Bangladesh collpase in face of huge chase

2 overs Bangladesh 111 for 6 (Mahmudullah 6*, Mashrafe 8*) need another 237 runs to beat England 347 for 6
Live scorecard

	Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott put on 250 for the second wicket, a record for England in ODIs © Getty Images
Related Links Players/Officials: Ravi Bopara | Andrew Strauss | Jonathan Trott Matches: England v Bangladesh at Birmingham Series/Tournaments: Bangladesh tour of England, Ireland and Scotland Teams: Bangladesh | England

England's cricketers were closing in on a crushing victory in the third and final ODI, as Bangladesh's batsmen faltered in pursuit of a vast target of 348 and slipped to 111 for 6 after 22 overs of their run-chase at Edgbaston. Piqued by their defeat in the second match at Bristol on Saturday, England stepped up their intensity for the series decider, and with Ajmal Shahzad leading the way, put themselves within touching distance of a record-equalling fourth consecutive series win.

If Bangladesh were to have any hope of getting close to England's total, then they needed a turbo-charged start from their star batsman, Tamim Iqbal. He began at a decent lick, with three fours from his first 13 deliveries, but then took on Shahzad with a booming cover-drive, but ended up skying a slower ball to Luke Wright at long-on. At the other end, Imrul Kayes leant into a sumptuous square drive to suggest that his eye was still in after his heroic 76 at Bristol, but it was to be his only scoring shot. At the end of his third over, a pumped-up Shahzad banged in a fearsome lifter that flicked the glove through to Craig Kieswetter.

Junaid Siddique top-edged a Tim Bresnan short ball for six before denting Shahzad's figures with two fours in two balls. Shahzad left the field after four overs with a tweaked hamstring, but Bresnan responded with a slower ball that Wright did well to intercept as he reached high to his left at mid-on. Jahurul Islam rode the short ball well to crack four of his five fours through the leg-side, before Stuart Broad cramped him for room with a well-directed lifter, and Andrew Strauss was on hand to pocket a looping top-edge.

At 77 for 4 in the 16th over, damage limitation was the only realistic option left to Bangladesh, but before any sort of consolidation could get underway, Mohammad Ashraful sold his partner Shakib Al Hasan an outrageous dummy as he turned for a second run and changed his mind in mid-pitch. Paul Collingwood had time to slip as he gathered the ball but still recovered to whip off the bails (86 for 5).

Ashraful was the next to go, as Ravi Bopara struck third ball to continue an impressive comeback game by pinning him lbw for 13 with a skiddy full-length delivery, leaving Mahmudullah and Mashrafe Mortaza to pick up the pieces.

50 overs England 347 for 7 (Strauss 154, Trott 110) v Bangladesh

Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott produced the highest partnership in England's one-day history, surpassing the 226 that Strauss and Andrew Flintoff produced against West Indies at Lord's in 2004, to atone for their team's failings during their historic defeat at Bristol on Saturday, and set Bangladesh a daunting target of 348 in the third and final ODI at Edgbaston.

Stung into action by their five-run reversal in the second match two days ago, England's second-wicket pairing left nothing to chance as they batted in tandem for exactly 40 overs of the innings. Strauss was the star performer with 154 from 140 balls, his fourth and highest ODI hundred but his first since the tour of the Caribbean in March 2009, while Trott put to one side the bitter memory of his last-over dismissal to Shafiul Islam at Bristol to improve on his career-best for the second match in succession.

Following on from Saturday's 94, Trott made 110 from 121 balls before flatbatting a pull to Shakib Al Hasan at midwicket, whereupon Luke Wright - pushed up the order to exploit a flagging attack - wafted a massive mow through to the wicketkeeper, Jahurul Islam, to depart for a first-ball duck. Paul Collingwood averted the hat-trick (just), as Mashrafe Mortaza completed his spell with the excellent figures of 10-2-31-3, but he was the only Bangladeshi to keep a lid on England's aggression.

