Morgan Saves the Day For England Against Bangladesh
Bangladesh lost another one day cricket match to England. Only this time, they came agonizingly close to victory, and their captain will have a sleepless night for his decision to bring his second string pace bowler Shafiul to bowl the penultimate over. Eoin Morgan hit him for sixteen runs to win it for England by two wickets. Bowling at the death requires special mindset and none of the temperamental Bangladeshi players have that kind of nerve.
For the second one day contest in Dhaka, England won the toss and had no hesitation in sending Bangladesh to bat. The star of the previous match, Tamim Iqbal, began with blistering pace but did not stay long falling after scoring 30 well deserved runs. When Aftab Ahmed fell only ten runs later, the memory of the previous game came back again. This time however, the other opening batsman Imrul Kayes clicked, and with the vice-captain Mushfiqur Rahim built a 90 partnership. Rahim was promoted to bat at number four, which he deserved, and made most of it by scoring 76 runs.
A measured 63 from opener Imrul Kayes propped up the Bangladesh innings after England had struck twice in quick succession. He added 45 with Mahmudullah to take Bangladesh score past 200 before late fireworks from Naeem Islam and debutant Suhrawadi Shuvo took it to 260. This was the highest ODI score Bangladesh ever reached against England.
England’s response faltered when Craig Kieswetter was caught at slip in the very first over. Kevin Pietersen’s unease against left-arm spin continued and he fell at 52 scoring only 18. With the fall of Paul Collingwood’s wicket at 68 entered Eoin Morgan to support his captain Alastair Cook. They kept the scoreboard ticking by rotating the strike. But when Cook was out scoring 60 runs to make it 108 for four, Bangladesh was very much in the game.
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