Bangladesh's top scorer, Sakib al Hasan, sweeps on his way to 57 not out against England in their Super Eight clash at Kensington Oval in Barbados yesterday. Looking on is England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon. England won the match by four wickets. - Dellmar photo BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP):
ENGLAND RODE through another batting collapse to keep their World Cup hopes alive yesterday with a four-wicket Super Eight win over Bangladesh.
England won the toss and an effective combination of seam and spin reduced Bangladesh to only 143 in 37.2 overs. England laboured to top that total but made 147 for six with 5.1 overs to spare.
"There are areas of the game that we are going to have to improve upon," said England captain Michael Vaughan, whose team has four points, two fewer than its big rivals, for a semi-final spot, South Africa.
"But we've got over the line and we've got the two points. The game against South Africa is gearing up like a quarter-final of the World Cup. We are in a position where if we win the last two games, we reach the semi-finals but our performance will need to improve a little bit from today."
Pace and bounce
England's seam attack of Sajid Mahmood, James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff found plenty of pace and bounce on the new Kensington Oval wicket and Monty Panesar finished off the tail with three wickets.
Despite a Super Eight victory over South Africa, Bangladesh are facing elimination from the tournament.
"About the way we played, I am very happy," said team captain Habibul Bashar. "We've still got two games left, so we can push those two games as well. I am very happy the way Bangladesh still are going. We need to be more consistent. If we can be a bit more consistent, we will win more games."
Chasing a modest total, England's top order once again batted ineptly.
Ian Bell played a loose drive outside the off stump and was caught by Aftab Ahmed at point without scoring. Andrew Strauss batted aggressively, taking the score to 48 with Vaughan before Syed Russel trapped him leg before wicket.
In the middle of a poor run of form, Vaughan managed 30 before he tried to take on Bangladesh's deceptively innocuous-looking spin attack, top edging Abdur Razzak to Bashar at fine leg.
Casual flick
Kevin Pietersen fell for only 10 with a casual flick to substitute fielder Farhad Reza and England was faltering at 79 for four. Andrew Flintoff smashed a six and two fours before unwisely going on to the back foot to spinner Mohammad Rafique and missing the ball completely.
He had scored 23 and Ravi Bopara fell in the same over without scoring, his tentative back-foot shot rebounding off his leg and on to the stumps.
At 110 for six, Bangladesh looked as if they were going to pull off another shock to rival their victories over India and South Africa.
It took the cool heads of Paul Collingwood and wicketkeeper Paul Nixon to see England home to victory. They put on 37 in the face of naggingly accurate bowling from Bangladesh to see England home. Nixon finished the match with a pulled four and made 20 and Collingwood was unbeaten on 23.
In Bangladesh's innings, Mah-mood's second delivery reared up at Tamim Iqbal and the ball flew off the shoulder of his bat to Collingwood at backward point with the score on nine.
Shahriar Nafees lobbed a simple chance to Vaughan at mid-on, but he dropped it. In disgust and without realising any possibilities were available, Vaughan hurled the ball back to wicketkeeper Nixon.
Nafees and captain Habibul Bashar ran half-heartedly and crossed before realising that Vaughan had thrown the ball back and Nixon had the simple job to take the bails off with Bashar yards out of his crease. That left Bangladesh on 23 for two.
Nafees, possibly mortified at being dropped and then running his captain out, had only scored nine when he edged a Mahmood delivery to Nixon, who fumbled it. The ball bounced out of his gloves and into the grateful hands of Strauss at second slip.
Flintoff clean bowled wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim and Bangladesh was in deep trouble on 40 for four in the 12th over.
Anderson dismissed the dangerous Mohammad Ashraful, who scored 87 against South Africa in Guyana but managed only one when he before he edged the ball to Nixon. In the next over Anderson dismissed Aftab Ahmed for 10 to leave Bangladesh on 65 for six. Shakib al Hasan and fast bowler Mashrafee Mortaza took the score on to 112 before spinner Panesar produced a gem of a delivery to persuade Mortaza to swing at the ball. He missed and saw his off stump knocked over. Mortaza managed 13 from 44 deliveries in a stand of 47 with Shakib.
Panesar then induced false strokes from Rafique and Razzak before Mahmood came back on to remove the last man and collect figures of 3-27. Panesar posted 3-25.
The 20-year-old Shakib, who scored 53 in Bangladesh's victory over India in the qualifying stages, played elegantly, driving Flintoff for successive fours to the cover boundary and cutting viciously, never looking troubled.
Bangladesh innings
| T. Iqbal c Collingwood b Mahmood | 8 |
| S. Nafeesc Strauss b Mahmood | 9 |
| H. Bashar run out (Vaughan) | 4 |
| M. Rahim b Flintoff | 7 |
| S. Al Hasan not out | 57 |
| M. Ashraful c Nixon b Anderson | 1 |
| A. Ahmed c Nixon b Anderson | 10 |
| M. Mortaza b Panesar | 13 |
| M. Rafique c Strauss b Panesar | 0 |
| A. Razzak c Collingwood b Panesar | 15 |
| S. Russel c Flintoff b Mahmood | 4 |
| Extras: (3lb, 10w, 2nb) | 15 |
| TOTAL: (all out - 37.2 overs) | 143 |
Fall: 1-9, 2-23, 3-26, 4-40, 5-47, 6-65, 7-112, 8-113, 9-137, 10-143. Bowling: James Anderson 8-0-30-2 (4w), Sajid Mahmood 8.2-0-27-3 (2w), Andrew Flintoff 8-0-38-1 (4w, 2nb), Monty Panesar 7-2-25-3, Paul Collingwood 4-0-14-0, Ravi Bopara 2-0-6-0. England innings I. Bell c Aftab b Russel | 0 |
| M. Vaughan b Bashar b Razzak | 30 |
| A. Strauss lbw Russel | 23 |
| K. Pietersen c sub (Farhad) b Razzak | 10 |
| P. Collingwood not out | 23 |
| A. Flintoff b Rafique | 23 |
| R. Bopara b Rafique | 0 |
| P. Nixon not out | 20 |
| Extras (7lb, 4b 7w) | 18 |
| TOTAL (for six wkts - 44.5 overs) | 147 |
Fall: 1-67, 2-48, 3-70, 4-79, 5-110, 6-110 Bowling: Mohammad Mortaza 8.5-2-23-0 (4w), Syed Russel 10-3-25-2, Abdur Razzak 10-1-30-2, Mohammad Rafique 10-3-33-2 (3w), Shakib Al Hasan 6-0-19-0. Result: England won by four wickets. STANDINGS
| P | W | T | L | NR | Pts |
| New Zealand | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Australia | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Sri Lanka | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| South Africa | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| England | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| West Indies | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Bangladesh | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Ireland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
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