England romped to another impressive win at the T20 World Cup as they beat Bangladesh by eight wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Jason Roy starred as he plundered 61 from 38 balls, helping his team ease to the 125-run target set by their opponents for victory with almost six overs remaining.
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat first. They got off to a promising start, putting 10 runs on the board in the first over, with Liton Das hitting Moeen Ali for two boundaries.
However, things soon turned as Moeen (2-18) took two wickets in two balls in the third over, and from there the runs dried up as the wickets steadily fell.
Chris Woakes (1-12) and Liam Livingstone (2-15) impressed with the ball, and the only moment that resembled a fightback from Bangladesh was in the 19th over when Adil Rashid (0-35) was hit for 17, including the only two sixes of the innings from Nasum Ahmed (19).
A solid final over with the ball from Tymal Mills (3-27) saw just four runs scored, with two wickets coming in the final two balls of the innings to leave Bangladesh on 124-9 from their 20 overs, a total England comfortably reached.
Roy sets tone for England reply
Roy smashed the first ball of the innings for four and Jos Buttler hit 18 from 18 balls before falling to Nasum (1-26).
Dawid Malan (28 not out) continued the England momentum but it was five fours and three sixes from Roy in exactly an hour at the crease which did most of the heavy lifting for England.
The opener was out before the end when he hit a Shoriful Islam (1-26) ball into the hands of Nasum, allowing Jonny Bairstow (eight not out) to see his team home with 35 balls still remaining, giving Eoin Morgan's side their second win in as many games in the tournament.
Moeen makes swift progress
Bangladesh had not had a display of Roy's ilk in their own top order thanks to the exploits of Moeen with the ball. Quickly recovering from a potentially damaging first over, the spinner mopped up Das and Mohammad Naim from consecutive balls to reduce Bangladesh to 14-2.
Those were Moeen's third and fourth power play wickets at this World Cup, only trailing Maheesh Theekshana (five) in that regard. Despite the initial wobble, he has also managed an economy rate of 5.5 and a dot ball rate of 64 per cent in this period.
Leeds United 4-0 Norwich City (4-0 agg): Whites book Wembley spot in emphatic fashion
Leeds United thumped Norwich City 4-0 in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final to seal their place at Wembley.
After a goalless draw in the first leg left it all to play for at Elland Road on Thursday, Leeds turned on the style in front of a raucous home crowd to cruise into the final on May 26.
Ilia Gruev settled the majority of Elland Road's nerves with just seven minutes played as he caught out Angus Gunn with a long-range free-kick, curling into the space vacated by the Norwich goalkeeper's expectation of a cross.
Joel Piroe then doubled the hosts' advantage 13 minutes later, again capitalising on poor goalkeeping to beat Gunn to Wilfried Gnonto's cross and nod home.
The tie was effectively over five minutes from half-time, Georginio Rutter getting on the end of Crysencio Summerville's squared pass to rifle off the underside of the crossbar and in.
And after Gunn spilled Gnonto's low shot in the second half, Rutter cut the ball back for Summerville to poke home and secure Leeds' place in next Sunday's final, where they will meet either Southampton or West Brom.
Data debrief
Leeds may have looked pretty blunt in attack at Carrow Road, but that was far from the case on home soil as they put the Canaries to the sword in brutal fashion while keeping a 21st Championship clean sheet this season, more than any other side.
Daniel Farke's men produced 2.45 xG (expected goals) to Norwich's 0.51, while Summerville made it 20 league goals for the season, more than any other Leeds player.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Warm-Up matches confirmed
The official warm-up match fixtures for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 have been announced. Matches are scheduled to be played from Monday 27 May to Saturday 1 June across the USA and at two venues in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies.
The venues to host the 16 warm up matches are the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas; Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida and Queen’s Park Oval and Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago.
Warm-up fixtures will be 20 overs per side and will not carry international T20 status as teams will be allowed to field all members of their 15-player squad. In a change from the previous rights cycle, teams will now have the option of playing up to two warm-up matches depending on arrival time at the event.
The West Indies against Australia fixture at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday 30 May will be open to fans, tickets will be available at tickets.t20worldcup.com or box offices located at the National Cricket Centre and Queen’s Park Oval from 16 May.
Warm-up match schedule:
Monday 27 May
Canada v Nepal, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 10h30
Oman v Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 15h00
Namibia v Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 19h00
Tuesday 28 May
Sri Lanka v Netherlands, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida 10h30
Bangladesh v USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 10h30
Australia v Namibia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 19h00
Wednesday 29 May
South Africa intra-squad, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida 10h30
Afghanistan v Oman, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 13h00
Thursday 30 May
Nepal v USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 10h30
Scotland v Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 10h30
Netherlands v Canada, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 15h00
Namibia v Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 15h00
West Indies v Australia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 19h00
Friday 31 May
Ireland v Sri Lanka, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida 10h30
Scotland v Afghanistan, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 10h30
Saturday 1 June
Bangladesh v India, Venue TBC USA
IPL: Washout confirms SRH play-off place
Sunrisers Hyderabad are into the Indian Premier League play-offs despite their game against Gujarat Titans being abandoned without even doing the toss due to rain.
SRH move onto 15 points, with one game remaining, but are now ensured a top-four finish for the first time since 2020.
Their top-two hopes have taken a hit though – they have to beat Punjab Kings in their final game and hope Rajasthan Royals lose to Kolkata Knights Riders to finish second.
The Titans were already out of play-off contention after their previous game against KKR was also called off due to a heavy storm without hitting a ball. They finish their season currently third from bottom, though that could change depending on results in the final few matches.
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