Shock defeat for England

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP):

Bangladesh's players finally gave their country reason to cheer yesterday when they clinched a two-wicket win over England that keeps alive hopes of the co-hosts reaching the quarter-finals.

After the spinners restricted England to 225 all out, Bangladesh survived a minor collapse from 155-3 to 169-8 to bounce back in style from last week's humiliating nine-wicket loss to the West Indies.

Mahmuduallah Riad and Shafiul Islam put on an unbeaten 58 for the ninth wicket to steer their team to 227 and just a second ever win in 15 one-day internationals against England.

Just a week after angry fans hurled stones at captain Shakib Al Hasan's house and the opposition team bus in protest at a nine-wicket humiliation against the West Indies, Bangladesh can now overtake England in the Group B standings if they beat the Netherlands at the same venue on Monday.

That would likely leave England needing to beat the West Indies in Chennai next week to advance from Group B.

Hard to believe

"I always have belief in my team,'' Shakib said. "They worked really hard, day in, day out, over last few days. It simply paid off. It proved that we can make a comeback from any situation.

"But frankly, it took me for a while to believe that we have won the game.''

After two wins, two defeats and a tie, the only consistent thing about England's World Cup campaign is the batting of Jonathan Trott, who scored his fourth half-century from five tournament innings after Bangladesh had won the toss.

Almost half the 17,451 fans at Chittagong's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium had left, seemingly resigned to defeat, when James Anderson conceded five wides off the first ball of the 45th over to leave Bangladesh needing to score at just a run a ball.

Anderson gave away two more wides and a leg bye off the same over, which went for 11 runs. With the pressure off, Shafiul hit Bresnan for two boundaries off the 47th over

First-ever win over England

Mahmuduallah finished on 21 and Shafiul on 24 to take Bangladesh over the line for a first-ever win over England in Bangladesh. Their only previous win over England was a 5-run victory in Bristol last year.

"We thought we were in a great position to win it,'' England captain Andrew Strauss said. "You expect to win games from that circumstance. But that is one-day cricket.''

Tamim Iqbal's 38 from 26 balls got the home side's reply off to a quickfire start before Imrul Kayes top-scored with 60 in a crucial 82-run stand for the fourth wicket with Shakib (32).

Tamim's wicket was one of three to fall for just 21 runs as Bangladesh slipped to 73-3 but Kayes and Shakib steadied the innings. Bangladesh was cruising but Kayes was run out going for an unnecessary second run, the first of five wickets to fall for just 14 runs.

Half-centuries by Eoin Morgan and Trott had steered England out of early trouble at 53-3. But in a tournament where England's bowling was poor for three matches before dispatching South Africa last time out, now it seems the batting also needs work.

"Losing three wickets early with the bat certainly didn't help us,'' Strauss said. "It was a pretty slow, low, stodgy wicket. And we needed wickets in hand to get up to 240 or 250, which would have been a very good score.''

• Support for Akmal

KANDY, Sri Lanka:

Pakistan players are rallying around besieged wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal as he tries to rebuild his confidence after a disastrous performance against New Zealand.

"It's mentally tough for him (Akmal) in this situation, but we are trying to give him full support,'' vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq told reporters yesterday. "The wicketkeeper is a key member of the team and I hope with the support of players and the team management, he will make a strong comeback.''

Akmal has been pilloried at home for his performance against New Zealand when he twice dropped Ross Taylor before he had even begun to plunder a match winning innings of 131.

Team coach Waqar Younis kept Akmal behind the stumps during a three-hour training session yesterday when his top bowlers were used to test his batsmen in the middle of a batting square. Waqar stood as umpire to monitor the players.

Misbah said Pakistan's players could not afford to keep regretting Akmal's mistakes and should move on in the World Cup.

"I think anyone could have a bad day whether it's a wicketkeeper or any other player, but as a team we have to stay together, back each other,'' he said.

"These are the players who commit mistakes and these are the same players who win you matches, if we keep on reminding us about those dropped catches we can't move forward,'' Misbah said.

CAPTION: Bangladesh's batsman Mahmudullah Riad celebrates after scoring the winning runs during their Cricket World Cup Group B match against England at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong, Bangladesh, yesterday. Bangladesh won by two wickets with six balls remaining. - AP