All posts by csb10.top

Rob Keogh was influential in Northants’ win [file picture]•Getty Images

Northamptonshire ended Leicestershire’s 100 per cent record in this year’s NatWest T20 Blast with a two-run Duckworth/Lewis win at Grace Road.The Foxes, batting second, had only themselves to blame, having been ahead of the D/L calculation for much of their reply after the Steelbacks had scored 165 for 8 on a hard and true pitch.Northants were indebted to a partnership of 75 between captain Alex Wakely and Rob Keogh, who came together after Richard Levi was well caught low down at deep square-leg by Dieter Klein off Gavin Griffiths for 41, leaving the score at 68 for 4 in the 10th over.But Wakely and Keogh kept the scoreboard moving, the former hitting consecutive boundaries off Klein before 21 came from the 17th over, bowled by Mat Pillans.Both bowlers came back strongly, Pillans knocking back Wakely’s leg stump as he stepped to the offside and tried to lift the ball over short fine-leg, and then Klein picking up the wickets of Steven Crook and Rory Kleinveldt with consecutive deliveries to restrict the Foxes’ target to under 170.They were given a good start by Luke Ronchi and Cameron Delport, who added 45 for the first wicket before the New Zealander steered Ben Sanderson to backward point, where Ben Duckett took a smart two-handed catch.Off-spinner Keogh bowled Delport for 30, but Mark Cosgrove, who was particularly severe on left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, hit 41 off just 26 balls to leave the Foxes in control.Leicestershire were still ahead on D/L when the Australian was bowled swinging across the line at Kleinveldt.But neither Colin Ackermann and Mark Pettini were able to get the ball to the boundary before umpires Steve O’Shaughnessy and Ian Blackwell took the players from the field, with the home team having fallen fractionally behind the required rate.

ScorecardSouth Australian left-arm paceman Nick Winter claimed his second five-wicket haul in just his second match to help restrict New South Wales to a modest day-one total at the SCG.Winter, who took 5 for 85 on debut against Victoria last week, ripped the heart out of an experienced Blues middle order, with the home side threatening to build a huge platform.Daniel Hughes and Kurtis Patterson put together a 117-run stand to move the total to 2 for 183 after the Blues had won the toss. But Hughes fell seven short of a century to the part-time spin of Tom Cooper.Winter removed Moises Henriques shortly after, and the Blues lost their last eight wickets for just 73 runs to give the Redbacks the upper hand.

