Seamers strike for England

Needing victory in their final three matches against Bangladesh, South Africa and West Indies to stand a chance of reaching the last four, England needed a solid display to remain in contention.

Having won the toss and decided to bowl first, England's seamers provided exactly that by reducing Bangladesh to 65 for six before finally dismissing them for a lowly 143 in 37.2 overs.

Using regular short balls as a potent weapon, new-ball pair James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood reduced Bangladesh to 65 for six. But a stubborn 47-run stand between Saqibul Hasan, who top-scored with an unbeaten 57, and Mashrafe Mortaza halted the slide.

Mahmood justified his retention by claiming two early wickets to remove Tammim Iqbal and Shahriar Nafees with lifting deliveries. He could have had a third, but for a farcical sequence of events which led to the run-out of Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar in his third over.

Nafees had chipped Mahmood straight to Michael Vaughan, who fumbled the simplest of chances as the batsmen crossed. Unfortunately for Bashar, who had stopped mid-crease assuming the catch would be taken, Vaughan threw the ball to wicketkeeper Paul Nixon in frustration and the run-out was completed with yards to spare.

Anderson matched Mahmood's early success by returning to the attack to dismiss Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed in successive overs. Both Ashraful and Ahmed fell to edges behind and left Bangladesh facing humiliation, only for Saqibul to dominate a determined seventh-wicket stand.

Saqibul showed his intentions with an audacious upper cut for six over point off Andrew Flintoff and then hit him for successive fours through extra cover in his next over. While he played as aggressively as the situation allowed, Mortaza sensibly attempted to rotate the strike.

Their partnership was only broken when Vaughan turned to Monty Panesar, who bowled Mortaza as he attempted a huge slog down the ground and cleaned up the tail by finishing with three for 25.

Mahmood ended the innings to claim three for 27 by having last man Syed Rasel caught at slip by Flintoff to leave Saqibul unbeaten after 95 balls at the crease.