England v Bangladesh: Red-faced Strauss's demand for rapid response

NATWEST SERIES

Andrew Strauss wants to draw an immediate line under Saturday's landmark defeat to Bangladesh.

The Tigers completed their first victory over England, by just five runs, in a thrilling finish at Bristol to complete a full house of victories over the other Test-playing nations.

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Such a result had looked unlikely at the start of play, with the tourists stripped of injured pair Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan and without a win in 2010.

By halfway, their chances were not reckoned to have improved greatly, having posted a moderate 236-7, but a combination of gutsy bowling and loose batting saw England rolled over for 231 with three balls remaining.

The result tied the NatWest Series at 1-1 and, with the decider being played at Edgbaston today, Strauss wants his red-faced side to swiftly move on from defeat and diagnose the areas they can improve.

"Bangladesh thoroughly deserved to win. They were going to beat us at some stage and we were just hoping it would be some stage in the future," he said.

"But that has been and gone now.

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"I wouldn't have thought we were complacent but at the same time we have to ask ourselves why.

"Was it just one of those days? Did we prepare well enough? Were we clear enough in what we were trying to do on that wicket? Did we have a hand in our own dismissals? If we did, we need to learn from that.

"We've got to ask ourselves whether it was just good bowling or if we should have played much better.

"With the 11 we had on the park, we had enough to win this game of cricket. We were 10, 15, even 20 per cent off what we should have been out there."

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A contributing factor to England's travails was the loss of Ian Bell with a fractured metatarsal after only 10 overs in the field.

He went to hospital and returned to the ground walking gingerly with the aid of crutches.

As England's collapse unfolded it became apparent that Bell would be needed to bat if possible and he eventually hobbled to the crease with a runner with six balls remaining.

He was in obvious pain just coming down the steps of the pavilion but his efforts were in vain as Jonathan Trott fell three balls from the end with six runs still needed.

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Explaining the decision over Bell, Strauss added: "We had no particular plan to use him unless we had 10 or 15 runs to get.

"Anything more than that wouldn't have made much sense.

"As it was – one over left with Trott on strike – it seemed pretty low risk for him to go out there and stand at square leg.

"We were conscious that we didn't want to exacerbate the injury but we were very keen to win the game.

"We spoke to him about what he felt, asked if he could play some shots, and he was very keen to get out there."

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Bell is likely to be out for at least six weeks and England responded by calling up Ravi Bopara, whose last one-day international cap came in the Champions Trophy last September.

Despite the deflating denouement in Bristol, and the flat ending to the series triumph over Australia that preceded it, Strauss remains upbeat about England's one-day prospects.

"We lost the last two against Australia and now we've lost this one but I'm still very happy in this one-day set-up. We're still very, very buoyant as a group of players but you need to learn from your mistakes. There are a few to learn from here."

Bopara was given permission to play for Essex in yesterday's Friends Provident t20 match before linking up with the squad. He has not made a half-century in the 50-over format since November, 2008.

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He was, though, part of the victorious ICC World Twenty20 campaign, playing one match when Kevin Pietersen flew home for the birth of his first child.

England have benefited from the performances of recalled players with something to prove in this series, with an unbeaten 84 from Bell seeing them home in the opener and Trott almost sparing their blushes with 94 on his comeback on Saturday.

Now Bopara has a chance to join them and, with Bell set to miss the forthcoming Pakistan series, press his Test claims too.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza admitted his dressing room was a happier place after their first win in 247 days.

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"After 24 matches losing in a row, this dressing room had not really been happy," he said. "It is happy now. We have been working hard in the nets and we hoped that it would come."

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons admitted it had been difficult to keep motivating the team. As such, to beat England, whom Siddons believes are currently the world's best team, underlined the magnitude of victory.

"We try and get better all the time," he said. "It's hard to keep getting beaten and keep getting them up. Now I think they realise they can beat anyone."

"To beat England at home with all their preparation for the Ashes, it's a brilliant win. We'll definitely keep doing the right things and do what we did today and do them well."

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Today's teams – England (from): A Strauss (capt), J Anderson, R Bopara, T Bresnan; S Broad; P Collingwood; C Kieswetter (wkt), E Morgan, A Shahzad, J Tredwell, J Trott, L Wright, M Yardy.

Bangladesh (from): M Mortaza (c), S Al-Hasan (vc), A Razzak, F Hossain, I Kayes, J Islam (wkt), J Siddique, Mahmudullah, N Hossain, R Hossain, S Islam, S Rasel, T Iqbal, M Ashraful, N Islam, S Hossain.

Umpires: R Kettlebrough, A Rauf (Pak).

England v Bangladesh

Bristol: Bangladesh won by 5 runs.

Bangladesh

Iqbal c Kieswetter b Shahzad 18

Kayes c Collingwood b Shahzad 76

Siddique c Kieswetter b Broad 21

Islam c Kieswetter b Shahzad 40

Shakib Al Hasan b Collingwood 1

Mohammad Ashraful run out 14

Mahmudullah not out 24

Mashrafe Mortaza run out 22

Abdur Razzak not out 1

Extras lb4 w12 nb3 19

Total 7 wkts (50 overs) 236

Fall: 1-19 2-65 3-148 4-149 5-174 6-196 7-233

Did not bat: Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam.

Bowling: Anderson 9 0 46 0; Shahzad 10 0 41 3; Broad 10 0 60 1; L J Wright 6 0 30 0; Yardy 10 0 39 0; Collingwood 5 0 16 1.

England

A J Strauss c Jahurul Islam b Rubel 33

C Kieswetter c Jahurul Islam b Rubel 20

I J L Trott c Jahurul Islam b Shafiul Islam 94

P D Collingwood lbw b Abdur Razzak 10

E J G Morgan lbw b Abdur Razzak 1

M H Yardy b Shakib Al Hasan 10

L J Wright c Siddique b Shafiul Islam 15

A Shahzad b Shakib Al Hasan 5

S C J Broad c Shakib Al Hasan b Mashrafe 21

J M Anderson c & b Mashrafe 2

I R Bell not out 0

Extras lb7 w13 20

Total (49.3 overs) 231

Fall: 1-49 2-58 3-86 4-90 5-115 6-146 7-166 8-209 9-227

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Bowling: Mashrafe Mortaza 10 0 42 2; Abdur Razzak 10 0 43 2; Shafiul Islam 9.3 3 38 2; Rubel Hossain 9 0 52 2; Shakib Al Hasan 10 0 40 2; Mohammad Ashraful 1 0 9 0.

Key Bangladesh triumphs

Bangladesh have now beaten every Test-playing nation at least once.

1986: Bangladesh play their first one-day international, losing by seven wickets against Pakistan in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

1998: Claim first ODI win – beating Kenya by six wickets in India.

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1999: At the World Cup in England, Bangladesh claim first win against a Test-playing nation, beating Pakistan by 62 runs.

2000: Gain Test-playing status. First Test against India in November – a nine-wicket defeat in Dhaka.

2004: Beat India in a one-day international by 15 runs in Dhaka.

2005: Claim first Test win, against Zimbabwe. A drawn second Test means they win the series. Swiftly followed by a first one-day series win, beating Zimbabwe 3-2. Also beat Australia by five wickets in Cardiff.

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2006: Play first Twenty20 international, beating Zimbabwe by 43 runs.

2009: Claim whitewash in two-Test away series against West Indies.

2010: Beat England by five runs in Bristol, ending the final unbeaten record by a Test-playing nation against the Tigers which had stood at 20.

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