When most Bangladesh players got away from the game after the BPL in December, Mominul Haque sought technical corrections from his mentor Mohammad Salahuddin. The small change has made a big difference in Mominul’s approach against spinners, as he can now move forward and back more swiftly without being too predictable to the bowlers.The change in technique has so far contributed to three first-class centuries in the last three weeks, including the 176 against Sri Lanka. Salahuddin, who was Bangladesh’s assistant coach under Jamie Siddons, now coaches two top domestic teams but is better known as mentor to many Bangladesh players including Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mominul. His connection with Shakib, Mominul, Abdur Razzak and Nasir Hossain goes back to his days as BKSP’s chief cricket coach.Salahuddin said that Mominul’s change in technique was about the initial step he took against spinners which limited his options against the fuller deliveries. Seven of his last 10 dismissals before the ongoing Chittagong Test were to offspinners like R Ashwin, Dilruwan Perera, Nathan Lyon and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. On many occasions, he was either rooted to the back foot with no room to maneuver or confused whether to go front or back.The dismissal to Rangana Herath on the second morning was more Kusal Mendis’ credit as he took a reflex catch at short leg. Otherwise, Mominul batted at an impressive strike rate of 93.23 against Herath, Dilruwan and Lakshan Sandakan, scoring off more than 50% of their 149 deliveries.”Mominul was always fluent against spin but in recent times, I had seen something wrong with his initial foot movement,” Salahuddin told . “He was taking a step while playing the shot. Spinners usually bowl a fuller length so that step was restricting his options. Spin bowlers understood this problem and trapped him. I worked on his initial movement, which he practiced.”He was happy that it worked in the first BCL match. He kept working at it and got results. You saw him on the first day how he played in front, back, stepped out and used the entire crease. He used his feet to thwart the spinners who couldn’t guess what he was doing.”Salahuddin said that Mominul’s problem against spin should have been eliminated long ago by the Bangladesh coaching staff, instead the problem was identified and used against him by the opposition. “I was surprised when someone said that he was weak against the short ball. I was shocked when I heard that he was weak against spin,” he said. “There aren’t many in Bangladesh who play spin better than Mominul.”Mominul’s issue was technical. It isn’t that he never scored runs. A batsman can have a problem. They sometimes can’t catch it quickly since they are always playing matches. So it is the coach’s responsibility to identify and rectify the problem. It is easy to cast him aside but that’s not the solution.”Salahuddin also felt that being kept away from ODIs also hurt Mominul’s batting rhythm. He has been picked only for Tests since the 2015 World Cup, giving him long breaks when the senior side is playing other formats.”You will notice that Mominul hadn’t made a century after getting dropped from the ODI squad,” Salahuddin explained. “The reality, at least in Bangladesh, is that it is hard to keep form by only playing Tests. We play fewer Tests. It is hard to only work on your own, away from the team. I am sure that given the opportunity, he could play such innings in ODIs too.”This is not an excuse though. It is not just working on your batting but such long breaks also has an effect on a cricketer’s mentality. It is tough to motivate oneself. Mominul has been able to remain strong, but anyone else would have been dropped by now. Bangladesh cricket has many such examples.”Correcting Mominul was yet another example of how Salahuddin has been helpful to a Bangladesh player. From his days as Bangladesh’s assistant coach, he has always been critical to their success. The first time he was in the limelight was by helping Razzak return to international cricket after the ICC suspended him for an illegal bowling action. Even when Salahuddin worked in Malaysia, he would be sought out by many players like Shakib to help in technical matters.In 2011, Shakib returned to Dhaka from the IPL for a few days to work on his batting with Salahuddin. There are numerous such incidents and while some at the BCB recognise to use him in an official capacity again, they turned their backs to him after approving his appointment as a batting consultant last August.

It says much for the progress of Bangladesh in recent years that their senior players and coaches keep being asked a very similar question: is this the biggest moment in the history of the team?That a reasonable answer to that question – whether it was asked ahead of the World Cup quarter-final in 2015, when they defeated England in a Test in Dhaka or Sri Lanka in a Test in Colombo, when they won home ODI series against Pakistan, India and South Africa, or now, when they find themselves in the semi-final of a global tournament for the first time – is “yes” confirms the impression that, as their captain Mashrafe Mortaza put it, their “graph is pretty good. We’re coming up.”While most would accept that they have enjoyed a little fortune on the way to the semi-final – rain came to their rescue against Australia – the general impression remains: Bangladesh are a growing force in international cricket. Their future looks bright.There is no doubt that India are favourites in this semi-final, though. Strong favourites. It’s not just that they have a hugely experienced batting and bowling line-up, it’s that they have a huge amount of experience of playing in such high-profile games.But as if Pakistan’s victory over England had not already exposed the folly of presumption, Bangladesh have a record that demands respect. They have produced the two highest partnerships of the tournament to date (Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah added 224 for the fifth wicket against New Zealand, while Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim added 166 for the third wicket against England), they have recorded four of the nine highest individual scores (including three centuries) and they have won two of the last three ODIs between these sides.Most of all, they have a skillful, varied attack that, even on the fine batting surface anticipated at Edgbaston, provides Mashrafe with options.For all those reasons, Bangladesh should be a far more confident side than the one brushed aside by India in the World Cup quarter-final. Now they know they can win big games and fight back from tough positions. Now they know they belong at this level. India, Mashrafe said, are going to find a “changed” opponent.”Winning against England [in the 2015 World Cup] helped us a lot. We lost our next match, against New Zealand in New Zealand, but on a tough wicket we scored almost 300 and the team took a boost from that.”After that, we beat Pakistan, India and South Africa. Yes, it was at home, but we gained more self-respect by beating those sort of teams.”So this team has changed. Over the last two or three years, we’ve changed a lot, especially in the dressing rooms. Now we play with freedom. The coaches support the players and don’t drop them. These sort of things actually change teams.”Mashrafe took particular confidence from the victory over New Zealand. With 20 overs of the New Zealand innings remaining, they were 152 for 2 with Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson well set. A total well in excess of 300 looked likely.”That’s the thing,” he explained. “We never give up. They batted really well, but we came back strongly. And once you have played at your best, you know how well you can play and things can change. I know, on our day, we can do anything.”Might the pressure of the occasion prove a burden? Mashrafe accepted his side is in uncharted territory here, but, like his coach the previous day, attempted to alleviate the burden.”It is our first time in our life in a semi-final; that is a fact,” he said. “And if you look at it as a semi-final, the pressure will be very hard. But if you think of it as just another match, the pressure will come a lot easier. And India has more pressure than us as the population is huge there and people love cricket a lot. Both teams have a lot of expectations.”For a Bangladesh team of which very little was expected not so long ago, such hopes are another sign of progress. Few would bet against this being the first of many semi-final appearances over the coming years.