For that, the credit belonged to Strauss, who once again belied his self-appointed reputation as a "stodgy" opener to blister along at a tempo rarely witnessed in England's one-day history. In all he struck 16 fours and five sixes, each of them deposited up and over the leg-side boundary, as he took personal responsibility for Saturday's setback to put England's one-day revival back on track. The innings wobbled through a late clatter of wickets, as six wickets toppled between overs 41 and 47, but Ravi Bopara slammed 45 from just 16 balls in the dying moments to reapply the swagger.

It was a commanding performance against a Bangladesh team that was unable to raise its game for a second match in succession, and what is more, England had to earn their right to the ascendancy. They lost the toss after a 45-minute rain delay, and were sent into bat in overcast conditions, and when Craig Kieswetter was bowled through the gate in Mortaza's first over for a second-ball duck, the prospect of further embarrassment could not be ruled out.

Strauss and Trott, however, responded to the setback with an initial volley of boundaries - including a brace of fours as Shafiul Islam strayed onto Trott's pads, and an agenda-setting six from Strauss as Mashrafe dropped short - before settling back into a holding pattern to ease the score along to 45 for 1 at the end of the 10-over Powerplay.

Shafiul, whose crucial final wicket had sealed the Bristol victory, this time conceded 97 runs in nine overs, with Strauss dismantling his line and length, before Bopara crushed him in a final over that cost 28.

Mashrafe did his best to keep England on a tight leash in an unchanged eight-over spell that yielded just 17 runs, before the introduction of the spinners, Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan, provided the batsmen with another challenge to surmount. Strauss in particular showed a deftness of touch with two well-timed reverse sweeps for four off Shakib, before Trott drove Shafiul to long-on to bring up his second fifty in consecutive innings from 70 balls.

At the halfway mark of the innings, England were sitting pretty on 117 for 1, and having established their platform, the pair dived in with relish. Strauss nudged Shakib for a single to reach his hundred from 106 deliveries, and then cut loose with a bold array of improvisatory strokes, including a variation on Eoin Morgan's ambidextrous "paddywhack", and a bona fide right-hander's nurdle to third man (or rather, fine leg). He needed just 29 more deliveries to rush to his second score of 150 in ODIs - the other also came against Bangladesh, at Trent Bridge in 2005.

Trott maintained a more measured approach, as is his wont, picking off his runs with clips, drives and pulls as he capitalised on the absence of Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell, and built on his double-hundred in the Lord's Test back in May with another unflappable performance. A performance was demanded of England after the events of the weekend, and with the bat at least, they have not disappointed.

Bell battles to keep England on top

Close England 275 for 5 (Bell 87*, Prior 21*) v Bangladesh
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Shafiul Islam struck twice in the first hour to shock England's top order © Getty Images
Related Links Players/Officials: Ian Bell | Kevin Pietersen | Shafiul Islam | Ajmal Shahzad | Andrew Strauss Matches: England v Bangladesh at Manchester Series/Tournaments: Bangladesh tour of England, Ireland and Scotland Teams: Bangladesh | England

Bangladesh's bowlers followed the example of their batsman at Lord's last week, and rose to the occasion on the first day at Old Trafford with a disciplined and diligent performance, backed up by superb fielding, to deny England the chance to establish the sort of platform from which they were able to boss the first Test. Thanks to Ian Bell, who contributed another timely innings from his fruitful berth in the middle order, England were able to finish the day with their noses in front on 275 for 5, but on a firm and true surface, and in some of the best batting conditions of the summer so far, this was far from the breeze that had been anticipated when Andrew Strauss won the toss.

By the time bad light brought about an early close, Bell was 87 not out from 171 balls, 13 adrift of what would be his third century in six Tests against Bangladesh. Like his 138 at Dhaka back in March, however, this was a vital innings that belied his (admittedly fading) reputation for soft runs, and without it, England could well have been in some trouble. After their floundering performance with the ball at Lord's, Bangladesh had chosen to purge their seam attack, with Robiul Islam and Rubel Hossain both discarded, and into the fray came the impressive Shafiul Islam, who struck twice in an incisive new-ball spell in the first hour of the day, and the left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who dismissed Alastair Cook with his first ball of the series, and deserved better rewards than his eventual figures of 1 for 67 from 21 overs.

