England suffer first T20 whitewash since 2016 after defeat by Bangladesh

Bangladesh inflicted on England the world champions’ first T20 series whitewash since 2016 with victory by 16 runs in the final game, exacting fitting punishment for the tourists’ chaotic and error-strewn performance.

It was particularly memorable for Ben Duckett – guilty of two boundary-assisting misfields, one terrible drop and, finally, of running out Jos Buttler – and also for Litton Das whose 73 off 57 balls set up Bangladesh’s winning total of 158.

As in the first game of this tour, at the same venue a fortnight ago, England were so sloppy in the field it practically amounted to self-sabotage. Halfway through Bangladesh’s innings they had already banked eight runs in extras, about the same in misfields and benefited from one drop. There was more to come.

That first drop represented Rehan Ahmed’s first genuine howler since his promotion to the side, Rony Talukdar’s top-edge giving him time to take his position, set himself, extend his hands but he completely misjudged the flight of the ball, barely brushing it with his fingertips as it fell to earth. Jofra Archer, the bowler, held his head in his hands: it was the last over of the powerplay, Rony was on 17, his team 43 without loss, and England in increasingly desperate need of encouragement.

Though a breakthrough came two overs later, almost inevitably off the bowling of Adil Rashid, who found Rony’s top edge as he attempted a reverse sweep and collected a gentle return catch, the momentum remained unchanged. Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto batted without inhibition and in a single Ahmed over Das reached his half-century, off 41 balls, and a mighty Shanto six over cow corner brought up the 50 partnership off 33. Das celebrated by lifting the next ball to extra cover