Defending champions England bounce back to defeat Bangladesh

England's Dawid Malan celebrates after scoring a century against Bangladesh

DHARAMSALA: Defending champions England came back strongly from their nine-wicket thrashing by New Zealand in the World Cup opening match to defeat Bangladesh by 137 runs at Dharmasala Monday and post their first points on the board in the 2023 tournament.

It was a thoroughly clinical performance by England whose top order contributed the majority of their 364 runs with Dawid Malan leading the way with a brilliant 140 off 107 balls (16 fours, 5 sixes) supported by Jonny Bairstow (52 off 59 balls, 8 fours) and Joe Root (82 off 68 balls, 8 fours, 1 six). Malan figured in two-century partnerships 115 for the first wicket with Bairstow and 151 for the second with Root.

Some excellent death bowling by Bangladesh saw England from 296-2 lose their last seven wickets for 68 from the last 10.3 overs when they at one time looked like topping 400.

Bangladesh’s hopes of challenging England’s score were put to rest by Reece Topley inside the first ten overs when he removed Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto off successive deliveries of his first over and cleaned up skipper Shakib Al Hasan for one to have them 49-4 inside the first power play.

Litton Das (76 off 66 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes) and Mushfiqur Rahim (51 off 64 balls, 4 fours) tried to resurrect the innings but the early loss of wickets made Bangladesh’s run chase an impossible task as the asking rate rose to unreachable proportions. They were eventually bowled out for 227 in the 49th over.

Scores: 

nEngland: 364-9 (50) (Jonny Bairstow 52, Dawid Malan 140, Joe Root 82, Jos Buttler 20, Harry Brook 20, Shoriful Islam 3/75, Mahedi Hasan 4/71)

nBangladesh: 227 (48.2) (Litton Das 76, Mushfiqur Rahim 51, Towhid Hridoy 39, Chris Woakes 2/49, Reece Topley 4/43)