Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan pointed out that their lack of ability to utilize the early moisture of the wicket led their big defeat to England in their second game of the ICC Cricket World Cup.
“It was a good toss to win, there was some rain last night. There was some help for the faster bowlers but we didn't start well," he said after the match.
"When you give them a sniff, they will always come at us strong. We did well in the last 10 overs but it will always be tough to chase 350."
When the condition was ideal to swing the ball, the pacers couldn't do that and England openers got a space to milk runs at will with Dawid Malan leading the way.
He hit his career-best 107 ball-140 to help the side post a mammoth 364-9, a target that Bangladesh never successfully chased in its history. The fate of the match was decided here indeed. Bangladesh were all out for 227 in 48.2 overs to concede 137-run defeat.
"We planned well, but we couldn't execute. The ball was swinging nicely, needed to put in the right areas and build momentum. Once they got the momentum it was tough to contain them," Shakib added.
In the same wicket, England pacer Reece Topley showed how to do the ball talk. He swung the ball in both ways to take 4-43. In his opening spell, he took three wickets to leave Bangladesh at tricky 49-4 after which the Tigers could never came back in the match.
Taskin Ahmed, the leader of Bangladesh fast bowling attack, admitted their fault, saying that they couldn't' execute the plan well.
"It's our fault that we couldn't use the condition well when it was favourable for fast bowling," Taskin said.
It seemed that Taskin and other pacers of Bangladesh had problem in bowling run up due to the condition of the outfield but he didn't use it as excuse because England pacers enjoyed success in the same condition.
"I don't want to use it as excuse. We couldn't do well and that's it. But we'll try to bounce back," he added.
Bangladesh bowlers came back well in the death overs, taking six wickets for 66 runs in last 10 overs. But the damage was done.
Captain Shakib said anything like 320 would be good total for them to chase.
"I think the position they were in, they could have scored 380-390, we restricted them well. But I think 320 would have been a good total to chase here."
Bangladesh got the momentum by beating Afghanistan by six wickets in the first match. The defeat at the hands of England though dented the momentum, Shakib said they hope to hit back against in form New Zealand, a game which will be held on Friday.
"It is a long tournament, we have a tough fixture coming up in Chennai, NZ are playing well. We have to move on, keep doing the right things and take it one game at a time."
