After an awful start, Bangladesh recovered to defeat England by a comfortable margin of six wickets in the first T20I at Chattogram. Phil Salt admitted that it was “frustrating” that he had once again come short of a match-defining innings.
Salt’s 38 from 35 balls came after his 35 from 25 in the third ODI last week at the same location, and it continued a run of performances this winter in which he has only reached fifty once in 14 attempts, with the notable exception of an outstanding innings of 88 not out from 41 balls against Pakistan in Lahore in September.
In addition, Salt is aware that in order to maintain his chances of playing in the 50-over World Cup in India this winter, he must take advantage of his opportunities on this tour of Bangladesh, especially given the lack of many top-order rivals. The quality of his ball-striking on that occasion proved the levels that Salt can achieve when his eye is on the ball.
“I’ve had four hits here so far, and got two starts,”
After scoring 12 and 7 in the first two ODIs in Dhaka, Salt said.
“Those are the most frustrating ones for me, because you want to be the guy that goes on to win the game. That’s the mark of a world-class player, someone who takes the game on by themselves and wins it. So, it’s frustrating, but I know it’s not far away.”
But, Salt and his captain Jos Buttler both appeared to be on track to deliver that crucial knock for a while in Chattogram. Bangladesh was anticipating a run-chase of at least 180 runs even though they had added 80 runs in the first 10 overs of the game.
Yet in the second half of their innings, their own bowlers fought back incredibly well, not least by taking four wickets for 12 runs in 20 balls, including Buttler (67 from 42) and Ben Duckett (67 from 42), on each side of the 16th over.
“We know that we could have ended the innings better,” Salt said. “In T20 cricket, when you lose wickets in successive balls it always hurts, having two new batters at the crease. But that’s part of the game. On another day, we finish and get 180. Today we couldn’t get that.”
“The surface got a little bit better as the game went on, and the lights kicked in. The Bangladeshi team’s knowledge of the conditions really gave them a step in the right direction today.”
Four specialist hitters and a luxury bowling option allowed Buttler to cycle seven bowlers while only one player, Moeen Ali, bowled his full allowance of four overs in England’s team selection, which raised some questions at the toss.
However, the team composition was also forced upon England by circumstance, with Tom Abell and Will Jacks being sidelined due to injury, and Jason Roy and James Vince leaving the squad after the ODIs to compete in the Pakistan Super League.
Alex Hales, who won the T20 World Cup in Australia just before Christmas, chose not to go on this tour in order to participate in the PSL.
Because of this, and despite the fact that Sam Curran and Moeen batted at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively, there was added pressure on England’s top four to score the majority of the runs, even though Salt stated that the lack of conventional depth had not changed his approach to the game.
he said.
“Obviously, we are stocked with all-rounders in that middle order, so you’ve got full faith in those guys. But ideally, you want one of the top four to be winning the game, every game.”
Buttler did seem motivated to give England the victory. Although smashing four fours and four sixes in his hard-hitting half-century, nobody else in England’s line-up, including Salt, was able to escape the ropes as Bangladesh tightened the knot in the last over.
“We’ve batted together now for a couple of years in the Hundred,”
Salt said of Buttler, his Manchester Originals and Lancashire team-mate.
“So I know his game very well, and he knows mine. To be honest, he’s probably one of my favorite opening partners. He’s got so many different options, his skill level is so high.
“In white-ball cricket around the world at the moment, he is the benchmark with the bat. He is the best around, so I think everybody wants to emulate him.”
Amazingly, this was only the second occasion in T20I history overall and the first bilateral T20I encounter between these two sides after England’s eight-wicket victory at the T20 World Cup in 2021.
Salt insisted that England had not taken their opponents lightly because last week’s ODI series victory was the first by a visiting side since 2016–17.
“We respect everybody,” he said. “We know how good Bangladesh are in their own country, the numbers don’t lie on that front, so no, full respect to Bangladesh. These guys play very well in their home conditions and, without knowing the surface and the conditions, it’s tough. They’ll be sitting in that dressing-room right now, thinking that’s as close to a perfect chase as they’d have.”