Bangladesh’s batsmen, led by Mushfiqur Rahim, have had their moments, but the bowlers have underwhelmed. So said stand-in coach Courtney Walsh on the eve of his side’s must-win encounter against Sri Lanka. In their previous match, Bangladesh had conceded 79 runs in a definitive six-over period against India. Even in the game they won, they conceded 214.There has been one bright spark in their attack, however, and this time it is not the young left-armer with the magic wrists. It is Rubel Hossain who has been Bangladesh’s best, maintaining an economy of 8.22 in three matches. Along the way, he has picked up four wickets. One of those was the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan, who was bowled by perhaps the ball of the tournament so far: a late-swinging, yorker that zipped past Dhawan’s outside edge and flattened middle stump.”Rubel has been very consistent,” Walsh said. “If the other guys stepped up, it would give us a little more cushion. I would be lying if I said I thought we bowled well. We have bowled okay, but not as well as we can. The improvement is coming, but not as quickly as we would like. If we can put it all together, it will be a big plus for us in Friday’s game.””Spinners also have not been as spot-on as we like them to be. They have had good patches. But if everyone did their bit, it will give us a very good chance.”Among those who have under-performed at the Nidahas Trophy has been Mustafizur Rahman, whose 12 overs have gone at 9.75 runs apiece, though he has also taken four wickets in the competition. His cutters have been only sporadically effective on Khettarama decks that have atypically failed to reward revolutions on the ball.Friday’s virtual semi-final will be played on a fresh pitch, which means that seam and swing may be more reliable fast-bowling weapons than cutters. “Someone like Mustafizur Rahman having a good game will help us tremendously,” Walsh said. “I am hoping he can step up to the plate in this crucial game. I know he can. He had some fantastic games in PSL so it is a case of turning it around here. One game can make a difference. It could be his game, or another bowler’s game, but we’re hoping that he comes good.”The attack would appear to have been bolstered with news that Shakib Al Hasan is joining the team ahead of this game, but Walsh was reluctant to suggest Shakib is a certainty for the playing XI. Though he will be with the team in the approach to the game, Shakib is expected to take a fitness test for his injured finger that has kept him out since mid-January.”He is on his way. Like any other player he will be assessed. If he is fit, someone of his class and calibre will be considered to play.”

