T20 World Cup: England show title credentials in win over Bangladesh

England's Jason Roy plays a shot during the match against Bangladesh (ANI)

Abu Dhabi - Eoin Morgan was delighted with the way his bowlers dominated the proceedings

Ashwani Kumar

Published: Wed 27 Oct 2021, 11:37 PM

Having hit a 38-ball 61 in England’s resounding eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in their Super 12 clash of the T20 World Cup, opener Jason Roy hailed the team’s bowlers for yet another outstanding performance.

Four days after leaving the West Indies batsmen in tatters, English bowlers delivered another superlative performance, restricting Bangladesh to 124 for nine in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

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“We bowled extremely well. Take nothing away from the bowlers,” Roy said after his man of the match performance.

“We took our catches and fielded and bowled really well. We got off to a great start with the bat and then just capitalised on a lower total.”

Electing to bat, Bangladesh batsmen never got going against an efficient battery of England bowlers on a good pitch at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. Pacer Tymal Mills (3 for 27) and spinners Liam Livingstone (2 for 15) and Moeen Ali (2 for 18) restricted Bangladesh to a modest score.

In reply, England reached home in just 14.1 overs, thanks to a 73-run second-wicket stand between Roy and Dawid Malan (28 not out).

“This is a very special match for us. We had to back up our last performance against West Indies. We came out firing again with the ball,” Roy said.

English bowlers never let any batsmen occupy the pitch for long.

Eoin Morgan was delighted with the way his bowlers dominated the proceedings.

“They (bowlers) have adapted to conditions really well, again today, very disciplined and backed up in the field with really good catching and ground fielding,” the England captain said. The reigning ODI world champions seem to have the perfect bowling combinations to launch a serious bid for the title on these slow pitches in UAE.

“It’s a huge compliment to how far our white-ball cricket, in general, has come along, a lot of players involved in the 2019 World Cup success and that’s lent itself to T20 cricket as well,” Morgan said.

Meanwhile, Mahmudullah was disappointed with the way the team batted.

“The wicket was very good to bat on. But we didn’t start well. We didn’t make any partnership,” Mahmudullah said.

While chasing, England batsmen were never under any pressure from the left-arm spinners. Roy started with a flurry of boundaries and Jos Buttler clobbered a six and a four as England raced to 37 from four overs. But left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed delivered a breakthrough with the scalp of Buttler (18). Roy was on a roll, though, as he hit Mahedi Hasan for a maximum and a four, and later danced down against Nasum to reach his 50 with a six.

But pacer Shoriful Islam got Roy (61) with Nasum taking a nice catch to end a 73-run partnership. Roy ended up with three sixes, one more than what Bangladesh managed in their innings.

Roy said facing a mix of left-arm bowlers was a ‘big test’.

“Today was a big test for me, obviously, with two left-arm spinners, two left-arm seamers, I had to use all the skills that I have learnt,” he said.

Morgan was delighted to see Roy in sparkling form.

“The way he (Roy) plays is so imposing. It’s great to see him in good touch,” said Morgan whose team will play old rivals Australia in their next game on Saturday.