CHITTAGONG: England captain Andrew Strauss picked out early evening dew as a key factor in Friday’s shock two-wicket defeat by Bangladesh which left their World Cup campaign in the balance.
Only victory in their final round-robin Group B match on March 17 against the West Indies in Chennai will secure Strauss’s men a place in the final eight.
Apart from a ninth-wicket partnership of 58 which took the co-hosts home with an over and two wickets to spare, Strauss said dew which emerged in the outfield during the Bangladesh innings had badly hampered his bowlers.
“There was a 20-over period where it was very, very bad,” Strauss said in a news conference after the day-night match.
“Graeme Swann couldn’t grip the ball at all. I think there’s something not quite right if a spinner can’t grip the ball in this part of the world where spin plays such an important role,” he said.
“Graeme was obviously very frustrated — he felt he had a big role to play in the game and for a period there we had to take him off until later on when he could grip it.”
Swann conceded 42 runs in his 10 overs for two wickets as Bangladesh edged to 227-8 to win the game in a massive turnaround of their fortunes after West Indies had bowled them out for 58 runs in their previous game and won by nine wickets.
“We thought we were in a great position to win it,” continued Strauss, whose team had reduced Bangladesh to 169-8 at one stage.
“Ajmal (Shahzad) was ‘reversing’ it a little bit, and bowled a really good spell there,” said the England skipper.
“(But) the dew makes reverse-swing a lot harder as well,” said Strauss.
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