England set a massive target of 387 runs for Bangladesh in their third World Cup match held at the Cardiff on Saturday. In reply, as of filing this report at 9:05pm, the Team Tigers scored 87 losing 2 wickets after 17 overs. Shakib was batting on 45 and Mushfiq on 13. Earlier, winning the toss Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza invited England to bat first. The hosts amassed 386 for six, thanks to a 121-ball 153 by Jason Roy. Roy's century opening stand with Jonny Bairstow took the Three Lions past the 100-run mark inside 15 overs on the heels of a blistering start with only 15 runs in the first five overs but 86 in the next 10. Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza provided an unlikely breakthrough for the Tigers, aided by a sharp, low catch at cover by Mehidy Hasan Miraz to dismiss Bairstow (51 off 50 balls) in the 20th over. Joe Root (21 off 29) was the second to fall after 12 more overs, bowled out by Mohammad Saifuddin when England already crossed the 200-run mark.
Centurion Roy then hit three back-to-back sixes off Miraz in the 35th over taking his side to 235. He hit total 14 fours and five sixes. Miraz avenged immediately as Roy was caught by Mashrafe at extra cover after the batsman tried to go straight off a bit wider one. Jos Buttler scored a quickfire 64 off 44 with four sixes and two boundaries in a 95-run partnership with Captain Eoin Morgan (35 off 33) afterwards. The Tigers took the last three wickets in the last five overs as England batsmen tried to hit big shots to extend the total by the end but got caught. Liam Plunkett provided a nine-ball cameo of 27 while Chris Woakes scored 18 off eight in an unbeaten 45-run partnership. Bangladesh made a bright start to the match as Shakib Al Hasan, who opened the bowling with his left-arm spin alongside the medium pace of Mashrafe, restricted England to a quiet start. But the dangerous duo of Bairstow and Roy soon clicked into gear, scoring boundaries at will against a helpless Bangladeshi attack. Earlier, Mashrafe won the toss and opted to bowl first as his side looked to bounce back from a disappointing two-wicket loss against New Zealand at The Oval. The skipper hoped that his bowlers could draw some purchase off the wicket in the first hour of play, with the covers having remained on the pitch for the last two days. Bangladesh named an unchanged line-up, coming into the match looking for a third successive win in World Cup clashes against the Three Lions. England made one change to their line-up with fast-bowler Plunkett being included in place of Moeen Ali. The head-to-head record in ODI fixtures between the two sides has been one-sided with England winning 16 of the 20 previous encounters. But the picture is completely different in World Cup matches where the Tigers have claimed two of their four victories against the Three Lions. The run started with a thrilling two-wicket win at Chattogram in the 2011 World Cup.
The Tigers followed it up with an historic 15-run triumph against the current World Cup hosts to seal a berth in the knockout stages of the 2015 edition of the showpiece tournament at Adelaide.
England's only win at the World Cup against Bangladesh came in 2007.
Bangladesh XI: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahman (wk), Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Mustafizur Rahman.
England XI: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood.
