Bowlers dominate again as England cruise past Bangladesh to secure second victory in the T20 World Cup

Another faultless display from England’s bowlers helped the Three Lions to an eight-wicket win against Bangladesh as they maintained their perfect start to the T20 World Cup.

Having begun their World Cup campaign by bowling the West Indies out for just 55, England’s bowling unit faced the challenge of picking up from where they left off.

Whilst England fans have grown accustomed to seeing Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad wreak havoc with the new ball in the Test arena, Moeen Ali once again got the innings off to a flyer for Eoin Morgan’s side.

Despite conceding 10 from his first over, Ali responded by making inroads into the Tigers’ batting lineup as Liton Das top-edged a slog-sweep into the hands of Liam Livingstone before Mohammad Naim holed out to mid-on for five.

Adil Rashid somewhat surprisingly went wicketless, but that did not prevent him from making a significant contribution to the cause with a sublime one-handed catch at short fine-leg off the bowling of Chris Woakes to remove star man Shakib Al Hasan for one.

Experienced duo Mushfiqur Rahim (27) and skipper Mohammad Mahmudullah (19) posted a partnership of 40 for the fourth wicket in a bid to register a competitive total on a pitch that looked to favour the batting side at first glance.

Though, any chance of a similar upset to those seen in the 2011 and 2015 50-over World Cups soon diminished thanks to a combination of Livingstone and DRS.

Livingstone’s uncanny ability to mix between off and leg-breaks saw him trap Rahim for LBW when attempting a switch-hit on leg-stump. Umpire Nitin Menon was forced to overturn his decision with the ball pitching in line which left Bangladesh 63-4.

It went from bad to worse for the underdogs as Mahmudullah sent Afif Hossain (5) back when he was halfway down the track looking for a second run which culminated in a comical run-out.

Mahmudullah eventually sliced into the hands of Woakes at backwards point when looking to increase the run rate while Tymal Mills dismissed Nurul Hasan (16).

16 runs off four balls from Nasum Ahmed made Bangladesh’s score a slightly more respectable one before Mills saw off Mahedi Hasan (11) and Mustafizur Rahman (0) with the final two balls of the innings to claim a career-best international figure.

In reality, a chase of 125 was never going to cause England problems.

While some may have had slight doubts following an unconvincing chase of 55 last time out, Jason Roy did his absolute utmost to eradicate those with an emphatic 61 off just 38 balls.

Jos Buttler set the tone with an outstanding six over the head of Al Hasan as Roy also took on the spin of Nasum Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan. Buttler did lose his wicket, nevertheless, after lofting into the hands of wide long-off for 18.

An unbeaten 28 for Dawid Malan would have injected an element of confidence into the number one ranked T20I batsman after being dropped down the order previously.

The shot of the day arguably belonged to Roy when he sent Shoriful Islam for maximum with a ramp shot, yet he could not finish the job after being caught at third man when attempting to go all the way once again.

Jonny Bairstow (8) hit the winning runs with England in fine form ahead of their biggest game of the tournament as they take on Australia this weekend. A win for the Three Lions and they will be all-but through.

Injuries to Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran could have weakened displays with the ball, but the depth that this England side possesses was on display once more.

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