England warmed up for the World Cup with a tricky win over Bangladesh in Guwahati. In what turned out to be a rain-curtailed encounter, England prevailed by four wickets. Tanzid Hasan gave Bangladesh a strong start even though Reece Topley sent back Litton Das and Najmul Shanto early. But once Mark Wood castled Tanzid for 44, Bangladesh were on the backfoot before rain arrived. At that point, Bangladesh were 153/5 after 30 overs.
Once play resumed, the game was reduced to 37 overs per side. Bangladesh faltered from thereon with only Mehidy Hasan making an impact by scoring a crucial 74. With the Asian side finishing with 188/9, England were asked to chase down 197 as per the DLS rule. Even though Dawid Malan fell in the very first over, England made a blistering start in typical fashion.
Jonny Bairstow took on Hasan Mahmud for a hat-trick of boundaries and then took on Mustafizur Rahman as well as he raced to 34 off just 20 balls. England had already knocked off 51 runs off just four overs but Bangladesh were not making it easy for their opponents. Mustafizur got his revenge against Bairstow and Hasan castled Harry Brook. Joe Root was watchful at one end as Jos Buttler now took charge to hammer 30 off just 15 but Bangladesh struck again with back-to-back wickets to reduce England to 114/5.
With 83 still needed for victory, the onus was now on Moeen Ali and Root to get the job done. Battling poor form in the format, Root was content on being subdued but Moeen took on Bangladesh after a watchful start. One six off Mahedi Hasan kickstarted his rampage as he cleared the ropes five more times to race to a quick half-century. Even though he fell for 56 towards the end, Root completed the formalities.
Brief scores:Bangladesh 188/9 in 37 overs (Mehidy Hasan Miraz 74, Tanzid Hasan 45; Reece Topley 3-23) lost to England 197/6 in 24.1 overs (Moeen Ali 56, Jonny Bairstow 34; Mustafizur Rahman 2/23) by 4 wickets (DLS method)
Rain had the final say in what was turning out to be a potential thriller in Thiruvananthapuram between New Zealand and South Africa, giving the former a seven-run victory as per DLS method.
New Zealand, who kickstarted their World Cup warm-up by smashing Pakistan in a high-scorer, opted to test themselves at setting a target by choosing to bat. Devon Conway led the way with a 73-ball 78 while Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips made vital contributions in the middle. New Zealand were carried ahead by the middle and lower order as they posted 321/6 in 50 overs. Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi picked three wickets each for South Africa.
In response, South Africa surged via Quinton de Kock who looked sharp in his unbeaten 84 off 89. Trent Boult dismissed Reeza Hendricks in the first over of the chase but Rassie van der Dussen walked in and forged a second-wicket alliance with the keeper-batter for 72 runs. Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi struck in the space of less than five overs to reduce the chasing side to 111 for 3, but out walked Heinrich Klaasen to wield his willow against the spinners yet again. Thanks to Klaasen’s game against the spinners, New Zealand went from 111/3 in the 20th over to 166/3 in 28, prompting the return of Boult. The left-arm pacer saw the back of Klaasen with his round the wicket angle as the South African nicked one to the keeper.
Yet South Africa weren’t out of the bounds in chase. David Miller walked in and began to stitch a meaningful partnership with de Kock when showers came down and refused to let the players back on the field. When the players went off, South Africa were on 211/4 in 37 overs, needing 111 runs to win in 13 overs with de Kock still going strong. However, they were found to be seven runs behind the par score and ended up on the wrong side of the result.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 321/6 in 50 overs (Devon Conway 78, Tom Latham 52, Glenn Phillips 43; Lungi Ngidi 3-33, Marco Jansen 3-45) beat South Africa 211/4 in 37 overs (Quinton de Kock 84, Rassie van der Dussen 51, Heinrich Klaasen 39; Trent Boult 2-20) by 7 runs (DLS method)
