ENGLAND SUFFER MAIDEN DEFEAT BY BANGLADESH

Rubel Hossain removed both England openers
By Oliver Brett
Bangladesh secured their first ever victory over England, winning by five runs in Bristol to level the three-match one-day series at 1-1.

An extraordinary contest was settled when England, needing 237 to win, were bowled out as Jonathan Trott fell for 94 off the third ball of the last over.

Ian Bell was at the other end, bravely batting with a broken foot.

Bangladesh's 236-7 had not looked nearly enough but a superb show with the ball ended a run of 14 ODI defeats.

The battered Bell had limped off the field during Bangladesh's innings after sustaining a freakish injury in a routine dive at square leg, and had been on crutches before coming out as England's last man, although in the end he did not face a ball.

Trott, playing only his fifth one-day international and first since November, was so nearly England's hero – although even if he had won the match at the death his achievement would have only served to mask a thoroughly lacklustre display by England in every department.

Trott batted well in a rare ODI outing, but badly lacked support

It would be churlish to take anything away from Bangladesh, however. They were forced to shuffle their squad at short notice when two batsmen succumbed to injuries in the series opener at Nottingham, and held their nerve admirably during a tense conclusion.

England, who first locked horns with Bangladesh in Nairobi in October 2000, had been the last remaining major cricketing side to remain unbeaten by the Tigers.

The record comes to an end after eight Tests and 12 one-day internationals had gone England's way.

When Ajmal Shahzad was bowled by Shakib Al Hasan in the 40th over of the chase, England were 166-7 in the 40th over and 71 runs were still needed. Bangladesh were clear favourites.

But the momentum briefly swung back England's way. New batsman Stuart Broad was not content to let the required run rate get any further out of hand, and one huge six from him off Rubel Hossain left 36 wanted from the last five.

Bangladesh hit back. Broad (21) speared the first ball of the 47th over to point and Trott struggled to hit boundaries for a while, leaving himself and James Anderson needing 23 from the final 12 balls.

Trott, who had played with utmost patience for so long, was forced to up the ante. Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza saw his second ball, a perfect yorker, deflected down to fine-leg for four and the third was beautifully driven down the ground for four.

When Anderson was then caught off the final ball of the over, Bell had to hobble to the crease with Eoin Morgan as his runner, and 10 wanted off the last six balls.

Shafiul Islam leads the celebrations for Bangladesh in Bristol

In the event, Bell did not need to face a ball.
Trott crashed each of the first two balls, bowled by Shafiul Islam, for two. But the third was a slower ball which he could only edge to wicketkeeper Jahurul Islam, and Bangladesh could finally celebrate a famous win.

The last hour had produced a wonderfully thrilling finish, although the match as a whole had provided fairly dire fare for much of its life.

England should be good at chasing by now – this was the eighth ODI in succession in which they had found themselves batting second, and they had won five of the previous seven – but neither of the two openers was able to get past the 10th over.

Strauss played some lovely shots in reaching 33 from 36 balls before trying to be a bit too cute against the seam of Rubel only to knock a catch off the face of the bat to Jahurul behind the stumps.

Craig Kieswetter went soon afterwards. He had raced to 20 from 17 balls but a loose drive was snicked to Jahurul and Hossain, a skiddy seam bowler and a tactical replacement for the slow left-armer Faisal Hossain, joyously celebrated again.

He could have added Paul Collingwood to his tally from the very next ball but a raucous appeal for yet another catch at the wicket was declined by umpire Richard Illingworth despite evidence of an audible nick.

England had to regroup fast, but Collingwood only made 10 before falling lbw to Abdur Razzak and Eoin Morgan departed the same way for just one.

When Michael Yardy (10) was bowled by Shakib Al Hasan playing across the line England were 115-5 in the 26th over and in serious trouble.

Trott desperately needed a partner to help him nurse the team somewhere towards their target, but Luke Wright (15) endured another poor day in England colours and was unable to be that man, edging Shafiul Islam to slip.

Having weathered a nervous patch in the field, and an exploratory over from Mohammad Ashraful in which he was hit for a six by Wright, Bangladesh now circled for the kill as the required rate ballooned past six an over – and despite the best efforts of Trott, and for a while Broad, it was to be their day.

England had freshened up their side, resting Tim Bresnan and James Tredwell. That allowed them to give Yorkshire seamer Shahzad and Trott, who hit 226 against Bangladesh in the first Test of the summer, an outing.

The resultant shape provided greater depth in the batting than normal, and that was just as well for England once Bell had limped off the field after sustaining a freakish injury in a routine dive at square leg.

The hosts began accurately enough with the ball, keeping the usually explosive Tamim Iqbal at bay.

Bangladesh celebrate as Eoin Morgan is dismissed cheaply

And when he was well caught by a diving Kieswetter behind the stumps off a Shahzad delivery that left him a fraction, one always sensed England would be able to keep Bangladesh to a modest total.

But the home side did not make their life as easy as it might have been. For all his intelligent use of both the old and new ball, Shahzad betrayed plenty of uncertainty in the field.

He put down Imrul Kayes in the seventh over for only six in the unusual position of short third man and four overs later completely misjudged a second chance at third man. They were costly misses, as Kayes went on to make 76.

Two drops by Wright later in the innings were more forgivable since both were extremely tough chances, although on a day when England's ground fielding was generally far from its best those errors compounded a sloppy overall performance.

Kayes batted with no great tempo nor acceleration to an innings which lasted into the 44th over – and that caused problems for a Bangladesh line-up weakened by the absence through injury of two of their better batsmen, Raqibul Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim.

Kayes put on 83 with Jahurul in by far the biggest stand of the match – though it was Bangladesh's accurate display with the ball that brought them their hugely important victory.