Former captain Nasser Hussain has praised the English top-order for their approach in their second match of ICC ODI World Cup match against Bangladesh on Tuesday.
The top-three batters breached the 50-run mark in the match, helping England post a mammoth 364 runs on the board. Dawid Malan notched up a century while Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root scored 52 and 82 respectively.
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Hussain reckons all three batters could demonstrate their quality as they only played orthodox shots instead of taking unnecessary risks.
“I thought the England top three got their tempo absolutely spot on here in Dharamshala. Without really slogging at any stage, Bairstow, Malan and Root were exceptional, playing proper cricket shots,” Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
England made a disappointing start to their ODI World Cup campaign, suffering a 9-wicket loss to New Zealand in the tournament opener.
As per Hussain, the victory over Bangladesh will work as a huge confidence boost for the Jos Buttler-led side. The 55-year-old also seemed quite impressed with the English bowling unit, especially Reece Topley who replaced Moeen Ali in the eleven.
Topley put up an enthralling show upon his return to the team. The 29-year-old ripped through the Bangladesh top-order and finished with four wickets under his belt.
“On his recall, Reece Topley was magnificent with the new ball at the other end, bowling that bail-trimming length, and getting the ball to swing and bounce from his extra height,” Hussain wrote.
Captain Buttler also garnered appreciation from Hussain for giving confidence to Chris Woakes, who was struggling to find his form.
The cricketer-turned-commentator believes Buttler read the situation well and opted for proper field sets as per the needs of his bowlers. “It was exceptionally good captaincy from Buttler- giving Topley a couple of slips up front and keeping Woakes going when short of form and confidence,” Hussain noted.
Coming in to chase the huge target, Bangladesh suffered a massive collapse during the first ten overs. Four batters including captain Shakib Al Hasan returned to the pavilion for single-digit scores.
Opener Litton Das, however, stuck to the crease and joined hands with Mushfiqur Rahim to begin the rescue operation. Das was dismissed for 76 runs, while Rahim also got a half-century, scoring 51 off 64 balls. Their efforts, however, were not enough to secure the win. Bangladesh were ultimately bundled out for 227 runs.
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