Shakib Al Hasan inspires Bangladesh to 50-run win over England in third ODI

On what was billed as something of a road England and Bangladesh produced an encounter of multiple left turns, the anticipated runfest turning into something very different once the home side put the brakes on a high-octane start to England’s pursuit of 247 and the wickets started to fall. The dead end eventually came with just under seven overs to go, Bangladesh winning by 50 runs.

After racing to 50 without loss off 52 balls, fully 30 fewer than Bangladesh had taken to reach the same score, the wheels fell off almost instantly for England, and nine balls later it was 55 for three. Though James Vince and Sam Curran – promoted to bat at five – restored some stability with a partnership of 49, as the floodlights came on the sun gradually set on England’s chances. So badly did they struggle as night fell that there was only one boundary between the second ball of the 21st over and the last of the 40th, by which time their hopes were dwindling.

Bangladesh’s bowling was brilliantly precise, with Shakib Al Hasan outstanding with both bat and ball, collecting his 300th ODI wicket along the way, and Ebadot Hossain excelling on his first appearance of the series.

It was Shakib who started the collapse. Phil Salt had looked in fearsome touch, and after pulling Shakib for four in the seventh over and hitting Ebadot for two more boundaries in the next appeared to be finding top gear. But at the end of the ninth over he made clean contact with another Shakib delivery only to biff it straight to point, where Mahmadullah took an easy catch. Salt beat his bat in fury at the waste of a fine start, and he was not the last Englishman whose bat was to be beaten.

Shakib’s second wicket came in his next over, Jason Roy missing an attempted