STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsHigh on confidence from their 70-ball win against West Indies, England were up against a deflated Bangladesh in the first encounter. In the other match, Scotland were up against Namibia in search of some assurance after a dismal batting and bowling display.
Bangladesh won the flip of the coin and decided to bat first. But, it backfired on them. Both openers were dismissed in back-to-back deliveries of the third over. Their most experienced batsman Shakib Al Hasan as well was dismissed in the last over of the powerplay. None of their batsmen, including Mushfiqur Rahim got going. Hence, they crawled to a score of 124/9. It was a cakewalk for England. Jason Roy was the star with the bat as he scored 61 off just 38 balls. Eventually, England won the encounter with eight wickets and 35 balls margin.
In the second match, once again, Scotland were off to their worst possible start batting first. The left-arm pacer Ruben Trumpelmann struck off the first delivery and followed it up by another two in the first over. In the first six overs, Scotland were down to 22/4. But, a blistering 27-ball 44 by Michael Leask, prevented Scotland from yet another collapse. In the end, all Scotland could get was 109 runs on board. Chasing a meager total, Namibian batsmen had all the time. There were few hiccups in between as they lost wickets in the middle overs. But, the target was too low to instigate any panic. Namibia won their first encounter in the Super 12 stage with four wickets. Here are some notable stats from Match 20 and 21:
Struggles for Liton Das
In the absence of Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das is their most experienced opener. After a good year of T20 cricket in 2020, Liton is striving to score runs in 2021. Apart from a 33 against New Zealand in September and a 29 against Papua New Guinea in this edition, he has struggled to go past 20 in the rest of the 11 innings. Hence, his average this year dropped down to 10.8 in 13 innings. Among the top five batsmen of the Test playing nations who have scored 100+ runs, only Tadiwanashee Marumani off Zimbabwe has averaged lower than him.
England bowlers peaking
It was another successful outing for the England bowlers in this edition of World Cup. After skittling out West Indies for just 55, English bowlers on cloud nine were too much for the Bangladeshi batsmen. A collective performance that was led by Tymal Mills (3/27) saw Bangladesh score 124/9. This is the lowest total against England for a team after batting full 20 overs in a T20 WC match.
Roy shines in his 50th T20I
Chasing a low total off 125, openers like Roy play a vital role in magnifying the net run rate. In Match 20, Roy reached his second 50+ score in T20 WC. For England, he became the second opener to have multiple scores in T20 WC. Alex Hales is the other opener to achieve this feat. He has one century and one half-century. As a cherry on top, his fiery innings fetched him the Player of the Match award and he became the second England player after Eoin Morgan to bag a Player of the Match award in their 50th T20I.
Trumpelmann topples Scotland’s top-order
In search of a redemption from their previous batting display, Scotland sunk further against Namibia. In this match, it wasn't a mystery spin but a tall lanky fast bowler in the form of Trumpelmann. In the first delivery of the match, George Munsey chopped it on to the stumps. In his third and fourth delivery, Callum McCleod and Richie Berrington were packed off for ducks and in a matter of minutes of the start, Trumpelmann had three. He became the first ever bowler in T20Is to pick up three wickets in the first overs of the match. Overall, he was the third bowler to achieve this feat in a T20I innings after Angelo Mathews in 2009 T20 WC against West Indies and Emmanuel Sebareme of Rwanda against Lesotho in 2021.
Slumped to a low
After losing their main run scorers in the first over, Scotland made a decent enough recovery as compared to their match against Afghanistan. Leask was the main contributor in that with a 27-ball 44-run knock. But, lack of support from other batsmen saw Scotland post only 109/8 in their full quota of 20 overs. In a T20 WC innings in which a team has played full 20 overs without being all-out, this is the second lowest score.
Left-arm pacers day-out
Starting with Trumpelmann in the first over, the flurry of wickets ended with Jan Frylinck in the 19th over. Out of the eight wickets bagged by Namibia in this innings, six off them belonged to left-arm pacers. Wiese bagged one and another one came off a run-out in the last ball of the innings. In a T20 WC innings, this is the joint most wickets bagged by left-arm pacers.
The early jolt
Stupendous bowling in the first over by Trumpelmann saw Scotland reduced to three for just two runs. In a T20 WC match, this was only the fourth time a team had been reduced to three wickets for less than five runs. Kenya against New Zealand in the inaugural edition of the T20 WC were three down for zero runs on board. West Indies in 2009 against Sri Lanka and Netherlands in 2014 against the same opponents were three for just one run on board.
