England Beats Bangladesh in 1st ODI Match – In the first One Day International (ODI) of their tour of Bangladesh, England triumphed over the hosts in a tense chase. The match was held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on March 1, 2023. England won by three wickets, with eight balls remaining.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das opened the innings, but Das was trapped lbw by Chris Woakes after hitting a six. Shanto and Tamim made a decent partnership, with Shanto scoring 58 runs from 82 balls.
Bangladesh struggled to build partnerships throughout their innings, with only one 50-run stand between Shanto and Mahmudullah. England shared wickets around, with their three seamers and three spinners accounting for five batters each. They restricted Bangladesh to a score of 209 runs.
England Beats Bangladesh in 1st ODI Match – Good Performance by Bangladesh
Mark Wood, playing his first ODI since July 2021, bowled the final over of the initial powerplay and struck with his third ball to remove Tamim. Adil Rashid had Mushfiqur Rahim caught at deep midwicket on the slog-sweep, and Bangladesh were 106 for 4 when Shakib Al Hasan was cleaned up by Moeen Ali.
Shanto continued to accumulate, but after reverse-sweeping Rashid for four, he pulled Rashid’s googly straight to Roy at short midwicket to fall for 58. When Mahmudullah strangled Wood down the leg side, Bangladesh was in danger of being bowled out.
England struggled for fluency in their chase and lost Roy in the first over to a brilliant catch by Taskin Ahmed. They then lost three more wickets in quick succession and were reduced to 65 for 4.
Bangladesh’s spinners put pressure on England, but Dawid Malan held England’s chase together with an unbeaten 114. He added an unbroken 51 for the eighth wicket with Adil Rashid to seal the win.
England Beats Bangladesh in 1st ODI Match – Good Performance by Bangladesh
Malan has been a peripheral member of England’s 50-over set-up for most of his career but has taken every opportunity that has come his way in the past nine months. He has now hit hundreds in each of the last four bilateral ODI series he has featured in.
Given the circumstances, this innings was the pick of them. Malan’s batting was not easy-going, as he battled his way to 50 off 92 balls at the second drinks break as England desperately looked to survive, particularly against the threatening Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
But he relieved the scoring pressure after the interval, crashing Mehidy over cover and then lofting him for a straight six, eventually guiding them across the line by working Najmul Hassan Shanto through midwicket.
England’s win was commendable as they fielded a completely separate side in the ODI series than in the Test series against New Zealand that ended just 24 hours before. Will Jacks, an unused squad member at the Basin Reserve, flew to Bangladesh on the second day of the Test and won his first ODI cap.
Joe Root, England’s leading scorer at the 2019 World Cup, was among those unavailable due to the fixture clash and is expected to bat at No. 3 when the schedule allows him to return to the ODI side.
England Beats Bangladesh in 1st ODI Match – Good Performance by Bangladesh
England was in control of the match until the 44th over, when Taijul Islam dismissed Sam Curran and Jofra Archer in successive balls. England’s lead now hung by a thread. However, Adil Rashid joined Malan at the crease and provided the much-needed support. Rashid scored 19 runs from 19 balls and was with Malan when he hit the winning runs.
In conclusion, England’s victory over Bangladesh in the first ODI of their tour was a hard-fought and impressive one. The visitors were under pressure at several points during their chase, but Dawid Malan’s unbeaten century and his partnership with Adil Rashid helped them secure a crucial win.
Malan’s continued strong form in the 50-over format makes him a serious contender for a place in England’s World Cup squad later this year. Meanwhile, Bangladesh will take heart from some promising performances with both bat and ball, and will look to bounce back in the remaining matches of the series.
Overall, the stage is set for an exciting contest between two talented teams.
