Cricket: England beat Bangladesh by a massive 168 runs

Paul Collingwood launched an assault on the record books as England beat Bangladesh by a massive 168 runs in the NatWest Series day-nighter at Trent Bridge.

After helping stack up 391 for four, the second-largest total in limited-overs history, alongside fellow centurion Andrew Strauss, Durham all-rounder Collingwood surprisingly claimed the best-ever one-day figures by an Englishman.

Only West Indies great Viv Richards, 18 years ago in New Zealand, had struck a hundred and taken five wickets in limited-overs history prior to Collingwood raising the bar with a rapid 112 and six for 31.

More remarkably, Collingwood did not walk to the middle until the 25th over of the innings but soon made the longest day of the year feel like exactly that for the Asian minnows, exploiting a good batting surface to such an extent that current batting star Kevin Pietersen was denied a knock at his former county headquarters.

If Saturday's win over Australia was the ultimate breakthrough for the Bangladeshis, this was the ultimate breakdown as England battered their inexperienced attack. Not even more heroics from Mohammad Ashraful, the man of the match in that five-wicket win in Cardiff, could alter the course of a run-drenched contest.

Having struck exactly 100 at Sophia Gardens, he followed up by blasting a 19-ball half-century studded with three sixes and six fours. Although he continued in similar mode for another half-an-hour, during which time he hit another five fours, he fell for 94 when he missed an attempted paddle at Collingwood's medium pace.

The 20-year-old even outgunned Marcus Trescothick who catalysed England from circumspect beginnings in the face of a testing new-ball spell from Mashrafe Mortaza, before falling 15 runs shy of a fourth hundred in as many innings against Bangladesh this summer.

Trescothick and Strauss, who shared an unbroken 192-run stand in the crushing victory at the Oval last week, rattled along in excess of a-run-a-ball. By the end of those fielding restrictions, however, they had reached 128 without loss thanks largely to the profligacy of Tapash Baisya - warned for running on the pitch, blighted with a no-ball problem in addition to misdirection - and Trescothick's clean-hitting.

Strauss survived two chances of contrasting difficulty, put down at gully by debutant Shahriar Nafees, off 17-year-old pace bowler Nazmul Hossain by that time. It was only Mortaza's final over of a 6-0-23-0 spell, in which Strauss cut one boundary and Trescothick short-arm jabbed another, which upped the ante.

Three more followed from Trescothick's bat in the next, the 12th of the innings, when a flick off the pads cleared the ropes at square-leg for the first six of the day and crashed a cover drive before going aerial again with a loft over mid on.

When Tapash returned from the Radcliffe Road end, having been warned by umpire David Shepherd for running on the pitch, things got no better as two full balls were guided through midwicket for four as Trescothick brought up a 51-ball half-century.

The foot was firmly on the accelerator as Trescothick blasted a six and four fours in a Tapash over which cost 23 runs shortly before Nazmul brought about the 29-year-old's demise and a mini-slump of three wickets for 38.

One ambitious smite too many resulted in a catch spiralling to extra cover off a thick leading edge and Nazmul soon doubled his tally when captain Vaughan chopped his eighth delivery into his stumps.

Prompted no doubt by the swift start, England promoted Andrew Flintoff, the first of their big hitters to number four, ahead of Collingwood and Pietersen, perhaps in a quest to get the Lancashire all-rounder some time in the middle as much as to keep up the scintillating scoring rate.

But it was a fleeting stay as, after one pulled six off left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique, Flintoff mis-hit to long off for the second time in three days, medium-pacer Aftab Ahmed the beneficiary of a good diving catch by captain Habibul Bashar.

Strauss ploughed on to his second one-day century, reaching the landmark in exactly 100 deliveries, manipulating the ball into gaps and scampering between the wickets on the way.
His was the supporting role as Collingwood elected the aerial route as 191 runs came from the final 19 overs; four times the Durham all-rounder cleared the ropes as his own century occupied only 77 balls.

In contrast to Collingwood's muscular approach, left-hander Strauss paddled and glided boundaries behind the wicket to get to his 150 in only 26 additional deliveries. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique got off lightest, with his 10 overs costing just 54, among the mayhem.

There was little to suggest Bangladesh would offer such an entertaining riposte as Chris Tremlett marked his England debut by missing a hat-trick by the narrowest of margins.
The 23-year-old Hampshire pace bowler, in for the rested Darren Gough, made the most of his 6ft 7ins frame to extract considerable bounce, gaining an initial breakthrough when opener Shahriar Nafees played on and dismissing Tushar Imran caught behind next ball.

With an attacking field in place, Tremlett charged in and looked on in disbelief as Ashraful jabbed down defensively to bounce the ball onto the top of the bails without dislodging them.
Undeterred Tremlett returned to polish off the innings, doubling his tally with two straight yorkers, to finish with four for 32.

His performance and the return of spinner Ashley Giles, after a lengthy lay-off with a hip injury, were positives but it was the unlikely Collingwood, 29, who stole the limelight. The sextet began with Ashraful, included the demises of Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar and Aftab Ahmed - the latter two in successive deliveries - as the Bangladeshis struggled to deal with his subtle changes in pace.