There must have been so many occasions as this game edged nervously towards a conclusion and English wickets continued to fall that Bangladesh thought it was destined to be theirs. Instead, it was Dawid Malan’s. In the year preceding the World Cup, every match becomes an audition, and Malan aced this one by producing a truly brilliant century to lead his team to victory in the first ODI of this three-match series.
His innings were marked by patience and, eventually, aggression, with a gap of 46 balls between boundaries at one point, followed by three in six as he accelerated after the refreshments break. It was almost solely due to the 35-year-calm-old’s analysis of the game situation – in which the only constant was the increasing amount of pressure on his shoulders – and ability to adapt to it that England had any chance of winning this match as it entered its final stages.
Nobody else on either side came within 50 runs of Malan’s final score of 114, and no other English player scored more than Will Jacks’ 26 runs in his first ODI. Bangladesh is a master of the low, sluggish Mirpur pitch, but they met their match here.
However, if not for their indiscipline, England would have won this match with relative ease. Taskin Ahmed’s threatening and compelling seam bowling was particularly noteworthy.
Several batters were guilty – Jason Roy fell foolishly in the opening over; Jos Buttler calmly and deliberately guided the ball straight to slip; for some reason Jacks attempted to clear the fielder at deep square leg and failed – but particularly damning is the extras count: Bangladesh’s bowlers conceded just three; England had leaked five by the end of the second over and eventually reached 26.
Taijul Islam beat Malan’s defenses and struck his pad in the 15th over, which the hosts will regret. The umpire ignored the loud appeal, and the inevitable review indicated the ball touched the leg stump. But not obviously enough to reverse the on-field decision. He was 32 years old at the time and never looked back.
Jofra Archer began the day with a wide, a no-ball, and a full toss. But he also exemplified England’s ensuing improvement. After conceding 12 runs from his first over, he conceded just 25 more runs from his remaining nine deliveries. Bangladesh’s scoreboard progressed slowly despite the presence of a lightning outfield. The type of surface that forces fielders to engage in fruitless pursuits . As any ball that evades them slides toward the boundary padding.
Their best batsman, Najmul Hossain Shanto, had a 14 ODI batting average. And they had only scored in one of his three prior innings.
But the rest of the top order fell short: Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mushfiqur Rahim got 7, 8 and 16 respectively – when Bangladesh last played here, against India last December, the same players scored 7, 8 and 12, and unlike on that occasion the lower order could not come to the rescue.
The home side’s total of 209 appeared a little short and left England a sober path to victory. If they could avoid unnecessary risk-taking and punish the poor deliveries. In the end, only one individual chose to follow this path, and that was sufficient.