ScorecardPaul Stirling’s century eased Middlesex to victory•Getty Images

Paul Stirling and Eoin Morgan both scored attractive hundreds as Middlesex eased to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Kent in the Royal London One-day Cup at Lord’s.Stirling hit 112 and Morgan 103 not out as Middlesex chased down Kent’s 50-over total of 238 for 7 with 5.1 overs to spare, but also central to the home side’s success was the brilliant bowling of new-ball pair Steven Finn and Tim Murtagh.Finn, a fearsome prospect particularly in an intimidating opening spell, finished with 2 for 31 from his ten overs while Murtagh even bowled a maiden, his third, in the 46th over of Kent’s innings on his way to figures of 2 for 28.Irishmen Stirling and Morgan put on 214 in 39 overs for the third wicket after Ryan Higgins edged Matt Coles’s first ball to first slip in the second over and Middlesex were reduced to 16 for 2 when Nick Gubbins was caught behind off Mitch Claydon in the fifth over.When Stirling eventually fell, chipping Joe Denly’s leg spin to short extra cover, only nine more runs were needed for victory. Morgan saw Middlesex home at 239 for 4, despite the further loss of George Bailey to Coles. Both Stirling and Morgan struck a six and 13 fours.Both teams came into this South Group tie with two wins from four matches but, for such an important game in the eight-fixture group stage, both also had to do without two players chosen in the England Lions squad for their Tri-Series against the Pakistan and Sri Lanka A teams.Kent’s total, though below-par, was almost entirely due to a fighting third-wicket stand of 135 in 26 overs between Sean Dickson, whose 99 from 126 balls was a career-best in what was only the 24-year-old’s sixth List A appearance, and the veteran Darren Stevens, who scored 61 off 70 balls.Finn deserved more than just the scalp of Kent captain Sam Northeast in a blistering new ball spell of 6-2-13-1. Running in hard from the Pavilion End, he beat Dickson several times early on and almost had him caught at midwicket from a miscued clip off his pads.Northeast, on 2 and trying to work a fast, rising ball to leg, succeeded only in lobbing it back at Finn, who moved to his right and leapt high in his follow-through to take the return catch.Murtagh was also a handful in his own impressive and probing opening spell of 8-2-26-1, and the seamer had Denly lbw for 4 in the third over of Kent’s innings. At 12 for 2, when Finn sent back Northeast, it looked as if Kent – with the England Lions pair of Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sam Billings missing from their top order – were in big trouble.It was a moot point, and one not lost on Kent supporters, whether Bell-Drummond and Billings, despite his magnificent 175 for the Lions against Pakistan A at Canterbury, would have learned more as prospective senior England batsmen had they instead been up against the fiery Finn and the wily Murtagh. Certainly, Kent could have done with Billings’ capacity for explosive run-making in a match central to both teams’ ambitions of earning quarter-final qualification.Middlesex followers, meanwhile, were wondering about the absence from their attack of Toby Roland-Jones, with the in-form fast bowler left out of the Lions team, led by Dawid Malan, chosen to face Pakistan A.Somehow, Dickson and Stevens managed to see off Finn and Murtagh and, against the change bowlers, they began to build their fine partnership. An extraordinary upper-cut six off a suffering James Fuller by Stevens, with a vertical bat, helped to change the momentum of the innings.Stevens also drove Ollie Rayner’s off spin straight for six while Dickson played some quality strokes including a classical off drive for four against left-arm seamer James Franklin and a reverse-slapped boundary against Rayner.When Stevens slog-swept Rayner straight into deep square leg’s hands in the 32nd over, the 40-year-old all-rounder slumped down on his bat in disappointment and Finn’s return, to bowl the 36th and 38th overs, brought Middlesex right back into the game.Dickson, having edged Finn through a vacant first slip to go to 99, chopped the next ball into his stumps and only Alex Blake, with 23, and Callum Jackson, who hit Fuller over long on for six in a 24-ball unbeaten 28, made much impression after that.

Niroshan Dickwella has played more Tests, but during the 121-run stand that turned the match, it was Asela Gunaratne who found himself constantly pestered for advice. Sri Lanka had been five-down and 185 runs short of their target when the two came together. Dickwella played aggressively through the partnership, and helped ensure some of the pressure Zimbabwe had exerted, was reversed.”Since he came to the crease, what Dickwella told me was: ‘Talk to me all the time, and make me score runs.'” Gunaratne said. “I think what he meant was that he hasn’t scored a big Test innings, where I have. He just wanted me to tell him how to handle situations. Sometimes when the game was going a certain way, he wanted me to keep advising him. Occasionally I’d tell him not to go for certain shots. In the end, he stuck around and scored.”Gunaratne’s own hand in the victory had been a little more measured than Dickwella’s. At the crease when the winning runs were hit, Gunaratne compiled a sensible 80, despite having suffered a mild hamstring injury earlier in the match. Captain Dinesh Chandimal revealed he had expected Gunaratne to play a major role, at the start of the day.”I told Asela this morning: ‘You’re going to get a hundred today’.” Chandimal said. “But very confidently, Asela said to me: ‘No Chandi, there won’t be need for me to get a 100. I’ll get 70 and win the game.’ That’s the kind of faith I expect from my players. There’s a chance he might not have been able to do that today, but the way he spoke, even I became confident as a captain that we could win this match. I’m really happy I have players like that.”Though Chandimal himself had been out for 15 on the fourth evening, he said it was important to him that his middle order batted with freedom. Of the three Sri Lanka players to make fifties, two – Dickwella and Kusal Mendis – batted at a strike rate of around 70 for much of their innings (though they would both slow slightly in the approach to their dismissals).”When it came time for us to bat yesterday, most of what we talked about was playing your own game as batsmen,” Chandimal said. “We knew that it was tough for us to bat out the time and draw the match. If we tried that, it was likely we’d lose. So we said: ‘play your own game’.””As a captain I told them that I’d take the responsibility for any mistakes, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Kusal, Dimuth Karunaratne and Upul Tharanga played well. Then at the end, Asela and Dickwella were excellent.”Dickwella and Mendis had also perished playing aggressive strokes: Mendis a sweep and Dickwella a reverse-sweep. Chandimal, however, refused to characterise those dismissals as wasteful.”We’ve played on these kinds of pitches before in Sri Lanka, and in India and Bangladesh. On these pitches, it’s with sweeps and reverse-sweeps that we can score runs. There’s a risk in that, but if we are chasing scores, we have to play those shots. At training we had practiced those things, and they bore results today.”

