Bangladesh’s Mashrafe Mortaza, right, is embraced by teammate Taskin Ahmed as he celebrates after taking the wicket of England’s Joe Root
England’s forgettable World Cup is all but over after a 15-run loss to a Bangladesh lineup destined to become stars in their homeland after reaching the quarterfinals for the first time.
As the Bangladesh players joined in a wild on-field celebration yesterday, the English batsmen made a somber exit after slipping out of contention with a pool match still to play.
England’s only win in five matches so far at this World Cup was against second-tier Scotland.
Rubel Hossain claimed four wickets for Bangladesh after Mahmudullah posted the team’s first World Cup century in a competitive, but achievable, 275-7 total.
Mahmudullah scored 103 in a defiant 141-run stand with half century-maker Mushfiqur Rahim to lead Bangladesh back from a disastrous start when it slumped to 8-2 after losing the toss and being sent in to bat at the Adelaide Oval.
“I wasn’t thinking too much,” Mahmudullah said. “I was having a good time in the middle, I just wanted to bat.”
England was all out for 260 in 48.3 overs, with Hossain (4-53) taking two wickets in three balls to finish it off.
It was a tense and dramatic finish for both teams, with the required run-rate staying around 10 per over and Tamim Iqbal dropping a catch deep in the outfield in the 48th over to give Chris Woakes a big reprieve, leaving England seemingly in the box seat and needing 20 runs from 15 balls. But with only two wickets in hand, England failed again.
“Pretty poor to be knocked out this early from a World Cup,” England captain Eoin Morgan said. “Unbelievably disappointing.
“I am gutted at the moment. Our expectations were higher than the way we performed, so it is obviously disappointing. No idea what will happen from here. Again, there will be an inquest over the next few weeks to see what went wrong.”
Mahmudullah said Bangladesh played with a winning mentality, despite posting a total it considered well below a par score for the venue.
“We thought we were about 15-20 runs short initially, but we thought that if we got early wickets, then we were in with a chance,” he said. “For us this victory is really special. … The way Rubel bowled those last two balls, was just something really special.”
England needed to beat Bangladesh and then Afghanistan in its last two pool matches to have any chance of reaching the quarterfinals. AP
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