England 261 for 8 (Morgan 110*, Cook 60, Shakib 3-32, Razzak 3-52) beat Bangladesh 260 for 6 (Rahim 76, Kayes 63, Bresnan 3-51) by two wickets
After a relatively routine victory only days before England were subjected to a far greater examination in their second outing in Dhaka, and it fell to a steely Eoin Morgan to see the tourists home. Morgan was unflappable on his way to an unbeaten 110, and proved without doubt that his repertoire extended beyond cheeky reverse sweeps and spirited middle-order counter attacks.
England had failed to find a real cutting edge against the Tigers as Mushfiqur Rahim's wonderfully paced 76 paved the way for those around him as they posted a competitive 260 for 6 in their 50 overs. Rahim was ably supported by Imrul Kayes as he dropped anchor allowing for his more fluent partner to keep the board ticking. After Paul Collingwood completed a vintage catch to his right off the bowling of Graeme Swann the Bangladeshi batsman continued to frustrate the English attack.
Contributions down the order from Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, and Suhrawadi Shuvo meant that only Luke Wright, who was given a full nine overs as Stuart Broad struggled with injury, was able to keep his economy below 5 runs an over. So at the half-way stage many inside the Shere Bangla National Stadium may have felt that this was Bangladesh's chance to level the series and set up a decider in Chittagong, all that was required was some tight bowing and they were certainly in with sniff.
And the scent of victory wafted ever-nearer as Craig Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen were dismissed in single figures, the former caught low in the slips after advancing down the pitch to Shafiul Islam, whilst KP was not for the first time undone by slow left arm spin, playing all round a ball fro Abdur Razzak only to be struck plumb on the back leg. Things went from bad to worse as Razzak claimed his second victim, Collingwood, so impressive in his last outing again trapped in front attempting a dubious sweep, and when the captain Alastair Cook trudged off for a well crafted, but ultimately inadequate 60 from 61 balls England were in serious doo-doo. Enter Eoin Morgan.
Morgan together with Matt Prior managed to restore some order to England's chase, and a partnership of 90 swung the pendulum firmyl back in the tourists's favour. Even a lacklustre lower order display from the likes of Wright and Tim Bresnan could do little to deter Morgan who moved gracefully onto his maiden ODI century in England colours. The Bangladeshi bowlers had no answer to Morgan's ability to hit all round the wicket and alongside débutante James Tredwell England got over the line with an unlikely 7 balls to spare.
The dogged Irishman was rightfully handed the man-of-the-match for his efforts, and applauded by his team mates as he left the field. each and every one of them breathing a sigh of relief as on another day it could have been a very different story.
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