In the first one-day international of the three-match series between Bangladesh and England, the visitors emerged victorious, thanks to a crafty yet effortless century by the English batter Dawid Malan. Every time the Bangladeshi bowlers and fielders tried to gain control of the match, Malan seemed to answer with a boundary, easing the pressure on his team.
Despite the hosts putting up an underwhelming performance with the bat and accumulating just 209, their bowlers and fielders did a commendable job of picking up regular wickets, only to see Malan making the difference. The left-handed batter came in at the fall of the opener Jason Roy in the final ball of the over when the score was four and remained not out till the end to navigate his side home. Malan’s dominance was clear, with none of his teammates scoring over 26, and the highest partnership of the match being unbeaten 51 with Adil Rashid in the eighth wicket. Malan scored 114 off 145 balls, finishing the match with a boundary with eight balls to spare. The victory was befitting Malan’s red hot form, having scored a century and a half-century against South Africa in their three-match series last month.
Despite Malan’s heroics, England seemed to be in trouble as they lost half of their side for 103 in the 26th over when Will Jacks was caught by Afif Hossain at deep square leg off Mehidy Hasan scoring 26 off 31. Taijul and Mehidy did some early damages as they got rid off Philip Salt and James Vince for 12 and six, respectively.
Taskin Ahmed was the most impressive bowler under the trying condition and got the vital wicket of English skipper Jos Butler, who was caught at slip, but his figure of 26-1 in nine overs did not justify his effort on the wicket that aided him with some bounce. Moeen Ali was bowled for 14 off 32, and Chris Woaked was caught when a top edge off Taijul delivery was caught by Tamim Iqbal. However, Malan and Rashid made sure there were no more hiccups, and England won the match by three wickets.
Earlier in the day, after winning the toss, Bangladesh openers seemed to enjoy the extra pace and bounce of Jofra Archer and Woakes before Liton Das was adjudged leg before off the latter for seven when the score was 33 in the fifth over. Tamim was beaten by the pace of Mark Wood, fastest of the English pacers, for 23, but Najmul Hasan batted with ease and elegance. However, two senior batters Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan got out cheaply, scoring 16 and eight, respectively, reducing Bangladesh to 106. Another experienced player, Mahmudullah, gave good support to Najmul, but the latter slowed down a little bit, felt pressure, and ultimately perished scoring 58. Mahmudullah soon followed him with 31, leaving the team in a precarious condition of 162-6. Taskin and Taijul played a few shots to get the total past 200, but it always felt inadequate against the World Cup Champions of both ODI and T20.