Mashrafe mesmerises as Bangladesh tear England apart to level series with 34-run win

Bangladesh have put their heartbreak in the first ODI behind them in style as a fabulous allround show from skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza powered them to a series-levelling 34-run win over England in the second.

The most successful Bangladesh captain blasted a 29-ball 44 to lift the hosts to 238-8 and then tore through the England top-order with three early wickets.

The match haul of 4-29 saw Mashrafe emulate Shakib Al Hasan as the second Bangladesh player to score 40-odd runs and take a four-for in an ODI.

The Tigers also put on a fierce fielding display following a slapdash show in the previous tie to pull off the spectacular victory.

With England reeling on 132-8, Adil Rashid (33 not out) prolonged the wait for the home crowd by pairing up in two determined stands with David Willey (9) and Jake Ball (28), worth 27 and 45 respectively, to take his team past 200.

Brave batting by Rashid and Ball even raised hopes, briefly, that the Englishmen could steal the game from Bangladesh.

But Mashrafe returned to take out Ball to help Bangladesh bounce back from a painful defeat two days ago and set up a mouth-watering series decider in Chittagong.

The 33-year-old strapping pacer gave Bangladesh a perfect start by taking out James Vince (5) and Jason Roy (13) with two full deliveries.

Shakib then went through the gates of Ben Duckett before Mashrafe took out Ben Stokes with a length ball as both batsman walked back for ducks to leave their team tottering on 26-4 in 9.4 overs.

England skipper Jos Buttler then launched a counterattack. He walked up the track and punished several short balls from Shafiul and Taskin Ahmed as the Lions reached 100 in the 22nd over.

With England cruising at more than 4.50 runs per over and the home team desperately searching for a wicket, Taskin then burst through the middle-order.

He gave the much-needed breakthrough when Bairstow got a slim edge back to Mushfiqur Rahim before earning the scalp of Buttler which put the Tigers on top.

Taskin returned 3-47 from 8 overs and Nasir Hossain, playing his first match with the Tigers after almost 11 months, took 1-29 in 10 overs.

Asked to bat first, the more established Bangladesh batsmen, barring Mahmudullah, failed to live up to the billing, leaving the lower order to do most of the work.

On a slow turning pitch, England seamers kept things tight to make sure Bangladesh were off to a sedate start before reducing them to 39-3 with first-match centurion Imrul Kayes walking back for just 11.

Mahmudullah (75) was a bright spot in Bangladesh's woeful show in the top order. He played some delightful strokes all around the wicket with impeccable footwork, lacing his 88-ball innings with six boundaries.

He added 50 runs for the fourth wicket with Mushfiqur (21) to repair the early damage but the wicketkeeper-batsman brought about his own downfall after reaching 4000 ODI runs when he pulled a bouncer from Ball to fine leg.

Shakib soon departed for 3 before Mosaddek Hossain (29) joined Mahmudullah to add 48 more as the latter brought up his 16th ODI half-century.

Legspinner Rashid snared the crucial wicket of Mahmudullah, lbw off a straighter one, and struck again in his next over to remove Mosaddek and leave the home team precariously on 169-7 in 41.4 overs.

But Mashrafe (29-ball 44) had enough with the capitulation and decided to take the fight to the tourists by clubbing two sixes off a Moeen Ali over.

With Nasir scampering for singles and doubles at the other end, the skipper blasted two more boundaries and another six off David Willey to take his side past 200 in the 45th over.

Nasir, who scored a run-a-ball 27, joined the act by cracking back-to-back boundaries off Ball in the penultimate over but Chris Woakes gave away just 6 in a tight last over that saw Mashrafe run himself out.

The duo cracked 69 valuable runs off 49 deliveries to give the bowlers something to bowl at.

Woakes, Rashid and Ball grabbed two wickets each while Ben Stokes chipped in with the wicket of Shakib.

Scorecard:

Bangladesh: 238/8 in 50 overs (Tamim 14, Kayes 11, Sabbir 3, Mahmudullah 75, Mushfiqur 21, Shakib 3, Mosaddek 29, Nasir 27 not out, Mashrafe 44, Shafiul 0*; Woakes 2/40, Ball 2/44, Rashid 2/53, Stokes 1/22)

England: 204 allout 44.3 overs (Roy 13, Vince 5, Duckett 0, Bairstow 35, Stokes 0, Buttler 57, Moeen 4, Woakes 7, Rashid 33*, Willey 9, Ball 28; Mashrafe 4/29, Taskin 3/47, Shakib 1/50, Nasir 1/29, Mosaddek 1/5)

Result: Bangladesh win by 34 runs.

Man-of-the-Match: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza