Bangladesh suffers second straight loss in Super 12 stage after posting 124-9 as Mills (3-27), Moeen (2-18) and Livingstone (2-15) impress; England follow up their beating of the West Indies with another dominant display, hitting their goal of 14.1 overs
Jason Roy helped himself to 61 of 38 balls as England dominated the Group 1 clash against Bangladesh
Starter Jason Roy celebrated his 50th international game for Twenty20 with an overwhelming 61 of 38 balls as England clinched an eight-wicket victory in the Super 12 over Bangladesh in sultry Abu Dhabi.
Roy scored three sixes and five fours as Eoin Morgan’s team recorded their second convincing ICC T20 World Cup victory after beating the West Indies on Saturday.
The two teams have never met before in a T20 international and it will be an occasion Bangladesh will want to forget after a sloppy performance that leaves them with little hope of qualifying from Group 1 after two losses in as many matches.
A total of 124-9 never seemed to upset England, whose victory was based on an impressive bowling display led by Tymal Mills (3-27), Liam Livingstone (2-15) and Moeen Ali (2-18).
So it showed that the top-ranked T20 team on the planet went 126-2 in 14.1 overs: Dawid Malan, hitting in three, finished undefeated in 28 of 25 balls after posting 73 with Roy in eight overs.
Both teams knelt before the first ball in an anti-racist gesture, a day after South African Quinton De Kock refused to do so and subsequently withdrew from his team’s game against the West Indies.
Having chosen to hit, Bangladesh quickly found themselves in trouble, struggling 27-3 in the power play when Moeen knocked out starters Liton Das and Mohammad Naim on back-to-back balls.
Both grounds fell meekly: Das finished off a sweep after hitting a pair of limits in the first over of the game and Naim threw a single catch mid-game looking to hit the ground.
There was nothing simple about the third catch of the inning: Adil Rashid leaping and turning athletically with the short, thin leg to send Shakib Al Hasan back for just four, victim of a spliced jerk by Chris Woakes (1-12 in four overs).
The effort was almost enhanced by a flying Mills at the back point, but Mushfiqur Rahim (29), hit early on his hand by Woakes, survived to help rebuild the innings with Mahmudullah (19).
The pair added 37 of 5.2 overs only for Mushfiqur to drop lbw while attempting to reverse the sweep of Livingstone, the bowler who won the decision in the review.
Bangladesh gifted England a fifth spot with a horror start: Afif Hossain came up short by a distance after Tymal Mills caused confusion with a field error on the short and fine stretch.
Mahmudullah needed to hit innings but fell trying to force the pace, cutting Livingstone back to leave Bangladesh at 83-6 after 15 overs, his limit count at that point just seven fours.
Mills tightened the screw, scooping up the scalp of Mahedi Hasan (11) as he sought to get a slower ball, and the first six of innings didn’t come until the 19th when Nasum Ahmed (19th) twice threw Rashid over the rope of the side of the leg.
Nineteen runs came out, easily the most productive of the innings, but it was not repeated as Mills conceded just five in the last and collected two wickets from the last balls of the innings, which included 52 point balls in total. .
Roy, playing his 50th T20, cut the first ball of Shakib’s chase by four to set the tone for a positive starting position that produced 37 runs in the first four overs.
Jos Buttler (18 of 18) went down trying to force the issue, serving Nasum away with a back foot punch – the wicket brought in Dawid Malan at three after the southpaw fell in order against the West Indies.
England’s 50-1 return from the power play was nearly double that of Bangladesh and Roy pushed on, knocking Mahedi Hasan to the ground by four before cutting the next roulette installment to the limit.
Malan, not known for being a fast starter, hit two of his first four balls to the rope and England’s progress was so smooth that they reached 90-1 in 10 overs with little need to take risks.
The calculated blow was enough when Roy reached his 33-ball half century with a brutal six in a row off Nasum and followed up with another outrageous high, dismissing a Shoriful Islam gorilla with disdain for his thin leg.
By the time the Surrey hitter raised Shoriful to third man, the game was almost over and Jonny Bairstow finished the job with a four to the left arm.
England’s next Super 12 match will take place on Saturday, when they face Australia, live on Sky Sports Cricket starting at 2.30pm.
