Tymal Mills tears through Bangladesh, England need 125 to win

England

Tymal Mills took three wickets while Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone collected two apiece as another excellent effort from England’s bowlers in the T20 World Cup restricted Bangladesh to 124 for nine in Abu Dhabi.

England had blown away the West Indies for 55 in their tournament opener and, despite the overbearing heat at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, they stuck to their task manfully, allowing Bangladesh few chances to cut loose.

In this first T20 international between the teams, Moeen once again set the tone and removed openers Liton Das and Mohammad Naim while Chris Woakes yielded just 12 runs in four overs and chipped in with Shakib Al Hasan’s wicket.

The part-time spin of Livingstone accounted for veteran pair Mushfiqur Rahim (29) and captain Mahmudullah (19), and it was not until the penultimate over that Bangladesh injected some urgency into proceedings.

Adil Rashid was the most expensive of England’s bowlers, conceding 35 from his four overs, 17 of which came in his last after being clubbed for two leg-side sixes by number nine batter Nasum Ahmed, who made 19 off nine balls.

Tymal Mills finishes them off

They were the only two occasions Bangladesh managed to clear the ropes and Mills claimed back-to-back wickets at the end of the innings to finish as the pick of England’s bowlers with three for 27.

It could yet be a tricky chase for England, unchanged from their weekend win over the Windies.

Eoin Morgan’s side took the knee for a second successive game alongside their opponents after Bangladesh had won the toss.

Moeen was once again entrusted with the opening over after taking two for 17 against the Windies and he was soon in business here after conceding 10 in his opening over, with Liton twice skipping down the track to drive through the off side.

But as Liton continued to take the aggressive approach, his sweep took the top edge and boundary rider Livingstone took a steepler before fellow opener Mohammad Naim clothed to mid on from the next ball.

Moeen and Woakes shared the first six overs and the latter was in the wickets column just before the end of the powerplay when Shakib spliced a pull to short fine-leg, where Rashid took a supreme athletic catch running to his right.

Matters almost worsened for Bangladesh but Mills could not hang on to a difficult chance at backward point after a reverse sweep from Mushfiqur, who made the most of his let-off to lead his side into calmer waters.

A late cut off Chris Jordan took the edge for four while his anticipation of Mills’ short ball allowed the batter to uppercut over England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

With the seamers proving expensive, Livingstone’s mix-and-match spin was given an airing for the first time in the tournament and he ended Mushfiqur’s resistance for 29 off 30 balls.

A leg-break delivery thudded into the front pad after Mushfiqur made no contact with a reverse sweep and the original not out decision was overturned on review. That left Bangladesh on 63 for four after 11 overs.

Bangladesh were five down following a calamitous mix-up between Mahmudullah and Afif Hossain, who was sent back to the striker’s end coming back for a second following a misfield by Mills.

Mahmudullah attempted to take down Livingstone but only succeeded in slicing to backward point and Nasum provided Bangladesh with some impetus off Rashid, Mills was excellent at the death as he had Nurul Hasan caught behind on review before lighting up the stumps of Mustafizur Rahman.