England enjoyed the perfect preparation for their One-Day International series starting on Friday as Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali led a hard fought victory over a strong Bangladesh Cricket Board Select XI.

Fifties from Buttler and Ali and 48 from James Vince cancelled out the earlier efforts of Imrul Kayes, the Bangladesh opener who has represented his country in over 50 ODIs striking 121 from just 91 balls, as England ran out four-wicket victors.

Kayes’ knock lifted the hosts to 309-9 from their 50 overs, Chris Woakes again proving the pick of the England bowelrs with 3-52 as a number of the tourists’ attack struggled in the sweltering heat.

Kayes made the most of Nasir Hossain’s decision to bat first in Fatullah, helping himself to 28 from the first two overs alongside Soumya Sarkar.

However, one of England’s star men of the summer, Woakes, made an early breakthrough as Sarkar was caught behind for seven with the score on 35.

Kayes then shared in stands of 85 with Nazmul Hossain Shanto (36) and 71 with Mushfiqure Rahim before falling for 121, his knock including 11 fours and six maximums.

The hosts were well set for a score in excess of 350 at 191-3 after 29 overs and experienced international Rahim (51) and Captain Hossain (46) continued to accelerate throughout the middle overs.

England’s spin duo of Adil Rashid (1-76 from 10) and Moeen Ali (0-41 from 7) leaked regular runs and Liam Plunkett and Ben Stokes both spent time off the field suffering from cramp as the tourists struggled to stem Bangladesh’s momentum.

However, England did fight back through Woakes, Stokes (2-36) and David Willey (2-63) to concede just 47 from the final ten overs and restrict the hosts to 309.

Woakes, England’s star bowler for large parts of the summer after picking up 59 wickets at an average of 17.8 across all cricket, began his winter schedule with figures of 3-52.

Jason Roy and Vince began the England reply, the pair adding 72 inside 8.4 overs before the former fell for a familiar quickfire knock of 28 off 22 deliveries.

Vince, who had played the aggressor in his opening stand with Roy, continued to find the boundary before he became Edabat Hossain’s second victim, caught behind for 48.

Duckett (29) and Jonny Bairstow (11) couldn’t maintain the early pace of the England openers as they fell to Shuvagata Hom and Kamrul Islam Rabbi respectively, the score 146-4 at the halfway stage.

Ben Stokes (28) became another England batsman who failed to kick on from a positive start before Buttler and Ali bucked the trend to take the tourists to an opening victory.

Ali was first to his fifty before Captain Buttler showcased his boundary hitting prowess by taking Rabbi for 6,4,2,6 at the end of the bowlers allotment.

England’s premier twirler Ali then followed suit with a boundary off Sunzamul Islam before falling just one short of victory, caught for 70 from just 51 balls to continue his fine run of form with the bat for the national side in recent matches.

The winning moment was left to the skipper as Buttler struck his third boundary to go with four maximums, the England wicketkeeper ending unbeaten on 80 from 63 deliveries.

 

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