There are two teams that are giving their supporters the ride of their lives in this World Cup, one of course is Pakistan and the other surprisingly is England. Today's match between England and Bangladesh was petering out to an expected English victory till the ninth wicket pair of Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam had other ideas. I was following the match only in bits and pieces till that time, peeking at the score in between getting some work done, however the last 45 minutes had me glued to the television screen.
England batted poorly for the second game in a row and managed to put up only a modest score, mainly thanks to Trott and Morgan. Strauss form at the beginning seems to be a distant memory and no one else seems to be willing to shoulder the responsibility for carrying through the innings. Another puzzling aspect is the role assigned to Collingwood, he seems to be slipping down the order and today in fact came after Swann. Right now it looks like Collingwood is holding his position just because there is no one else rather than by his performances. England had a horror batting power-play (again!) and were bowled out in the last over.
Bangladesh started their innings as if they wanted to finish within the first 20 overs but settled in after the first few overs. Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes were both playing well and England did not look like it had the bowlers to trouble them. Bangladesh were cruising towards victory at the half-way mark, however England were now looking steadier with Swann, Bresnan, Shahzad and Collingwood doing a good containing job. However, Bangladesh being themselves, practically handed the match to England with a set of injudicious strokes and suicidal running between wickets. Suddenly at 165-8, England were looking good and the equation of runs to balls went in England's favour for the first time in the match. Swann and Shahzad bowled a couple of tight overs and it seemed all over for the Bangla Tigers.
Now came the excitement. It was Swann's last over and till that over, he had bowled extremely well, though in the last couple of overs he was tending to focus on leg stump rather than off. Swann's last over ended up being the costliest of the innings with two 4s and a 6. Shafiul was batting on 19 off 21 balls with three 4s and a 6 ! Mahmudullah at the other end was holding his nerve and in fact was the steadying influence. Shahzad had now completed his quota and so had Swann. It was now up to Bresnan and Anderson. Bresnan bowled a tidy over and it was up to Anderson to bowl at the death. Anderson completely went to pieces and had a shocker of an over where he bowled three wides (one of which raced away for 4). The equation was now looking more balanced when Shafiul decided to star in his own slasher movie. Bresnan's next over saw Shafiul slashing away to glory and he had the England fielding running ragged. It was rightfully Mahmudullah who hit the winning run with as authentic a cover drive that one could hope to see and Bangladesh had earned a come from behind victory which even their most diehard supporter would not have imagined.
England has to wonder where they go from here and will have to get into the juggling act of net run rates and watching the results of other games (a role that India supporters are accustomed to playing!). West Indies hold the key to the group now and their next set of matches will determine the last couple of spots for qualifying and will result in heartbreak for either England or Bangladesh. What is particularly worrying for England is that after the 8th wicket fell, England did not look like taking a wicket though Strauss rightly attacked the batsmen by putting in a slip and extra fielders in the ring. Strauss was left scratching his head (literally) in the last few overs when he could not get a wicket for love or money. In the final analysis it was Anderson's bowling at the death that tilted the balance in Bangladesh's favour and England's best bowler in the (now distant and almost lost in the mist of time) Ashes victory is looking like a pale shadow of himself.
We have the India vs South Africa match tomorrow to look forward to and I for one am unwilling to speculate on the result (I suspect about 55-45 to South Africa).
England batted poorly for the second game in a row and managed to put up only a modest score, mainly thanks to Trott and Morgan. Strauss form at the beginning seems to be a distant memory and no one else seems to be willing to shoulder the responsibility for carrying through the innings. Another puzzling aspect is the role assigned to Collingwood, he seems to be slipping down the order and today in fact came after Swann. Right now it looks like Collingwood is holding his position just because there is no one else rather than by his performances. England had a horror batting power-play (again!) and were bowled out in the last over.
Bangladesh started their innings as if they wanted to finish within the first 20 overs but settled in after the first few overs. Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes were both playing well and England did not look like it had the bowlers to trouble them. Bangladesh were cruising towards victory at the half-way mark, however England were now looking steadier with Swann, Bresnan, Shahzad and Collingwood doing a good containing job. However, Bangladesh being themselves, practically handed the match to England with a set of injudicious strokes and suicidal running between wickets. Suddenly at 165-8, England were looking good and the equation of runs to balls went in England's favour for the first time in the match. Swann and Shahzad bowled a couple of tight overs and it seemed all over for the Bangla Tigers.
Now came the excitement. It was Swann's last over and till that over, he had bowled extremely well, though in the last couple of overs he was tending to focus on leg stump rather than off. Swann's last over ended up being the costliest of the innings with two 4s and a 6. Shafiul was batting on 19 off 21 balls with three 4s and a 6 ! Mahmudullah at the other end was holding his nerve and in fact was the steadying influence. Shahzad had now completed his quota and so had Swann. It was now up to Bresnan and Anderson. Bresnan bowled a tidy over and it was up to Anderson to bowl at the death. Anderson completely went to pieces and had a shocker of an over where he bowled three wides (one of which raced away for 4). The equation was now looking more balanced when Shafiul decided to star in his own slasher movie. Bresnan's next over saw Shafiul slashing away to glory and he had the England fielding running ragged. It was rightfully Mahmudullah who hit the winning run with as authentic a cover drive that one could hope to see and Bangladesh had earned a come from behind victory which even their most diehard supporter would not have imagined.
England has to wonder where they go from here and will have to get into the juggling act of net run rates and watching the results of other games (a role that India supporters are accustomed to playing!). West Indies hold the key to the group now and their next set of matches will determine the last couple of spots for qualifying and will result in heartbreak for either England or Bangladesh. What is particularly worrying for England is that after the 8th wicket fell, England did not look like taking a wicket though Strauss rightly attacked the batsmen by putting in a slip and extra fielders in the ring. Strauss was left scratching his head (literally) in the last few overs when he could not get a wicket for love or money. In the final analysis it was Anderson's bowling at the death that tilted the balance in Bangladesh's favour and England's best bowler in the (now distant and almost lost in the mist of time) Ashes victory is looking like a pale shadow of himself.
We have the India vs South Africa match tomorrow to look forward to and I for one am unwilling to speculate on the result (I suspect about 55-45 to South Africa).
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