Buttler praises England as Roy heroics set up 'fantastic' series win over Bangladesh

By Sports Desk March 03, 2023

Jos Buttler hailed England's intensity as his team clinched an ODI series victory in Bangladesh by dominating the second match in Mirpur.

Sam Curran starred with bat and ball, while Jason Roy top-scored with 132, which also proved to be the exact margin of victory as England posted 326-7 before bowling the hosts out for 194.

Curran followed 33 not out with 4-29, while Adil Rashid also took four wickets as the tourists seized an unassailable 2-0 series lead, ahead of the third match on Monday.

After a nail-biting three-wicket win in the series opener, also played in Mirpur, this second contest saw England go up a level, to the delight of captain Buttler.

It was their biggest victory margin, in terms of runs, in ODIs played in Asia.

"That was a fantastic series win," Buttler said. "Bangladesh are a formidable team at home, so we are delighted to get the series win.

"We spoke about ways we could improve from the last match and I thought we really did that. Jason Roy led fantastically well with the batting and guys chipped in around him, and then a fantastic start with the ball."

Buttler made 76 with the bat and Moeen Ali added 42, as Roy found plenty of strong support, with England winning a 50-over series after falling short in their most recent four attempts in the format.

"From one to 11, the guys stood up," Buttler said, "and I thought our standard and the intensity we played the game at was much higher than the first game and that's what we strive to get to.

"We've talked a lot in the dressing room about adapting to conditions and being a team that can play in a variety of ways. There are lots of guys putting their hands up and putting up great performances which is fantastic for the team."

Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal said Roy performed "exceptionally well", adding: "I am disappointed to lose the series. When you lose a game like this you can point a lot of fingers at a lot of people, but I'm not the kind of person who'll do that. We didn't do well as a team and that's why we lost.

"We'd like to finish the series on a high, it's very disappointing that we lost the series, but credit must go to England for the way they played."

Roy, whose century was his 12th for England in ODIs, spoke of how experience of playing in varying conditions throughout his career helped him get to grips with the pitch.

"I've spent a lot of time playing a lot of cricket in the subcontinent when i was younger, doing a lot of training camps," the 32-year-old opener said. "Today I had to dig deep with those skills and put it on the field.

"I needed to give myself an opportunity. In the first game I had a bit of a rush of blood and played a pretty poor shot against the spin. I wanted to make sure I batted time and gave myself the best opportunity to score runs and get a good score on the board for the team."

Related items

  • Bayern star Kane scores 400th senior goal Bayern star Kane scores 400th senior goal

    Harry Kane surpassed the 400-goal mark for his senior career as his double helped Bayern Munich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

    Kane moved within one of the milestone as he put Bayern 1-0 up after just nine minutes, coolly finishing from close range after Konrad Laimer's pass had set him up.

    Then, after Frankfurt levelled through Hugo Ekitike, Kane slotted home a penalty with typical aplomb following a foul on Thomas Muller to move himself onto 400 career goals and ultimately lead Bayern to victory.

    Kane scored 280 of his goals in 435 appearances for Tottenham, overtaking Jimmy Greaves to become the club's all-time leading scorer when he netted for the 267th time in Spurs colours against Manchester City last February.

    His tally of 213 Premier League goals, meanwhile, puts him just 47 behind the competition's all-time leader Alan Shearer, who scored 260 times for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.

    Kane is also the most prolific player in England's history, his 62 goals for the Three Lions coming in 89 international appearances. 

    He memorably missed the chance to surpass Wayne Rooney's previous record of 53 when he blazed a penalty over the crossbar in the Three Lions' quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup, only to clinch his place in history in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy three months later.

    The very first goal of Kane's senior career came in League One during a loan spell with Leyton Orient as they thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 in January 2011.

    That was the first of five goals Kane scored in O's colours, while he also netted nine times in a loan spell with Millwall in 2011-12 and twice during a stint with Leicester City the following season.

  • IPL: Fraser-McGurk leads the way as Capitals hold off Mumbai IPL: Fraser-McGurk leads the way as Capitals hold off Mumbai

    Delhi Capitals withstood Mumbai Indian’s late surge and held on for a 10-run victory at Arun Jaitley Stadium.

    Jake Fraser-McGurk top-scored with 84 – hitting 50 off just 15 balls – while Tristan Stubbs (48) and Shai Hope (41) also chipped in with important contributions as the Capitals set a target of 258.

    Mukesh Kumar (3/59) and Rasikh Salam (3/34) did their best to halt Mumbai’s revival, but they turned up the pressure to require 25 runs from the final over.

    However, despite Luke Wood and Piyush Chawla’s best efforts, Delhi held out for a second successive win.

    Data debrief

    Wood almost made amends after conceding 68 runs during the opening innings – the joint-most in the IPL this season, matching Reece Topley’s tally against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

    Tilak Varma led Mumbai’s attempted revival with 63 for his sixth half-century in the IPL, though they have all come in defeats

  • Chase outdone by opposite number Paudel as West Indies A suffer four-wicket loss to Nepal Chase outdone by opposite number Paudel as West Indies A suffer four-wicket loss to Nepal

    West Indies A’s tour of Nepal got off to an unfortunate start, after they suffered a four-wicket loss to their host in a high scoring opening fixture of their five-match Twenty20 series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on Saturday.

    Set a formidable 204 by West Indies A, Nepal’s thrilling victory, which was set up by a captain’s knock from Rohit Paudel, etched their names in the history books, as they successfully got to their target at 206-6 with two balls to spare.

    Paudel smashed a 54-ball 112, including 10 fours and two sixes to see his team to a 1-0 lead in the series, which West Indies Head coach Darren Sammy said offers his team a chance to define roles and personnel more clearly for their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad.

    However, the Caribbean side’s all-round effort was found wanting, as only captain Roston Chase (74), Alick Athanaze (47) and Keacy Carty (38) offered any resistance with the bat, while only Obed McCoy (2-34) and Matthew Forde (2-49) had some semblance of success with the ball.

    Scores: West Indies A 204-5 (20 overs); Nepal 206-6 (19.4 overs)

    Asked to take first strike, after losing the toss, West Indies A suffered an early blow, as they lost Johnson Charles (zero) off the last ball of the opening over, with 16 runs on the board. Andre Fletcher (13) stuck two sixes off five balls, before he too departed via the run-out route, leaving West Indies A at 43-2 in the fourth over.

    However, Athanaze went about business, striking three sixes and five fours in a 25-ball knock, as he put on 43 for the third wicket with Chase, prior to his demise. From there, Chase and Carty added another 60 runs in a fourth-wicket stand that defined the innings.

    Carty’s 38 off 26 balls, included two fours and three sixes, while Chase, who anchored the innings with a captain’s knock, struck nine fours and two sixes in his 46-ball 74. Kadeem Alleyne, on 14, and Keemo Paul, one, were left not out.

    No Nepal bowler took more than one wicket.

    With runs on the board, West Indies A would have felt confident of wrapping up a win, even more so, after Forde and McCoy combined to remove openers Anil Sah (five) and Kushal Bhurtel (16) to have Nepal at 38-2 in the fifth over.

    West Indies remained in the ascendancy when Fletcher and Charles combined to run out Kushal Malla (16), leaving their host on the ropes at 82-3 at the halfway mark.

    However, Paudel showed class, in not only reviving his team’s innings, but pushed them all the way with some aggressive stroke play, assisted by wayward bowling from West Indies A attack at times. Dipendra Singh Airee (24) offered support to his captain in getting Nepal across the line for a famous victory.

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.