Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), Oct 10: Back with a vengeance after being humbled by Kiwis in their opening match, England put up 364/9 in 50 overs against Bangladesh at the HPCA Ground, here in the 7th match of the ODI world Cup on Tuesday. In reply, Bangladesh were 166/6 in 32.2 overs.
The highlight of the England's fireworks filled willow-show was opener Dawid Malan's 107-ball hurricane 140. Seasoned Johny Bairstow and Joe Root too hit half centuries.
Malan hit 16 boundaries and five huge sixes in his scintillating knock. His wicket was claimed by Mahedi Hasan, who clean bowled him.
Earlier, England were asked to bat first by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who perhaps wanted to give his bowlers the advantage of the morning bowling-friendly conditions. But England had other ideas, as the score-board depicted later.
The English men, who lost to Kiwis by a huge 9-wicket margin in the World Cup inaugural match, as expected, were ruthless in their approach on Tuesday. The 2019 ODI World Champions appeared to be on a mission to rattle the opposition.
On the contrary, despite a convincing 5-wicket victory against Afghanistan in their campaign opener, Bangladesh struggled to match Jos Buttler's men.
Attacking Johny Bairstow in his recent role as England's white-ball game opener, proved once gain why he is such a fearsome cricketer in any format of the game.
Bairstow departed after hitting 8 boundaries in his 59-ball innings, scoring 52. He was clean bowled by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan.
But Bairstow's opening partner Dawid Malan continued and hit a superb ton. With experienced Joe Root at the other end, the Malan-Root pair toyed with the Bangladesh attack on a batting-friendly paradise, here.
Root missed his chance to hit a century, being sent back by Shoriful Islam, caught by keeper Mushfiqur Rahim for 82 in 68 balls,
Later, trying to improvise, England skipper Jos Butler returned to pavilion scoring 20 runs (10 balls), clean bowled by Shoriful Islam again.
Danger-man Liam Livingstone continued to disappoint in 2023 World Cup once again. The spin-bowling all-rounder was bowled by Islam for a duck.
All-rounders duo Harry Brook (20) and Sam Curran (11) could not go on for long.
Among Bangladesh bowlers, Mahedi Hasan (4/71 in 8 overs) and Shoriful Islam (3/75 in 10 overs), were impressive..