Sri Lanka have finally confirmed their interest in having Chandika Hathurusingha as head coach, with the president of the SLC Thilanga Sumathipala saying he would be “a great fit for us”.The position had fallen vacant in June earlier this year when Graham Ford resigned after a second stint that lasted a mere 15 months. The SLC elevated Nic Pothas as interim coach as it began to look for a suitable candidate.Hathurusingha has previously admitted to a desire to give back to Sri Lankan cricket but was contracted with the Bangladesh Cricket Board as their head coach. He might have occupied the post until the end of the 2019 World Cup, but in October, as Bangladesh were touring South Africa, Hathurusingha sent in his resignation to the BCB and cut all ties with the board.The SLC release states it is currently in discussion with Hathurusingha’s lawyers and is ready to “offer him the position” of head coach if he has been released from his contract with the BCB. To that end, Sumathipala has written to his counterpart Nazmul Hassan for further information.”There’s no doubt that Hathuru would be a great fit for us with the direction of both our short and long terms goals,” Sumathipala said. “I have written personally to the BCB President – Mr. Nazmul Hassan informing him of our intentions. The Executive Committee is both convinced & confident that he is the right man for the job, and we would like to bring him on board in a professional and transparent manner”If Hathurusingha is appointed Sri Lanka’s coach, his first assignment may well be against Bangladesh, whom they play in a tri-series also featuring with Zimbabwe in January 2018.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:16

