{"id":19143,"date":"2023-03-12T15:25:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-12T15:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/12\/mehidy-shines-as-bangladesh-clinch-second-t20-and-series-against-england\/"},"modified":"2023-03-12T15:25:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T15:25:33","slug":"mehidy-shines-as-bangladesh-clinch-second-t20-and-series-against-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/12\/mehidy-shines-as-bangladesh-clinch-second-t20-and-series-against-england\/","title":{"rendered":"Mehidy shines as Bangladesh clinch second T20 and series against England"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A lopsided, unbalanced England team, chosen for the experience they might gain as much as the success they might bring, was toppled by Bangladesh for the second time in four days. The home side revelled in familiar conditions and won the second Twenty20 match by four wickets. With victory the home side won the series with a game to spare.<\/p>\n

With Rehan Ahmed making another debut \u2013 and taking a wicket with his second delivery \u2013 England produced glimpses of the spirit and quality that carried them to the T20 World Cup only months ago. There was a particularly uplifting bowling performance from Jofra Archer, and Afif Hossain\u2019s bail was to be particularly uplifted after Archer bowled him so emphatically that it flew, flashing red in the dark-night sky, nearly to the boundary. That was a very literal highlight of an evening that, from an England perspective, had few.<\/p>\n

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But even during a spirited performance in the field, which kept England in with a chance of defending a bantamweight score of 117 until the 19th over, there were signs of the same issues that undermined their display with the bat.<\/p>\n

Although two batters have been forced from the squad through injury neither was replaced, leaving it and the team wildly bowler-heavy. As a result there were so many bowling options on the field that Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan got only one over each, with the latter coming in cold to bowl at the death and duly leaking boundaries as Bangladesh wrapped it up with seven balls to spare.<\/p>\n

Jos Buttler insisted he had no regrets about the failure to add a batter to the group. \u201cIt\u2019s a different balance and a different feel to the team,\u201d said the captain. \u201cIt felt like a great chance to expose the all-rounders\u2019 batting, maybe one spot higher than in our normal team. There\u2019s a few players who\u2019ve opted not to be here anyway for various reasons so it felt like instead of calling someone else up, [we should] try to use the guys who would be exposed to these conditions in the 50-over World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Career-best bowling figures for Mehidy Hasan Miraz and another excellent innings from Najmul Hossain Shanto, who added an unbeaten 46 to the three half\u2011centuries he has scored in five games against England over the past fortnight, powered Bangladesh to victory.<\/p>\n

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<\/svg><\/span>Bangladesh\u2019s Shakib Al Hasan celebrates after taking the wicket of England\u2019s Phil Salt.<\/span> Photograph: Adnan Abidi\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite losing the toss again, bringing to 10 the number of games played by England\u2019s men in all formats this calendar year without a single successful coin-flip, England\u2019s day had started promisingly enough. Buttler relegated himself to No 4 in the cause of further experimentation \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m very comfortable batting anywhere in the order, I just felt like it would be an opportunity to try something different,\u201d he explained \u2013 starting with Phil Salt and Dawid Malan and sending in Moeen Ali when the latter, a fellow left-hander, fell in the third over. But Salt and Moeen settled well and at the end of the powerplay England were 50 for one, the innings ripe with promise.<\/p>\n

It was not to last and, by the time they had doubled that score, 11 more overs had gone, as well as six more batters. Only Salt, who reached 25 off 19 before backing away to give himself room to slap a Shakib Al Hasan delivery straight back to the bowler at an undroppable height, and Ben Duckett, with 28 off 28, scored more than 15 runs, and only the latter faced more than 20 deliveries. Buttler\u2019s dismissal for just six, courtesy of Hasan Mahmud\u2019s superb yorker, felt decisive and was celebrated as such.<\/p>\n

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