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DHAKA, Nov 12: Andrew Flintoff cracked his third consecutive half-century as England crushed Bangladesh by seven wickets for a clean sweep their three-match one-day series on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old all-rounder hammered four fours and four sixes in his 39 ball 52 to knock off the winning runs with more than 10 overs to spare after England had bowled out Bangladesh for a paltry 182.
Flintoff, who has five man-of-the-match awards in his last six matches, shared in an unbroken 83-run stand with Paul Collingwood (46 not out) after Marcus Trescothick had put the visitors on the road to victory with a 70-ball 50.
Flintoff had earlier taken two wickets as all of England’s bowlers chipped in to bundle out Bangladesh in 49.1 overs.
It was still the highest total of the series for the hosts, who had crumbled for 143 and 134 in the first two matches, losing both by seven-wicket margins.
Bangladesh have not won their last 47 one-day matches, their last victory coming against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.
England lost Vikram Solanki (1) in the second over, caught behind to medium-pacer Mushfiqur Rahman, who finished with two for 29 from 10 overs despite a leg injury.
Trescothick shared in a 61-run stand for the second wicket with captain Michael Vaughan (29) and added 36 with Collingwood but was bowled by Khaled Mahmud while playing across the line.
Flintoff may have got a life on 29, ruled not out to a stumping chance off Manjural Islam by the third umpire when TV replays suggested he was short of his crease.
SIXES RECORD
The Lancashire player pressed on after that, taking his career tally of sixes in one-day cricket to 48, an England record surpassing Ian Botham’s 44.
Earlier, paceman James Anderson had struck the first blow, taking a simple return catch when Mohammad Moniruzzaman (1) miscued an attempted pull.
Hannan Sarkar was run out for 21 to a direct hit by Collingwood from cover-point.
Habibul Bashar (21) and Rajin Saleh (19) kept their team afloat with a slow, steady 31-run third-wicket stand before Rikki Clarke trapped Bashar lbw with a ball pitched on off stump.
Off-spinner Gareth Batty had Saleh glove an attempted sweep to wicketkeeper Chris Read and Clarke struck again from the other end, bowling Alok Kapali as he went for a swipe across the line, to reduce the hosts to 83 for five.
Captain Mahmud (11) was run out, losing to Rahman in a race for the non-strikers’ crease after a misunderstanding over a second run to fine-leg.
Rahman shone with the bat as well, salvaging his team with a 37-ball 36, including five fours.
England travel to Sri Lanka on Thursday for three tests and as many one-day internationals.
Bangladesh’s next series is in Zimbabwe in January.
Scoreboard
BANGLADESH
Hannan Sarkar run out 21
M. Moniruzzaman c and b Anderson 1
Habibul Bashar lbw b Clarke 21
Rajin Saleh c Read b Batty 19
Mushfiqur Rahman lbw b Flintoff 36
Alok Kapali b Clarke 2
Khaled Mahmud run out 11
Khaled Mashud b Flintoff 16
Manjural Islam not out 20
Mohammad Rafique b Kirtley 13
Tapash Baisya c Colingwood b Kirtley 7
EXTRAS: (lb-2 nb-2 w-11) 15
TOTAL: (all out, 49.1 overs) 182
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 2-35 3-66 4-75 5-83 6-103 7-139 8-152 9-172
BOWLING: Anderson 10-2-36-1, Kirtley 9.1-1-33-2 (w-5), Flintoff 10-3-32-2 (w-5), Blackwell 4-0-16-0, Batty 10-0-35-1, Clarke 6-0-28-2 (nb-2 w-1)
ENGLAND
M.Trescothick b Khaled Mahmud 50
V.Solanki c Khaled Mashud b M. Rahman 1
M.Vaughan lbw b M. Rahman 29
P.Collingwood not out 46
A.Flintoff not out 52
EXTRAS: (lb-3 nb-1 w-3) 7
TOTAL: (for three wickets, 39.3 overs) 185
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-5 2-66 3-102
DID NOT BAT: I.Blackwell, R.Clarke, C.Read, G.Batty, J.Kirtley, J.Anderson
BOWLING: Tapash Baisya 8-0-41-0 (nb-1 w-1), Mushfiqur Rahman 10-0-29-2, Khaled Mahmud 10-2-32-1, Manjural Islam 5-0-33-0, Mohammad Rafique 6-0-34-0 (w-2), Hannan Sarkar 0.3-0-13-0
RESULT: England won by seven wickets.
FIRST MATCH: Nov 7, Chittagong - England won by seven wickets.
SECOND MATCH: Nov 10, Dhaka - England won by seven wickets.
England win series 3-0.—Reuters
