Bowling Efficiency helps England cruise to win
England’s bowling line-up did an excellent job of getting Bangladesh out cheaply to set-up a comfortable victory in the first ODI.
England beat Bangladesh by six wickets in the opening game at Dhaka and now lead the 3-ODI series 1-0.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first, realising that the wicket would slow down as the day progresses. The got off to a flying start, scoring 68 runs in the Quick start overs with Tamim Iqbal leading the way. Things turned around quickly though, as England picked up three wickets in quick succession and pushing Bangladesh onto the backfoot. Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim got their eye in but gave away their wickets to lose shots, leaving Iqbal stranded at one end, running out of partners. Mahmudullah was their key man in the lower order but he went without scoring and suddenly the hosts found themselves in a precarious situation. Naeem Islam did well to support Iqbal as the duo added 63 for the seventh wicket, bringing some credibility to the team total. Bangladesh were eventually bowled out for 228 in the 46th over. Graeme Swann was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 3 for 32 off his 10 overs and a Bowling Efficiency of 281.
England got off to a flier in the run chase with skipper, Alastair Cook and Craig Kieswetter adding 63 runs in the first Power Play, with all ten wickets still intact. This gave them a clear advantage over their opponents as reflected on the Castrol Index worm. Bangladesh had to pull things back and they responded in perfect manner. They picked up three wickets in quick succession, which included the prized wicket of Kevin Pietersen, who managed only one run. But the hosts failed to sustain the pressure in the field as Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan eased into a partnership and started to take the game away from Bangladesh. The duo went on to share an 88 run-stand for the fourth wicket, which put England within touching distance of a win. Matt Prior came out to support Collingwood after Morgan was out as the batted England home in 46 overs.
Tamim Iqbal was adjudged Man of the Match for his impressive performance. He scored 125 runs off 120 balls with a Batting Momentum of 180.
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