Bangladesh spinners restrict England to 225/8

By IANS,

Chittagong (Bangladesh) : Bangladesh spinners restricted England to 225 in 49.4 overs in a World Cup Group B match here Friday.


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England were 162 for three in the 39th over but the Bangladesh spinners triggered a mini collapse as the last seven batsman could only add 63 runs to the total.

Jonathan Trott (67) and comeback man Eoin Morgan (63) forged a 109-run stand for the fourth wicket which was the only bright spot in the English batting display.

Bangladesh, with a host of spinners in the playing eleven, proved once again that they are a force to reckon with on the slow wickets in the sub-continent.

Captain Shakib Al Hasan (2-49), Abdur Razzak (2/32) and Naeem Islam (2/29) took wickets at crucial junctres to put the home team back into the match.

Asked to bat, England were off to a bad start with Andrew Strauss (18) and makeshift opener Matt Prior (15) back in the pavilion after crawling to 39 in the first 10 overs. Ian Bell (5) soon perished and it was left to Trott and Morgan to resurrect the innings.

Trott played cautiously, hitting only two fours in his 99 ball effort. This was his third consecutive fifty in the tournament.

Morgan, however, was the aggressor in the partnership and justified his selection after Kevin Pietersen had to fly back home to undergo a hernia surgery. The southpaw hit eight boundaries in his 72-ball knock.

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