England romp to eight-wicket win
England 126 for 2 (Roy 61) beat Bangladesh 124 for 9 (Mills 3-27, Livingstone 2-15, Moeen 2-18) by eight wickets
35 Number of balls remaining in England's one-sided win
Jonny Bairstow rocks back to smoke the winning runs through midwicket, and England are two from two with an astronomical net run-rate. Dawid Malan nudges along to 28 not out from 25, doing the needful to put a one-sided match to bed.
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Roy on the rampage for England
Ten overs gone at Abu Dhabi, and so too has the match for Bangladesh. England need another 35 runs from 60 balls, and with Roy unbeaten on 44 from 28, you doubt they'll need quite that many. He has five fours and a six to his name so far, while Dawid Malan - unused against West Indies as England chased a net-run-rate boost - is looking serene in his first World Cup innings, on 17 not out from 14.
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Buttler, Roy get England chase up and running
18 The number of balls England need to out-score Bangladesh in the Powerplay
A step to the pitch and a smash for six down the ground from Jos Buttler rather indicates where this game is heading. In the space of three overs, England have posted 28 runs, which is more than the 27 for 3 that Bangladesh made in their six-over Powerplay. Jason Roy set the tone with a first-ball four off Shakib. This one looks like ending briskly.
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Bangladesh restricted to 124 for 9
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Brilliant from Mills... epitomised by the two extremes of his repertoire with which he wraps up the innings. A sharp bouncer brushes the glove and extracts the wicket of Nurul on review; then a slow loopy yorker burrows through Mustafizur's defences to knock back his leg stump. 124 for 9 is the upshot. England are in a fine place to make it two from two...
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Slowly does it for Mills, as Nasum picks up pace
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He's quite the operator at the death. And despite the threat he can pose with his 90mph offerings, it's a diet of slower balls from Tymal Mills that leave Bangladesh in a fankle with two overs to go. Mehedi Hasan tried to get lively with a brace of fours in his 10-ball 11, but in seeking a third via a scoop over fine leg, he failed to pick the back-of-the-hander, and lobbed the simplest of chances to Woakes at short backward square. Woakes couldn't quite reach a tougher chance three balls later as Nasum top-edged the short ball, Mills closed out his over with more slowies, outside the left-hander's eyeline.
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But at least Nasum had more joy in leaving a dent on Adil Rashid's figures, including with Bangladesh's first two sixes of the innings, both hoisted with premeditated intent high over backward square. A cut for four makes it 17 off the over. They'll need more of that to post a defendable total.
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Mahmudullah to the rescue? Oh ...
Shiva, our real-life Statsguru, has this to say...
"One small positive for Bangladesh in the innings so far is that they still have their captain Mahmudullah in the middle. This is the 15th innings in T20Is when the Bangladesh captain has walked in in the Powerplays batting at No. 5 or lower. No other batter has played more innings in these situations in T20Is. The last time Mahmudullah walked in to bat with Bangladesh three down within the Powerplay overs was against New Zealand last month in Dhaka when he guided his team to a win in a small chase. Mahmudullah averaged 28.15 from 14 such innings before this match. He will need to do considerably better than that to post a total that gives Bangladesh a chance today."
Well... it was worth saying, but not so much anymore, as Mahmudullah slices a slap to point to give Livingstone his second wicket of the afternoon...
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Bangladesh running on empty
Abject running from Bangladesh causes the premature departure of Afif Hossain, and could in a parallel universe have been three run-outs in consecutive balls! The first comes as Mahmudullah nudges a single to Mills behind square, whereupon both batters stutter while contemplating a second as Mills fails to gather cleanly. But he recovers with a couple of quick steps, wings in the shy, and Afif is in no-man's land as Buttler whips off the bails.
The new man, Nurul Hasan, then does his utmost to stuff himself from each of his first two balls. A madcap sprint for two to midwicket beats the shy by six inches, before a hare-brained scamper for a nudge to point results in him giving up hope as the throw at the non-striker's stumps skims just wide. Suffice to say, Bangladesh are rather rattled at the moment.
