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Untitled Document
 England limps to victory against Bangladesh
12th Apr 2007 13:04 IST
Agencies
England had almost dug its own grave before limping to the finishing line with four wickets in hand against Bangladesh in a low-scoring World Cup Super Eights match at Bridgetown in Barbados on Wednesday.
Set in to score a paltry 144 runs to keep their hopes alive for a semifinal berth, England had made a mess of the run-chase before an unbeaten stand by Paul Collingwood (23) and Paul Nixon (20) thwarted giant-killer Bangladesh's another sensational turnaround.
Nixon hit a four off Mashrafe Mortaza with five overs still to go and brought relief to England dressing room.
England next plays South Africa and West Indies and will have to win both to fancy any chances of a semifinal berth. Bangladesh's dream World Cup performance might not take them to the last four stage anymore but nevertheless, they have done themselves proud with their achievements.
But the never-say-die attitude of the young Bangladeshi side brought them right into the match. They played with a big heart and looked like the dictating team in the middle. Their dismal performance with the bat had no bearing as they bowled and fielded like tigers.
Bangladesh's army of left arm-spinners were upto the task again, choking the English batsmen whose over cautious approach in chasing a small total could have cost them dearly.
Abdur Razzak (2/30) and Mohammad Rafique (2/33) tightened the noose around England after Syed Rasel's tidy spell fetched two wickets.
England scored just 30 runs in their first 10 overs, losing the wicket of Ian Bell. Rasel completed his quota on the trot and kept things tight for England with his gentle and nagging seam bowling.
Rasel first took the wicket of Bell (0) whose tentative push went into the hands of Aftab Ahmed. After the lunch break, Rasel got Andrew Strauss leg before. Strauss (23 off 37 balls) and skipper Michael Vaughan took time to settle down but never really looked comfortable.
Vaughan chose the occasion to come back to form and took his time out in the middle only to leave England in a tricky position. Vaughan, who took 59 balls to score 30, mistimed a sweep and lobbed an easy catch to Habibul Bashar.
The hard hitting Kevin Pietersen was also caught in the spinning web, scoring 10 off 25 balls. He charged Razzak to break the shackles but found the fielder at mid-wicket. England 79/4 and looking in deep trouble.
Andrew Flintoff tried to hit his way out and looked to finish things in a hurry. His 23 runs came in 21 balls, which included three boundaries and one six.
Rafique bowled a beauty of an arm ball to rattle Flintoff's stumps and then got Ravi Bopara inside edge to his wicket with almost a similar delivery. Two wickets in Rafique's one over (32nd) gave Bangladesh a real chance of causing a turnaround.
With just 34 runs to win, Collingwood and Nixon, though edgy, stuck to the crease and score through pushes and nudges.
Bangladesh stepped up the attack and Rafique looked dangerous with every ball but the total was too small to defend at the end.
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