Chittagong: Ben Duckett and Sam Billings hit half-centuries as England cruised to four-wicket victory in the third one-day international to win the three-match series against Bangladesh in Chittagong yesterday.
Set a challenging target after leg-spinner Adil Rashid’s career best four for 43 restricted Bangladesh to 277-6, England passed the target losing six wickets in 47.5 overs with Duckett scoring innings highest 63 runs, his second fifty in the series.
The visitors’ victory also ended Bangladesh’s unbeaten run of six consecutive series at home dating back from November 2014.
Playing his first match in the series, Billings got his maiden fifty scoring 62 runs off 69 balls, which gave England much-needed solidity.
Billings, who replaced injured Jason Roy in the team, forged a 63-run opening stand with James Vince (32) and then added another 64-run partnership with Duckett to put England firmly in the controller’s seat.
Mortaza finished with two for 51 to join team-mate Shakib Al Hasan as Bangladesh’s leading wicket-taker with 215 scalps but came as little consolation as Ben Stokes (47 not out) and Chris Woakes (27 not out) took England home comfortably.
Leg spinner Rashid earlier took full advantage of a turning wicket to derail Bangladesh’s innings with regular strikes in his unbroken 10 overs stretch after Tamim Iqbal and Kayes put on 80 runs in their opening stand.
Mushfiqur Rahim top-scored for the home side with an unbeaten 67 runs while Sabbir Rahman (49), Kayes (46), Iqbal (45) and Mosaddek (38 not out) also contributed to what should be a competitive total.