England fall to T20 series whitewash defeat in Bangladesh

World champions England were consigned to a humiliating Twenty20 whitewash by Bangladesh after a capitulation under lights that placed further scrutiny on their lack of batting firepower.

Jos Buttler’s team were well placed at 100 for one, needing 59 off the final seven overs, to avoid a 3-0 defeat in their first series since winning the World Cup.

But the departures of set batters Dawid Malan and Buttler in consecutive deliveries plunged the chase into chaos, and just as in the Bangladesh innings, batting got harder as the ball got softer.

The rest of a makeshift top six crumbled under the pressure and realistic hopes of victory disappeared when, with 40 runs required off the final 23 deliveries, vice-captain Moeen Ali picked out deep square leg.

Ben Duckett lost his off-stump to Taskin Ahmed later in the over, the 17th, and the equation was 30 off a dozen deliveries when no 6 Sam Curran miscued off Shakib Al Hasan.

Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler put England in a strong position, but both men were dismissed in consecutive balls

Taskin Ahmed (above) dismissed Moeen Ali and Ben Duckett in the same over

Duckett’s dismissal left England with a mountain to climb and they failed to get over the line

With 27 needed off six, Chris Woakes twice found the rope but Hasan Mahmud kept his nerve to complete a famous and well-deserved victory in Bangladesh’s cricket history.

England had overcome some difficulties at the start of their innings to give themselves a chance.

Malan was reprieved on six when, having been given out leg before to Taskin Ahmed, a review showed up an inside edge.

England had already lost Phil Salt by that stage, stumped off debutant Tanvir Islam in the opening over, and could ill afford an early second given their limited batting resources here.

And with both Malan and Buttler nailing chances to find the rope whenever the Bangladeshi bowlers erred, it appeared the two set batsmen had things under control.

Malan had a couple of scares when along the way: Najmul Hossain Shanto palming a six over the line at long-on, and Towhid Hridoy failing to cling on to a diving chance in the covers before he reached a 43-ball 50.

But their dramatic departures in consecutive deliveries at the start of the 14th over put a different complexion on the chase.

First, Malan nicked behind off Mustafizur Rahman to leave England 100 for two, and the noise levels in the Shere Bangla Stadium hit ear-bursting levels when Buttler was run out by Mehidy Hasan Mira’s direct hit from Ben Duckett’s first ball.

Earlier, after Jos Buttler won his first toss in nine attempts this year, England sloppiness in the field undermined it, gifting Bangladesh openers Rony Talukdar and Litton Das a life apiece and littering the first half of a substandard bowling innings with extra deliveries.

Jofra Archer was the unfortunate bowler on each occasion as steeplers were floored by Rehan Ahmed and Ben Duckett, to reprieve Rony and Litton eight overs apart, on 17 and 51 respectively.

Archer’s opening spell was as fiery as his last in Sunday’s second match when his three for 13 threatened to breathe new life into the series, but he simply had no luck, and was also the victim of one of two Duckett misfields on the boundary.

The opening 10 overs also included half a dozen wides and a no-ball, and Litton preyed upon the profligacy to hit his highest Twenty20 international score, putting an horrendous sequence of

Litton Das starred with the bat as he hit 73 from 57 balls to help his side post a competitive total

28 runs in five previous visits to the crease during this tour behind him.

When Litton and Bangladesh’s new batting star Najmul Hossain Shanto raced to a 50-run stand for the second wicket inside five overs – after Rony got into a tangle reverse sweeping and coughed up a return catch to Adil Rashid – things looked ominous.

Buttler continued to hunt wickets in a bid to restrict the hosts, yet despite claiming only one – Chris Jordan moving back in front as England’s leading wicket-taker when Litton holed out, after Rashid had drawn level at 95-95 – his attack ground the scoring to a halt.

With seamers Jordan, Sam Curran and Archer excelling at the death by taking pace off the ball, Bangladesh could muster only 29 runs off the final 33 balls, and left the door ajar for England, only for them to trap their fingers in it.