With the sun on their backs and a more familiar spin-dominant line-up, Bangladesh settled into the sort of rhythm that they had shown during their home series against England, with the added bonus of a wicket that offered the sort of turn and bounce that they'd never see in Dhaka or Chittagong. With Shakib Al Hasan and Razzak bowling in tandem in a fine spell after tea, England were limited to 29 runs in 16 overs before Matt Prior opened the floodgates with a brace of fours off Razzak - one of which could and should have been caught at slip as Junaid Siddique reacted late to a thick edge. On 18, Prior then survived a raucous appeal for lbw that might well have been overturned had the review system been in place for this match. But Prior lived on, to reach 21 not out at the close.

All in all, it was not the sort of scoreline that England had expected, but to Bangladesh's credit, they used their resources cannily, and kept all the batsman guessing as they beat the bat on both sides on a wicket that will doubtless keep Graeme Swann interested when his opportunity comes later in the match. Kevin Pietersen, in particular, discovered this to his cost, as he was stitched up a treat by his nemesis in Tests, Shakib, who claimed his wicket for the fourth time in as many matches, to bring a flamboyant end an entertaining and aggressive innings.

Pietersen's approach in this series has been a far cry from the tentative return to form that he produced in Bangladesh, and after reaching a 73-ball fifty with a series of thumping strikes in the V between long-off and -on, he seemed in a hurry to reach his first hundred against these opponents. Shakib, however, was equal to his ambitions. Moments after being drilled through the covers for four, he held his delivery back a touch through the air, and Pietersen was stumped by six paces as the ball spat past his edge and into the gloves of Mushfiqur Rahim.

Shakib could and should have earned a second wicket in a fine attacking spell, when on 36, Bell edged a good-length turner, only for the ball to rebound unchallenged off Mushfiqur's knee. But that was the only real chance that Bell offered in a disciplined 171-ball innings. Eoin Morgan also offered one opportunity, in the fifth over after tea, but unfortunately for him, his cramped cut at Shahadat picked out Jahurul Islam in the gully, who clung on one-handed with an outstanding dive to his right. After adding 70 for the fifth wicket to revive England from 153 for 4, Morgan was on his way for 37, another half-formed Test innings to add to his Lord's 44.

The principal performer in the morning session had been Shafiul, who was overlooked for the Lord's Test despite showing glimpses of his ability back home during England's recent visit. He pitched the ball up as a default tactic, finding a decent pace in the high 80s to offset a mediocre first spell from the Lord's hero, Shahadatr, and kept the left-handers Strauss and Alastair Cook on their toes by intermittently switching his line from over to round the wicket.

His determination paid off in the 12th over of the day, as Strauss succumbed to an excellent rising delivery that angled across his bows, snicked the edge, and flew hard and fast to Imrul Kayes at second slip. Six balls later, Shafiul added his second, as Trott followed up his double-century at Lord's by falling victim to an excellent bustling delivery that wormed its way off an inside-edge into the top of middle stump. Trott looked stunned at the dismissal, and took his time to react, but he had gone for 3 from five balls, and at 48 for 2, England were in a touch of strife.

Their uncertainty was compounded with 15 minutes of the morning session remaining, when Cook poked injudiciously at Razzak's first delivery and snicked a regulation edge to Junaid Siddique at slip, and Razzak could well have added a second straightway, had Shakib thought to post a short leg to the incoming Bell. By the time he called upon the extra fielder, however, a looping bat-pad opportunity had already been and gone. With Shafiul struggling through thereafter with cramp, Bangladesh's effectiveness was dented in the afternoon session, but their determination was undimmed, and by the close they were very much in the contest.

Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo.