Bangladesh remain stubbornly in the rear-view mirror of the World Cup’s fancied four and appear determined not to give up the chase.
Inspired by another magnificent all-round display by Shakib Al Hasan, they defeated Afghanistan here to move within a single point of England ahead of the host nation’s crunch meeting with Australia at Lord’s on Tuesday.
And fittingly for a side nicknamed The Tigers, they are stalking in the tournament long grass ready to pounce on any of the leading sides who slip up in the denouement of this long group phase.
Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh celebrates taking the wicket of Afghanistan's Gulbadin Naib
Mushfiqur Rahim of Bangladesh celebrates getting his half century against Afghanistan
Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib takes off his helmet in disgust after losing his wicket
It could well be the law of the jungle for England if they lose to the old enemy now.
While it’s true that Bangladesh will likely have to defeat India at Edgbaston next Tuesday and Pakistan at Lord’s three days after that to reach the semi-finals, they remain capable of disrupting the established order.
It was another day for Shakib, rightly considered the world’s best all-rounder at the moment, to pluck the many strings to his cricketing bow. He made 51 off 69 balls with the bat - the Bangladesh-dominated crowd in Southampton disappointed when he was trapped lbw - and then returned tournament-best figures of 10-1-29-5.
India’s Yuvraj Singh - against Ireland in 2011 - is the only other man to take five wickets and hit 50 in a World Cup contest. Many neutrals and cricketing romantics are desperate for Afghanistan to win at least one match at this World Cup but Bangladesh had no time for such sentiment. Their 62 run victory was richly deserved.
Afghanistan set a very slow pace in their run chase, and couldn't get the runs they required
Having put Bangladesh in to bat, Afghanistan’s bowlers did brilliantly to squeeze the flow of runs during the middle overs before their opponents eventually managed to free themselves of the shackles late on.
It was Mujeeb Ur Rahman who truly shone for Afghanistan, taking three wickets in all after gaining the early breakthrough of Liton Das, who miscued a drive to extra cover where Hashmatullah Shahidi managed to get enough fingers under the ball in a low take.
Shakib and Tamim Iqbal built with their fourth consecutive 50 partnership in one-day matches before Mohammad Nabi managed to fool Tamim with a slower ball that hit top of middle and off stump. Shakib, enjoying a quite wonderful World Cup, successfully reviewed one lbw dismissal