Agarkar: India need to look past Dhoni in T20Is

Colin Munro scorched his way to a 54-ball hundred – his second in T20Is this year – to break India and force the series into a decider in Thiruvananthapuram. He made excellent use of four chances to launch New Zealand to 196 for 2 after they had opted to bat and though Virat Kohli made a vintage 65 in response, the rapidly rising scoreboard pressure was just too much to overcome.India were forced into a situation where they had to score more than two runs a ball in the last 10 overs. Even the best finishers struggle to maintain such a high pace for such a long time. Hardik Pandya, new to the role, fell for 1 and even an old hand like MS Dhoni never got going. At a stage when the asking rate was nudging 15, he was playing a run-a-ball innings, unable to hit Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi off their plan of attacking his pads.A better fielding effort could have helped the hosts as well. Bhuvneshwar Kumar dropped a very tough chance at deep midwicket – the kind where a player has to decide whether to take the catch or save a six. Munro was on 36 then. He gave a far simpler opportunity to Shreyas Iyer at long-on but the ball was parried the ball over the rope for six. A wayward throw from Rohit Sharma came to Munro’s rescue in the 12th over. And finally, on 79, he was dropped by Chahal running back from cover.Given so many lives, Munro capitalised. His batting is founded on a simple strategy: stay leg side of the ball and belt it and an easy-paced hit-through-the-line Rajkot pitch was right up his alley. He crunched seven sixes – all in the arc between deep midwicket and long-on. The carnage began when he welcomed Mohammed Siraj into international cricket with a punched four to the backward point boundary. Siraj then switched to slower offcutters, but Munro waited for those and carted a brace of sixes. By then New Zealand had passed their first fifty opening stand in the limited-overs tour of India.At the other end, Martin Guptill played a Jekyll-and-Hyde innings. He laboured to 14 off 22 balls against pace and hit 31 off 19 balls against spin. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar had shackled him with seam movement and bounce, but he broke free against Chahal, who oddly bowled into the batsman’s hitting arc. Guptill simply planted his front foot down and took the legspinner for three successive boundaries in his first over, including a signature loft that sailed into the sightscreen. Chahal, however, recovered to best Guptill for 45 with a front-of-the-hand flipper. Three overs later, Siraj had Kane Williamson holing out to deep square leg for 12.But even with six bowlers, India couldn’t stop Munro. Axar Patel and Pandya were also lined up and sent over the boundary. Munro reached his first fifty off just 26 balls – after Iyer’s drop – and brought up his second off 28 balls. This meant he joined Brendon McCullum – his former captain and someone he still seeks out for advice – in elite company. They, along with Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, are the only batsmen with two T20I tons.Munro had a job to do with the ball too. He introduced the world to his knuckle ball and snaffled a skier of a return catch to cut short Iyer’s innings at 23. The Mumbai batsman had added 54 for the third wicket with Kohli to give India hope after Trent Boult’s double-strike in his first over. The left-arm quick first burst through the gate of Shikhar Dhawan with a nip-backer and four balls later, he coaxed an outside edge from Rohit with extra bounce. When Pandya was fooled by a googly from Ish Sodhi for 1, India were reduced to 67 for 4 in the 10th over.The early wickets, however, did not bother Kohli. He forayed down the track and drilled Boult over his head. Then he targetted Santner and hit him for three boundaries in five balls, including a shovelled six over long-on. However, as the ball got older, it began to grip in the pitch and that brought Sodhi into the game big time. A peach of a legbreak in the 13th over very nearly had Dhoni stumped for 8.Spin continued being New Zealand’s trump card through the middle overs as they tied down one end which kept piling the pressure on Kohli at the other.An equation of 85 off 30 balls needed both batsmen to fire but try as Dhoni might, he couldn’t find his range. He came down the track but rarely got the leverage he was looking for. He nudged the ball into the deep to steal twos but the fielders were wise to that trick. He even swung right across the line but nothing worked. He was 28 off 28 at the end of the 18th over.To compensate for that, Kohli charged out to Santner and was caught behind. Boult then took over, picked up a couple more wickets and wrapped the game up with a career-best 4 for 34. He had recorded his worst ODI and T20I outings over the past week but found a way to raise his game when New Zealand needed it most.

