matches. Razzaq claimed his 136th wicket trapping Matt Prior for 42. With just the bowlers to come, it was all left to Morgan to show his heroics, which he did in quite magnificent fashion.
Earlier, Tamim Iqbal started the Bangladesh innings just from where he left off the other day, blasting both Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad with utter disdain. The crowd might have started to anticipate another masterclass from the majestic left-hander, but were suddenly hushed into deadly silence when Broad had him caught at midwicket by Cook. The previous ball was dispatched through the covers for four that took him to 30 off just 24 balls.
With Zunaed Siddiqui dropped for this match, Aftab Ahmed was sent one place up but failed to make an impact. The temperamental batsman saw his wretched run elongate an innings further when he tried to swipe a straight one fromTim Bresnan but missed it
completely and ended up with his stumps rattled.
Wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, arguably the most technically sound in the squad and the one with the calmest head, was sent up the order to steady the rocking boat and that proved a good decision, at least for the day. Rahim joined opener Imrul Kayes and the two of them stroked ones and twos to strike a partnership that gave the launching pad for a probable big score. Kayes brought up his fifty in 94 balls with four boundaries. The 90-run partnership came to an end when Kayes was dismissed for 63, a booming drive against Graeme Swann proved his undoing.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan's early adrenaline rush got the better of him yet again as he gave a simple return catch to Graeme Swann having swept two beautiful boundaries the previous over.
Rahim had a life in the meantime, but he capitalised on his good fortune scoring 76 runs in 88 deliveries to provide the ideal slog for those to come.
And that slog was a little late in coming as the Tigers, bewil-deringly, waited till the last five overs for the batting powerplay. Naeem Islam and Sohrawardi Shuvo got in on the act to bring up 34 runs in the last three overs as they finished on 260 for sixto give the bowlers something to bowl at. Shuvo despatched Luke Wright in the final over for a six and hit him for four off the last ball, a glimmer of the potential that the allrounder possesses with the bat.
Bresnan was the most successful of the English bowlers with figures of three for 51. Swann picked up two for 52.