Every time Bangladeshi fielders and bowlers attempted to assume control of the game, English batter Dawid Malan appeared to respond by scoring a boundary and relieving the strain.
That was the main theme of the first one-day international of the three-match series, and on Wednesday at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Malan’s shrewd yet easy century helped his team win the match by three wickets.
The hosts put on a lackluster display, scoring only 209 runs with the bat, but their bowlers and fielders did an admirable job, consistently taking wickets, and Malan ultimately proved to be the difference.
After opener Jason Roy was bowled by the final ball of the over with the score at four, the 35-year-old left-handed batter entered the wicket and stayed there until the end to lead his team to victory.
England dropped wickets frequently, but the southpaw appeared unfazed on one side of the wicket and managed the pace of the innings as needed.
Malan took some time to get to 50 facing 92 balls, but he played shots with ease when the going got tough. Malan entered the series in excellent form, hitting a century and a half century against South Africa in their three-match series last month.
His dominance was clearly understood as none other could score over 26 and the highest partnership of the match was unbeaten 51 with Adil Rashid in the eighth wicket.
It was befitting Malan, who scored 114 off 145 balls, finishing the match with a boundary with eight balls to spare.
However, England seemed to be in trouble as they lost half of their side for 103 in the 26th over when Will Jacks was caught by Afif Hossain at deep square leg off Mehidy Hasan scoring 26 off 31.
It was the fist wicket for Mehidy but Taijul albeit being expensive did some early damages as he got rid off Philip Salt and James Vince for 12 and six respectively.
Taskin Ahmed, who seemed to be the most impressive bowler under the trying condition, got the vital wicket of English skipper Jos Butler, who was caught at slip, but his figure of 26-1 in nine overs did not justify his effort on the wicket that aided him with some bounce.
Moeen Ali was bowled for 14 off 32 and Chris Woaked was caught when a top edge off Taijul delivery was caught by Tamim Iqbal. But Malan and Rashid made sure no more hiccups.
Taijul returned with 3-54 while Mehidy finished with 2-35.
Earlier in the day, after winning the toss Bangladesh openers seemed to enjoy the extra pace and bounce of Jofra Archer and Woakes before Liton Das was adjudged leg before off the latter for seven when the score was 33 in the fifth over.
Tamim was beaten by the pace of Mark Wood, fastest of the English pacers, for 23 but Najmul Hasan seemed to bat with ease and elegance.
However, two senior batters Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan got out cheaply scoring 16 and eight as Bangladesh were reduced to 106.
Najmul received strong support from veteran campaigner Mahmudullah, but the latter slowed down slightly under duress and eventually died, scoring 58. He was quickly followed by Mahmudullah, who scored 31, putting the team in a precarious position of 162-6.
Even though Taskin and Taijul played a few strokes to push the total past 200, it never felt good enough to compete with the ODI and T20 World Cup champions.
