England avoid World Cup humiliation

ENGLAND averted a possible World Cup humiliation by scraping to an unconvincing six-wicket win over Bangladesh to retain a tenuous hold on their hopes of progressing further in the tournament.

Successive defeats by Sri Lanka and Australia left England needing to win their remaining three matches to have any hope of qualifying for the semi-finals.

They had hoped to make a statement and show the rest of the tournament they could emerge as challengers after all by overcoming Bangladesh, the weakest of the Test teams still remaining in the competition.

But instead of producing a confident display to give South Africa, their opponents next Tuesday plenty to think about they just about edged home after a nervy chase of Bangladesh’s modest 143.

It took the composure of Paul Collingwood and Paul Nixon to finally see England home with 5.1 overs remaining.

England looked to have done all the hard work by dismissing Bangladesh for a modest total after they struggled to cope with the extra pace and bounce offered by the pitch.

But a stubborn 47-run stand between impressive all-rounder Saqibul Hasan, who top-scored with an unbeaten 57, and Mashrafe Mortaza halted the slide and allowed Bangladesh to recover and reach a more respectable total.

England’s cause was not helped by Ian Bell falling for a duck in the fourth over of their reply while captain Vaughan’s struggles with the bat continued despite top-scoring with a scratchy 30 off 59 balls.

He had hit only 12 runs in his previous four innings in the tournament and was dropped on five off left-arm seamer Syed Rasel by wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim standing up to the stumps.

Vaughan was also given the benefit of the doubt of two early lbw appeals by Rasel and scratched around until the 21st over before top-edging an attempted slog sweep off left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq.

The composure of Collingwood, who finished unbeaten on 23 from 74 balls, and the big-hitting of Nixon ensured England’s collapse – they lost four wickets for 40 runs in 11 overs –was halted with their 37-run stand.

On paper their victory with 31 balls remaining reads like a comfortable triumph, but England will know just how close they came to suffering their first ever defeat to Bangladesh and how much work they have to do if they are to beat South Africa to reach the last four.