Shafiul stars as Tigers seal thriller

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Shafiul Islam raised Bangladesh's World Cup campaign from the dead, as he turned yet another astonishing contest on its head with a breathtaking assault in the batting Powerplay to leave England stunned by their fifth cliffhanger in consecutive contests, and facing their own make-or-break encounter with West Indies in Chennai next week, reports Cricinfo. In another unbearably tense finale, Bangladesh's ninth-wicket pair of Shafiul and Mahmudullah transformed a futile situation with glorious blaze of strokeplay, as they turned an asking rate of 57 in 62 balls into a glorious victory with an over to spare. Tamim Iqbal launched Bangladesh's bid for World Cup survival with a brutal onslaught of 38 from 26 balls, before England hit back with three timely wickets to give themselves hope of defending a meagre total of 225 at Chittagong. By the halfway mark of the run-chase, however, Bangladesh were still very much in control of the contest at 123 for 3, with Graeme Swann's inability to grip the ball in dewy conditions undermining England's hopes of tightening the pressure in the middle overs. After a stuttering finish to their effort with the bat, England carried on misfiring with their initial efforts with the new ball, as the dangerman Tamim was gifted a succession of leg-stump deliveries to kick- start the run-chase and get a partisan crowd right behind his team's efforts. Four of his five boundaries came from the errant James Anderson, and at 52 for 0 in the ninth over, Bangladesh were cruising into the ascendancy. However, Tim Bresnan has stepped up to become the leader of England's attack in recent weeks, and in his second over he found an aggressive full length with a hint of late movement, and a flat-footed Tamim inside-edged onto his own stumps to stun the crowd back into silence. Bangladesh 227 for 8 (Kayes 60, Shahzad 3-63) beat England 225 (Trott 67, Bell 63) by two wickets.