BRIDGETOWN (Barbados), April 12: England thwarted another strong challenge from Bangladesh's spinners to register a much-needed four-wicket win in the World Cup Super Eights match here on Wednesday (also partially reported in Thursday’s edition).

Michael Vaughan's men were put on the victory path by a fine bowling display from paceman Sajid Mahmood (3-27) and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar (3-25) that saw Bangladesh bundled out for just 143.

But they then found batting tough against quality spin from Abdur Razzak (2-30) and Mohammad Rafique (2-33) before wrapping up the victory after 44.5 overs.

From a well-set 70-2, Razzak started the mini-slide by dismissing Vaughan (30) and Kevin Pietersen (10) in successive overs.

Andrew Flintoff (23) hit three boundaries during his brief stay but Rafique accounted for the all-rounder and Ravi Bopara (nought) in his sixth over to leave England reeling at 110-6 with 34 still needed for victory.

However, Paul Collingwood (23) and Paul Nixon (20) held their nerve during their unbroken 37-run seventh wicket stand to ensure victory.

Paceman Syed Rasel had jolted England with the wickets of Ian Bell, who was celebrating his 25th birthday but dismissed for nought, and Andrew Strauss (23) before Bangladesh's spinners, who sparked the 67-run win over South Africa last week, caused a stir.

Victory gave England two crucial points, and more importantly kept them in the hunt for a semi-final place. This was their second win in five matches after they beat Ireland by 48 runs in Guyana.

Australia and New Zealand (eight points in four matches) are on top of the table, while Sri Lanka have six points from four matches and South Africa have six from five.

England's chances of breaking into the last four now rest on their last two matches — South Africa (April 17) and the hosts West Indies (April 21) — in Bridgetown.

Earlier, Bangladesh were badly let down by some poor batting.

Only 20-year-old left-hander Saqibul Hasan put up resistance with an unbeaten 57. He added 47 for the seventh wicket with Mashrafe Mortaza (13) to give Bangladesh's total a degree of respectability.

Saqibul’s marathon 139-ball knock, had six boundaries and a six. Aftab Ahmed (10) and Abdur Razzak (15) were the only other batsman to reach double figures.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal c Collingwood b Mahmood 8

Shahriar Nafees c Strauss b Mahmood 9

Habibul Bashar run out 4

Mushfiqur Rahim b Flintoff 7

Saqibul Hasan not out 57

Mohammad Ashraful c Nixon b Anderson 1

Aftab Ahmed c Nixon b Anderson 10

Mashrafe Mortaza b Panesar 13

Mohammad Rafique c Strauss b Panesar 0

Abdur Razzak c Collingwood b Panesar 15

Syed Rasel c Flintoff b Mahmood 4

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-10, NB-2) 15

TOTAL (all out, 37.2 overs) 143

FALL OF WKTS: 1-9 (Tamim Iqbal, 1.3 ov), 2-23 (Habibul Bashar, 5.5 ov), 3-26 (Shahriar Nafees, 7.4 ov), 4-40 (Mushfiqur Rahim, 10.4 ov), 5-47 (Mohammad Ashraful, 13.1 ov), 6-65 (Aftab Ahmed, 15.2 ov), 7-112 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 28.6 ov), 8-113 (Mohammad Rafique, 30.4 ov), 9-137 (Abdur Razzak, 36.4 ov).

BOWLING: Anderson 8-0-30-2 (4w); Mahmood 8.2-0-27-3 (1w); Flintoff 8-0-38-1 (2nb, 4w); Panesar 7-2-25-3; Collingwood 4-0-14-0; Bopara 2-0-6-0.

ENGLAND:

I.R. Bell c Aftab b Rasel 0

M.P. Vaughan c Bashar b Razzak 30

A.J. Strauss lbw b Rasel 23

K.P. Pietersen c sub (Farhad Reza) b Razzak 10

P.D. Collingwood not out 23

A. Flintoff b Rafique 23

R.S. Bopara b Rafique 0

P.A. Nixon not out 20

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8, W-6) 18

TOTAL (for six wkts, 44.5 overs) 147

FALL OF WKTS: 1-7 (Bell, 3.3 ov), 2-48 (Strauss, 13.3 ov), 3-70 (Vaughan, 20.5 ov), 4-79 (Pietersen, 22.6 ov), 5-110 (Flintoff, 31.2 ov), 6-110 (Bopara, 31.6 ov).

DID NOT BAT: S.I. Mahmood, J.M. Anderson, M.S. Panesar.

BOWLING: Mashrafe Mortaza 8.5-3-28-0 (3w); Syed Rasel 10-3-25-2; Abdur Razzak 10-1-30-2; Mohammad Rafique 10-3-33-2 (2w); Saqibul Hasan 6-0-19-0.

RESULT: England won by four wickets.

UMPIRES: S.A. Bucknor (West Indies) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sajid Mahmood.—AFP