T20 World Cup 2021: Jason Roy, bowlers help England thump Bangladesh

England raced to a second successive victory at the Twenty20 World Cup with an eight-wicket drubbing of Bangladesh on Wednesday in the two nations’ first-ever meeting in the format. Opening batsman Jason Roy smashed 61 off 38 balls as England romped to their victory target of 125 in 14.1 overs in the Super 12 clash in Abu Dhabi. Roy reached his seventh T20 half-century with a straight six in his 50th match and put on a key partnership of 73 with Dawid Malan, who made an unbeaten 28. Left-arm quick Tymal Mills took three wickets to combine with spinners Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone to restrict Bangladesh to 124-9. Eoin Morgan’s England, the world’s number one-ranked T20 team, top Group 1 with two big wins after a six-wicket thrashing of holders West Indies in their tournament opener. Bangladesh, who were beaten in their opening Super 12 match by Sri Lanka, lost regular wickets after electing to bat first in Abu Dhabi. After giving away 10 runs in the opening over of the innings, Moeen hit back to be on a hat-trick in his second over, only to be denied by Mushfiqur Rahim, who top-scored with 29. Moeen, an off-spinner, had Liton Das caught at deep square leg for nine and then sent back Mohammad Naim trudging back to the pavilion for five. Bangladesh found themselves in trouble at 26-3 when Chris Woakes claimed Shakib Al Hasan’s key scalp with Adil Rashid taking a good catch running backwards. Shakib fell for four. Mushfiqur and skipper Mahmudullah Riyad, who made 19, tried to repair the damage in a 37-run partnership before Livingstone broke through. Livingstone trapped Mushfiqur lbw, but England had to use the umpire referral to have the decision in their favour after the onfield official ruled it not out. Bangladesh kept faltering as a run-out cost Afif Hossain his wicket for five and Mahmudullah departed, for 19, soon after with Livingstone getting his second wicket. Number nine Nasum Ahmed hit an unbeaten 19 off nine balls to give the Bangladesh total some respect as he smashed Rashid for two sixes and a four in the 19th over. But the effort remained well below par with the England batsmen having little trouble in their batting reply despite Jos Buttler’s wicket for 18. Roy smashed five fours and three sixes in his attacking knock that took the steam out of the Bangladesh bowling. Malan, playing in his first T20 World Cup match, got useful batting time after the left-hander did not get a chance to bat in the first match. Jonny Bairstow hit the winning boundary in his unbeaten eight.