World champions England suffered a 3-0 T20 series whitewash to Bangladesh after turning a winnable position into a batting collapse in Mirpur.
The tourists had been 100-1 after 13 overs chasing 159 for the win only to lose Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan in successive balls. In total, five wickets fell for 28 in just five overs to leave them 16 short of the required total.
All round, it was far from a vintage performance from England, who were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field with regulation catches dropped by Ben Duckett and Rehan Ahmed while some poor fielding gifted the hosts runs.
The batting capitulation again highlighted the fact England were a batsman short in their line-up. And there was the curiosity that the experienced Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan were used for less than 10 overs between them over the course of three games.
Following a third straight defeat, Buttler said: “We came back well and missed some opportunities in the field which is disappointing in this game. I thought it was a good score to restrict them to but that didn’t happen. It’s really poor and I’m really disappointed in myself for not diving in the field, it cost us the game.”
England went into the match unchanged, continuing with Phil Salt at the top of the order, a decision which again fell flat after he faced just one delivery.
Prior to Salt’s arrival at the crease, some excellent late bowling had frustrated Bangladesh as they failed to build on a total of 131-1 with just five overs remaining to shift momentum towards England.
Litton Das top scored with 73 off 57 balls and was ably assisted at the crease by Rony Tadulkar (22) and Najmul Shanto (47 not out). Adil Rashid was arguably the pick of the England bowlers with figures of 1-23 and an economy rate of less than a run a ball. Chris Jordan was the only other wicket taker.
England got off to a dire start in the run chase with a superb delivery by Tanvir Islam – just his third on debut – removing Phil Salt as he was well stumped by Das.
But the experienced Malan and Buttler, who in truth should have opened the batting together, built a strong platform to bring up the century.
But in echoes of the first T20 in which Buttler and Duckett were removed with successive balls, the same fate befell Malan and England’s skipper.
Das was responsible for removing Malan following a top edge, while Buttler was the victim of a direct hit by Mehidy Hasan the very next ball.
It changed the complexion of the match as the wickets kept on falling and the run rate quickly got out of England’s reach.
