Engalnd labour to beat Bangladesh, keep hopes alive for semis

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 12 (UNI) England laboured to beat Bangladesh by four wickets in their Super Eight clash and kept their hopes for a semi-final berth alive in the cricket World Cup at Kensington Oval here today.

But, this was not before Bangladesh gave the Englishmen a scare.

Chasing a modest total of 143, England found themselves in a sticky wicket as the Bangladeshi slow bowlers spun a web around them, almost threatening the third big upset of the tournament.

When the winning runs were scored by Paul Nixon in the 45th over, the victory was not only most unconvincing but had more embarrassment than taste of success.

However, the shipload of English fans did not return empty handed after a whole day of fun which saw England producing their best bowling performance of the World Cup especially by the man-of-the-match Sajid Mahmood but then a familiar batting collapse gave them more than a moment of anxiety before Paul Collingwood took the team out of the woods.

England captain Michael Vaughan admitted that his team was not playing well.

''This victory was not convincing and we must give credit to Bangladesh for the way they defended the small total. They are a team hard to beat,'' he said.

Although England has more than a mathematical chance of going to the semi-finals but the way they struggled chasing 144 against a mediocre Bangladeshi attack, very few of those 8000 fans, cheering wildly throughout the day, would actually go back to their ships convinced.

Chasing a modest total, England were rolling off their old story and lost the first wicket when the score was just seven and four top batsmen were back at the pavillion when the scoreboard read just 79.

Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar later told reporters that his batsmen were short by about 60 runs.

''Had we played more sensibily and cross the 200 runs, we could have caught England today,'' he said.

Bell was the first to go and then it was the turn of Strauss to return back to the pavilion. He was the only top order batsmen who played convincingly as at the other end Vaughan, after being dropped by wicket keeper Musfiqur Rahman, was labouring to build an innings on his fifth innings in the tournament.

Vaughan was not only short of runs but also short of confidence and his 83-ball stay at the crease to score a pathetic 30 was a grim reminder to this.

In fact, this afternoon England found itself in a bit of embarrassing position when man-in-form Kevin Pitersen also departed cheaply leaving Collingwood and Flintoff to build the innings. Both of them took the score to 110 when Flintoff was bowled by Rafique with his trade mark left arm spin which generally skid rather than spin.

Bangladesh, sensing another upset, kept up the pressure despite not having much to defend. They kept coming back to the game and the quick loss of Flintoff and Ravi Bopara in a space of just three balls actually threatened to take the match away from England for a moment as they were six down for 110 with Collinghood had the long tail in his company beside wicket keeper Nixon.

Collingwood took the responsibility, kept his cool and painstakingly carried England home with just five overs and one ball remaining in their innings.

MORE UNI