Malan steals the show as Bangladesh fail English test

|| CF DESK || 

England star Dawid Malan smashed a match winning hundred to secure the opening ODI of three match series by three wickets against Bangladesh at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.

The Three Lions was chasing a small target of 210 but the road was bumpy with Tigers controlled bowling.

Prior to the Malan show, Shakib al Hasan gave the Tigers their first wicket in the first over of the innings when he dismissed England's Jason Joy for four.

After playing three consecutive dot balls in the over, Roy attempted to up the ante by coming down the wicket but was unsuccessful due to a leading edge, which caused the ball to skyrocket.

Tamim Iqbal, the captain of Bangladesh, positioned himself underneath the ball and took a straightforward catch at mid-off.

Taijul Islam joined the party as he picked up two wickets followed by Shakib one scalp to leave England three down for 45 runs in the 13 over in pursuit of the Tigers' 209.

The left-armer in the side hit timber when he deceived Phil Slat with one that went on with the arm and then foxed out James Vince with one that turned away.

Jos Buttler, the captain of England, edged one to first slip off Taskin Ahmed's bowling in the 17th over, leaving England four down for 65 runs.

Buttler couldn't help but poke the ball with his bat when Taskin managed to get one to bounce off an off-stump a good distance away.

Prior to that, Buttler had only managed one boundary in his 10-ball, nine-run innings.

Will Jacks became Mehidy Hasan Miraz's first victim after becoming the fifth batter to be bowled out after being caught at deep midwicket. After that, Miraz dismissed Moeen Ali, ending their 38-run partnership.

The match's regular wicket falls kept it interesting even though it appeared as though the world champions would win.

England still needed three wickets to win by 49 runs when Chris Woakes was out. From there, anything could have happened. But Malan and Adil Rashid survived the storm together. They were unbeaten together as they led England to a spirited victory.

However, Malan remained calm to seal a hard-fought three-wicket victory for the world champions.

He scored his fourth ODI hundred in only his 16th ODI innings and remained unbeaten on 114 runs off 145 balls.

He started off slowly just like Bangladesh batters, but unlike the hosts, he kept on going to guide his team home. The southpaw hit six boundaries and four maximums in his innings at a strike rate of 78.62.

Rashid remained unbeaten on 16 off 28 balls.

Taijul took three wickets for Bangladesh, conceding 54 runs. While Shakib and Taskin each claimed one wicket, Miraz claimed two wickets.

Earlier, Najmul Hossain struck his maiden half-century but England still bowled out Bangladesh for 209.

Moeen Ali, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid each claimed two wickets to ensure Bangladesh's innings never got going after the hosts elected to bat first.

The hosts made a decent start, skipper Tamim making 23. But after Chris Woakes earned the first breakthrough with the wicket of Liton Das, England struck whenever a partnership was developing.

Tamim was bowled by Wood before spinners were called into action, as England got valuable South Asian practice ahead of their defence of the ODI World Cup crown in India later this year.

Moeen and Rashid returned with figures of 2-35 and 2-47 respectively to keep Bangladesh's batters in check in the middle overs.

Moeen bowled Shakib for eight before Rashid picked up the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim.

Najmul and Mahmudullah Riyad forged a 53-run partnership for the fifth wicket to try to get the innings back on track, but in vain.

Najmul -- who was dropped on four -- eventually fell to Rashid on 58 off 82 balls with six fours, Jason Roy taking the catch at short mid-wicket.

Mahmudullah was dismissed by Wood in the next over for 31.

Debutant Will Jacks claimed the wicket of Afif Hossain three overs later to kill off Bangladesh's remaining chance of putting up a big total.  

Wood and Archer finished with 2-34 and 2-37 respectively.

The second ODI will be played on March 3^rd at same venue.