Adelaide : Mahmudullah became the first Bangladesh batsman to score a ICC World Cup hundred, guiding his team to a decent 275 for seven against England in a crucial Pool A match, here today. Bangladesh won by 15 runs to knock England out of the World Cup.
For Mahmudullah, it was his maiden One-day hundred and it could not have come at a better time as his side is still in the race to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Mahmudullah bettered Bangladesh's previous individual best of 95 made by Tamim Iqbal against Scotland earlier the tournament.
He, along with Mushfiqur Rahim, who smashed his way to 89 off 77 balls, lifted Bangladesh from a sloppy start by adding 141 runs for the fifth wicket. The partnership was another World Cup record for the Bangladesh side.
Paceman James Anderson (2/45) had provided England a fiery start by removing both the openers - Imrul Kayes (2) and Tamim Iqbal (2) - in his first two overs but the following batsmen showed a lot determination.
Mahmudullah first shared a 86-run stand with Soumya Sarkar (40) to stabilise the innings and then combined with Rahim to stitch up a decent total.
Mahmudullah's 103 came off 138 balls with seven hits to the fence and two over it and Rahim punished the British bowlers by eight fours and a six.
Bangladesh could have scored more but Chris Jordan bowled a fantastic penultimate over in which he gave away just three runs and took a wicket too.
Mortaza prideThis was Bangladesh's third win over England in their last four one-day internationals, including the two-wicket success in Chittagong during the previous World Cup four years ago."I feel very proud," said Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, who led his side superbly in the field."Mahmudullah scored his first hundred for Bangladesh, and Mushfiqur was also brilliant at the end."I think Rubel Hossain will be very happy now as he picked up four crucial wickets. I'm really happy for all those people back home who have wanted us to make it this far."We had a good combination today, especially with the seven batsmen. They showed their guts today, and the bowlers then did a very good job."Victory meant Bangladesh assured themselves of a place in the knockout phase even before their last pool match against co-hosts New Zealand, only the second time in five attempts they have moved beyond the first round, with the Tigers stunning India to move to the Super Eights at the 2007 edition in the Caribbean.England will return home after their closing 'dead' league match against Afghanistan in Sydney on Friday.Brief scores: Bangladesh 275/7 in 50 overs (Mohammad Mahmudullah 103, Mushfiqur Rahim 89; James Anderson 2-45, Chris Jordan 2-59) beat England 260 all out in 48.3 overs (Jos Buttler 65, Ian Bell 63; Rubel Hossain 4-53, Moshrafe Mortaza 2-48, Taskin Ahmed 2-59).
Agencies/QH