Bangladesh 246 (Shakib 75, Mushfiqur 70, Shanto 53, Archer 3-35) v England
On a slow wicket, England are unlikely to have an easy time chasing 247 runs as Bangladesh have three spinners in their line-up. The home side had to battle for most of their 48.5 overs, with partnerships helping them on the way.
The openers’ struggle continued when Litton Das and Tamim Iqbal fell in the first three overs, both to Curran. Litton edged the left-arm quick in the first over, his second successive duck. He finished the series with just seven runs in his kitty. Tamim fell to Curran trying to work the ball on the leg side, James Vince taking the leading edge at point.
Bangladesh’s rebuilding process, via Mushfiqur and Shanto, was slow mostly due to the pitch. It hardly offered any pace on the ball. There were four leading edges in the first 20 overs including Tamim’s dismissal.
Shanto made his second fifty of the series, but it wasn’t fluent. He struck five boundaries – two of them reverse-sweeping the spinners – as the England bowlers didn’t give him any room to drive properly. But Bangladesh’s 98-run third-wicket stand ended in a run-out. Mushfiqur hared out of the crease but Shanto was looking at the ball that he played towards square leg, with Jos Buttler alert to the situation. The bowler Rehan completed the dismissal.
But these two had given Bangladesh a platform that they missed in the last two ODIs in Dhaka. Mushfiqur continued to bat steadily until he missed Rashid’s googly in the 33rd over. He made 70 off 93 balls with six boundaries, but the dismissal held back the home side from a firmer push in the last 20 overs.
Mahmudullah tried his hand at slogging but one ball after hitting Rashid for a straight six, he was undone by a beautiful slider that went through his bat and pad. Shakib took over the scoring at this point as Afif Hossain struggled at the other end. He struck four boundaries in quick succession, two off Curran, before Afif too joined in with two fours of his own.
But the left-handed Afif fell driving Woakes in the 44th over, another soft dismissal as his poor form continued. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who was the batting star against India in Bangladesh’s last bilateral series, fell to Rehan’s final ball of his ten overs. He dinked a short googly back at the bowler, having made just five runs.
Shakib however kept up the scoring pressure with a couple of boundaries in the 48th over, although Vince dropped him at deep midwicket on 66. He finished on 75, before falling to Archer, who removed Mustafizur Rahman next ball to bowl out Bangladesh with seven balls to spare.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84