Bangladesh beaten easily

England opener Craig Kieswetter scored his maiden hundred as the visitors beat Bangladesh by 45 runs in the third and final match of the Beximco ODI Series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium here yesterday to wrap up the series 3-0.
Put in to bat, England posted a daunting total of 284 for five in fifty overs thanks to a 123-ball 107 from Kieswetter and a quickfire 32 from all-rounder Luke Wright.
Then paceman Tim Bresnan took four wickets for 28 as Bangladesh reached 239 runs for nine conceding a 45-run defeat. There were a couple of starts from the Bangladesh batsmen, but no one could convert those into big scores as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The highest 46 runs came from the bat of Aftab Ahmed.
It was a lacklustre performance from the Tigers all around. They were sloppy in fielding, dropped three easy catches, leaked a few more runs than they would have liked in the last ten overs and then gave their wickets away all too easily. However, they might argue that they were not helped by a glaring mistake from the umpire and a very crucial one at that of skipper Shakib Al Hasan.
Opener Craig Kieswetter, who made his debut in Dhaka in the first match, played the anchor role for England, occupying the crease for 47 overs. Captain Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood gave him company that laid the foundation for a launch in the slog overs. That slog came from last match's centurion Eoin Morgan and all-rounder Luke Wright. Morgan played a 29-ball 32 while Wright bludgeoned a 13-ball 32 as they plundered 107 runs in the last 10 overs to give Bangladesh a huge job.
The English cause was helped by some sloppy catching efforts by the hosts. Cook survived four runs before he was dismissed; courtesy of slack keeping from Mushfiqur Rahim, while Morgan was dropped twice in the outfield, Shakib had to bear the brunt of misfortune on all three occasions. Shakib got a wicket though conceding 45 runs, and bowling figures were the same for Sohrawardi Shuvo. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq was the most successful bowler with 2 for 40 while speedster Rubel Hossain's dreadful six overs went for 62.
Bangladesh made a stuttering start, losing opener Tamim Iqbal for nought. Tamim slashed hard at one outside his stumps and it flew down thirdman's throat to give debutant Ajmal Shahzad his first wicket in his first international over.
Imrul Kayes looked good and picked up three glorious boundaries before he went chasing a wide delivery from Tim Bresnan only to nick it to the slips.
Aftab, for the first time since returning to Bangladesh fold, showed a lot of resolve and application in his batting. He drove handsomely, pulled to perfection and as he grew in confidence did the delicate scoop to notch up his boundaries. His best shot was probably the uppercut through point with his feet off the ground that he hit against Liam Plunkett. Just as he was looking in the groove, dreadful running between the wickets brought his downfall, four short of what would have been a wonderful half-century.
Rahim, the man who had a big hand in that misfortune, batted with aplomb and hurried into his 40s before falling to a diving catch at deep midwicket. With the top four batsmen gone and 160 runs yet to get in 24 overs, Bangladesh pinned all their hopes on their skipper. And he was giving all the indications that he meant business as he kept rotating the strike, going at a run-a-ball. With Graeme Swann the only specialist spinner in the side, Cook resorted to Pietersen's part time spin to bring him success. And Pietersen brought him vital success by removing Shakib for which the former should be grateful to the umpire as the ball pitched way outside the off-stump and never headed for it. With Shakib gone at 162, Bangladesh's hopes of a victory were all but gone. The rest of the batting buckled fast under the pressure of the mounting required rate. Mahmudullah Riyad and Naeem Islam got a few runs too but nothing to rekindle the flickering flame. And Bangladesh's elusive one-day victory over England in one-day internationals remains so, at least for the next three months.