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Three reds for Livingstone ...
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... well, that aged quickly. Morgan rings the changes, brings Liam Livingstone on to relieve the quicks, and he strikes with his fourth ball... Mushfiqur attempts a reverse-sweep, is pinned in front of all three, and despite no on-field decision, the review proves lucrative for England.
That strike is the ninth wicket by an England spinner in the comp, says Matt Roller - who has all the more time to dredge up killer stats while he's under house arrest for hanging out with Covid suspects. They've conceded 50 runs off the bat between them. Tidy.
But, as a word of warning, Bangladesh have loaded their own spin ranks for this contest. Can they scrape together something defendable?
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Bangladesh's old guard take the wheel
Only six players have featured at all seven T20 World Cups (or World T20s, as I wish they were still called for cataloguing's sake...) And two of them are currently guiding the Bangladesh rebuild - Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah have found a modicum of momentum since the Powerplay, with the pace of Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills proving fractionally easier to get away than the probing spin of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, whose first two overs have gone for ten and nearly prised out the Mighty Atom, courtesy of a goalkeeper leap from Mills at backward point.
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Shakib succumbs, England rampant
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Chris Woakes came within a whisker of a first-over wicket when Naim scuffed an attempted pull over Dawid Malan's head at midwicket. But a similar ball drew a similar stroke from an even more vital left-hander in his third over of the Powerplay. Shakib Al Hasan attempted to get forceful as Woakes hit the deck, back of a length, but his extra pop off the pitch found a splice to backward square, and a superb leaping take from Adil Rashid.
Woakes emulates Moeen in reeling off three consecutive Powerplay overs, and with figures of 1 for 9, he's left England in utter command.
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Moeen cracks the Powerplay once more
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Moeen Ali was England’s game-breaker in their tournament opener against West Indies, and he’s back in the Powerplay action against Bangladesh. Liton Das briefly threatened to leave a dent in his figures with some dominant footwork at the end of the opening over, pumping Mo for consecutive fours down the ground.
But with a hint of spin from the outset, and nice long boundaries to add to his defences, Eoin Morgan was unafraid to fling him the ball for a second over, and was quickly rewarded with both openers in consecutive balls. Liton tried one mow too many, holing out to Liam Livingstone in the deep, before the left-handed Mohammad Naim tried a similar trick, only to skim a swat down the ground to Chris Woakes at mid-on.
He finished his Powerplay stint with a third over for the second match running ... 3-1-15-2 on Friday, 3-0-18-2 today. That effort has opened up Morgan's permutations for the rest of the innings.
Here, for comparison's sake, was his trio of overs against West Indies.
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Bangladesh bat first, England unchanged
Mahmudullah wins the toss on a "belter" of a wicket, and decides to set the pace. "It looks a good wicket and we've got three spinners playing. We've had some good moments before but this is a new game and we need to play well." No place for the pace of Taskin Ahmed, as the left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam takes the stage. Bangladesh load up the match-ups...
Eoin Morgan is very happy chasing on a wicket that looks "surprisingly good". No changes to England's line-up. "Scars in the past motivate you," he says, referring to the horrors of Adelaide 2015... probably the lowest ebb of his England white-ball journey. No place for Mark Wood, whom England are giving some extra time to be fully match-fit.
Bangladesh: 1 Mohammad Naim, 2 Liton Das, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim, 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mahedi Hasan, 9 Nasum Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman
England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Tymal Mills
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Time Out Live
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Episode One - A format's new dawn
Morning all. We're all for innovation here at ESPNcricinfo, so how about the start of a brand-new rivalry? Yes indeed. England and Bangladesh have been going at one another for more than two decades now. But here's a full list of every international they've ever played. Notice any curious omissions?
That's right, they've never played a T20I before. All that is set to change within the hour. Stay tuned!
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