England 278 for 6 (Duckett 63, Billings 62, Stokes 47*) beat Bangladesh 277 for 6 (Mushfiqur 67*, Sabbir 49, Imrul 46, Tamim 45, Rashid 4-43)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball updatesHold the pose and watch the ball disappear down the ground high into the crowd. Such was the perfect manner in which Chris Woakes settled a wonderful one-day series. Little speaks more highly of England than the fact they turned up in Bangladesh the first place but, having turned up, they fulfilled their aims on the field as they ended Bangladesh’s run of six successive series wins in ODIs on home soil.Bangladesh have an impressive lists of conquests to their name, but they have still not beaten England in a bilateral series, losing this one 2-1 as they went down in Chittagong by four wickets with seven balls to spare. Their 277 for 6 looked formidable on a slow pitch that turned substantially for Adil Rashid as he took ODI-best figures of 4 for 43. But the pitch quickened slightly as the dew fell, their finger spinners failed to find the same purchase and England met the run chase with imagination and maturity.When Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales withdrew from the Bangladesh tour because of safety concerns, England made it clear that there would be no retribution, while stressing that nothing could be taken entirely for granted: life has a habit of moving on was the gist from Andrew Strauss, MD of England cricket.Life has moved on, not enough to exclude them – Morgan will skipper on the ODI leg in India – but after this victory it will be enough for England to contemplate their deepening batting options with mounting excitement as they prepare to host the Champions Trophy and World Cup in forthcoming years. They won not just without Morgan and Hales, but without Joe Root and the injured Jason Roy, too, a first-choice top four whose absence was survived.Ben Duckett and Sam Billings, two batsmen to benefit from others’ absence, were prominent figures in England’s successful chase. Both lodged half-centuries that represented their best England ODI scores. Duckett’s, his second of the series, again built on a county season that brought him player-of-the-year recognition, while Billings played with zest as he capitalised on Jason Roy’s absence from the top of the order because of injury.Considering the shenanigans in the second match in Mirpur, after which the match referee doled out two fines and a reprimand, it was perhaps fortunate early in England’s run chase that it was Billings who collided with Mashrafe Mortaza, the bowler, who wandered into his path as he sought a second run. Some well-modulated, polite protest sorted that one out. A swept six against Mashrafe announced that he was set and the shot continued to sustain him until, on 62, it also brought his downfall when he top-edged Mosaddek Hossain to deep square.Billings has dash; Duckett scores quickly without you entirely noticing. He is an inventive cricketer, able to expose the field with a mix of sweeps, ramps and inside-out drives; a stout batsman with a permanently puzzled expression that might have been sketched for Toy Story. In one-day cricket, perhaps in Tests too, he can become a favourite. He perished to a ramp shot against Shafiul Islam, an alert keeper’s catch for Mushfiqur Rahim.With James Vince having fallen lbw in Nasir Hossain’s first over and Bairstow bowled by Shafiul, misjudging the length as he tried to pull, England were 99 short with 19 overs by the time Jos Buttler reached the crease. A slower ball from Mashrafe silenced him, then Moeen Ali chipped him feebly to mid-on. But Ben Stokes played with restraint and, only when Woakes was put down by Imrul Kayes at first slip off Taskin Ahmed – a head-high catch with 21 needed from 21 balls – did England feel that momentum was with them.Ben Stokes eased any tension towards the end of England’s chase•Getty Images

Perhaps influenced by the heated exchanges in Mirpur, even if only sub consciously, England had recalled Liam Plunkett, their most aggressive fast bowler, as a mid-innings enforcer. It was the wrong call. The Chittagong pitch was so slow that it was no time to be The Enforcer – even Dirty Harry would have taken the day off – but it turned from the outset. Liam Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder, must have rued a missed opportunity to bowl his left-arm spinner on a surface like this.Fortunately for England, Rashid had the sort of day when the heavens bestowed kindness upon him. Two long hops and a full toss accounted for three of his wickets and, on each occasion, his raised index finger looked like an exercise in positive thinking rather than a gesture of unadulterated triumph. But he turned the ball bigger than anybody and that contributed to his sense of threat, enough to take the Man-of-the-Match award. And he is England’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs this year.By the time that England had dispensed with the openers, Imrul and Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh would have felt quite settled at 106 for 2 in the 23rd over. Tamim became the first Bangladesh batsman to reach 5,000 ODI runs with a collector’s item – swatting a bouncer from Woakes in front of square. But reputations shift and it was the wicket of Imrul that England most hankered after, illustrated by a wasted review when he was 31 as they searched unsuccessfully for a hint of glove as he reverse swept Moeen. Stokes broke the stand, Imrul clipping him to square leg.Rashid then took four of the next five wickets to fall, repeatedly stymieing Bangladesh’s ambitions. Tamim, reaching for a short ball, got it as far as Vince at cover; Mahmudullah hit another long hop in the same direction. Sabbir Rahman, at least, received the high-class kill his sprightly innings deserved as Butter held an edge off a fierce leg break. Nasir Hossain was Rashid’s last victim, this time courtesy of a full toss sinking faster than the pound.Moeen wicket also possessed fortune as he defeated the left-hander, Shakib Al Hasan, on the outside edge and was stumped by Buttler who inadvertently flapped the ball onto the stumps and was fortunate that the bails fell off before he crashed his gloves into the timber.Bangladesh held their nerve as 10 overs elapsed without a boundary and by the end of the innings Mosaddek and Mushfiqur had been rewarded with an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 85 in 12 overs.Mushfiqur’s unbeaten 67 from 62 balls was his first half-century in 21 knocks, with England blowing two good chances to remove him. He might have been run out on 26 when Mosaddek sent him back but Bairstow missed. Then on 44 he struck Woakes down the ground but Stokes, having made good ground for the catch, had four bites before putting it down. With a bat in his hand, and a series to win, Stokes was to allow no such liberties.