ABU DHABI: England raced to a second successive victory at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup with a ruthless eight-wicket drubbing of Bangladesh on Wednesday in the two nations’ first ever meeting in the format.

Opening batter Jason Roy marked his 50th T20 appearance by smashing 61 off 38 balls as England romped to their victory target of 125 in 14.1 overs in the Super 12 clash at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Roy reached his seventh T20 half-century with a straight six and put on a key second-wicket partnership of 73 with Dawid Malan, who made an unbeaten 28.

Left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills took three wickets to combine with spinners Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone to restrict Bangladesh to 124-9.

England, the world’s number one-ranked T20 team, top Group 1 with two big wins after a six-wicket thrashing of holders West Indies in their opening tie.

Read more: England have all bases covered to win T20 World Cup, says Vaughan

Roy said England’s loss to Bangladesh in the 2015 50-over World Cup knocked them out of that tournament but helped build a strong bond between the players and change their brand of cricket.

“Our camp has been together since 2015 like,” he said. “We’ve created bonds outside of cricket and on the field, which I think plays a huge part in travelling the world and playing good cricket.”

Bangladesh, beaten in their opening Super 12 match by Sri Lanka, lost regular wickets after electing to bat first.

After giving away 10 runs in the opening over of the innings, Moeen hit back to be on a hat-trick in his second over, only to be denied by Mushfiqur Rahim, who top-scored with 29.

Spinner Moeen had Liton Das (9) caught at deep square leg and then sent back Mohammad Naim (5) trudging back to the pavilion.

Bangladesh found themselves in trouble at 26-3 when Chris Woakes claimed Shakib Al Hasan’s key scalp for four with Adil Rashid taking a good catch running backwards.

Mushfiqur and skipper Mahmudullah (19), tried to repair the damage in a 37-run partnership before Livingstone broke through.

Livingstone trapped Mushfiqur lbw, but England had to use the umpire referral to have the decision in their favour after the on-field official ruled it not out.

Bangladesh kept faltering as a run-out cost Afif Hossain (5) his wicket and Mahmudullah departed soon after with Livingstone getting his second wicket.

“Definitely, we were disappointed with the batting, it was a good wicket but we didn’t start well and didn’t have any partnerships in the middle either,” said Mahmudullah. “We are more skilled hitters than power hitters. We need to reassess and come up with a good plan.”

Nasum Ahmed hit an unbeaten 19 off nine balls to give the Bangladesh total some respect as he smashed Rashid for two sixes and a four in the 19th over.

But the effort remained well below par with the England batsmen having little trouble in their batting reply despite Jos Buttler’s wicket for 18.

Roy smashed five fours and three sixes in his attacking knock that took the steam out of the Bangladesh bowling.

Malan, playing in his first T20 World Cup match, got useful batting time after the left-hander did not get a chance to bat in the first match.

Jonny Bairstow hit the winning boundary in his unbeaten eight.

Malan, who did not bat in the first match, got useful batting time Both teams took the knee before the start of the game with much focus on the anti-racism gesture after South Africa’s Quinton de Kock pulled out of a match against West Indies on Tuesday because he refused to obey the national cricket board’s orders.

Roy said: “Our team is extremely diverse with people from all over the world. It’s only right that we support that and we support what they are going through.”

Meanwhile,Bangladesh all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin was forced out of the tournament due to a back injury and was replaced by pacer Rubel Hossain in the squad.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH:

Liton Das c Livingstone b Moeen 9

Mohammad Naim c Woakes b Moeen 5

Shakib Al Hasan c Rashid b Woakes 4

Mushfiqur Rahim lbw b Livingstone 29

Mahmudullah c Woakes b Livingstone 19

Afif Hossain run out 5

Nurul Hasan c Buttler b Mills 16

Mahedi Hasan c Woakes b Mills 11

Nasum Ahmed not out 19

Mustafizur Rahman b Mills 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-5) 7

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 124

FALL OF WKTS: 1-14 (Liton, 2.2 ov), 2-14 (Naim, 2.3 ov), 3-26 (Shakib, 5.2 ov), 4-63 (Mushfiqur, 10.4 ov), 5-73 (Afif Hossain, 12.4 ov), 6-83 (Mahmudullah, 14.5 ov), 7-98 (Mahedi, 17.1 ov), 8-124 (Nurul, 19.5 ov), 124 (Mustafizur, 19.6 ov).

DID NOT BAT: Shoriful Islam.

BOWLING: Moeen Ali 3-0-18-2; Woakes 4-0-12-1; Adil Rashid 4-0-35-0; Jordan 2-0-15-0 (3w); Mills 4-0-27-3 (1w); Livingstone 3-0-15-2.

ENGLAND:

J.J. Roy c Nasum b Shoriful 61

J.C. Buttler c Naim b Nasum 18

D.J Malan not out 28

J.M. Bairstow not out 8

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-5) 11

TOTAL (for two wkts, 14.1 overs) 126

FALL OF WKTS: 1-39 (Buttler, 4.5 ov), 2-112 (Roy, 12.5 ov).

DID NOT BAT: E.J.G. Morgan, L.S. Livingstone, Moeen Ali, C.R. Woakes, C.J. Jordan, Adil Rashid, T.S. Mills.

BOWLING: Shakib Al Hasan 3-0-24-0 (2w); Mustafizur Rahman 3-0-23-0 (1w); Shoriful Islam 3.1-0-26-1 (1w); Nasum Ahmed 3-0-26-1; Mahedi Hasan 2-0-21-0 (1w).

RESULT: England won by eight wickets.

UMPIRES: N.N. Menon (India) and L. Rusere (Zimbabwe).

TV UMPIRE: R.J. Tucker (Australia).

MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Jason Roy (England).

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2021