CARDIFF: Only a superlative bowling performance could have contained England’s explosive batting line-up and Bangladesh could not conjure one up in Saturday’s World Cup match in Cardiff, all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza was left to rue his decision to field as England posted their highest World Cup total of 386-6 built around Jason Roy’s blistering 153 off 121 balls.
The hosts, who had lost their last two World Cup matches against Bangladesh, then bowled out Bangladesh for 280 with Shakib alone offering significant resistance with a defiant 121.
“Yes, disappointed with the result, or the manner we actually bowled,” said the all-rounder, who conceded 71 runs without a wicket in his 10 overs of left-arm spin.
“I thought we bowled really, really well against South Africa and against New Zealand. We were expecting better in this match.”
For England, Jonny Bairstow (51) and Jos Buttler (64) also made breezy half-centuries.
“Obviously, England played brilliantly. Credit goes to their batsman. The way their openers started, and the way Buttler finished the innings was the turning-point of the match,” Shakib said after his team’s second defeat in three matches.
The 32-year-old said the only way Bangladesh could control England’s relentless onslaught was by getting regular wickets but that did not materialise.
“That’s been their pattern for the last two, three years,” he said of England’s free-flowing batting.
“They are not changing in this World Cup the way their approach was going for the last two-three years.
“So we knew that it’s always going to be tough for us. We knew that we had to take wickets in regular intervals in order to keep the momentum down, which we couldn’t do today. I think that’s why we lost the match.”
— Reuters
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