Malan slams 140 as England roar back with Bangladesh demolition

Defending champions England produced an emphatic response to defeat in their opening World Cup match, crushing Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala to get their tournament up and running. A total of 364 for 9 was underpinned by Dawid Malan's maiden World Cup hundred - and fourth this calendar year - before the returning Reece Topley ripped through the top order as Bangladesh faltered in the foothills of what would have been a record chase.

Asked to make the running at the picturesque HPCA Stadium, backdropped by the Himalayas, England showed an appetite for the climb. Malan and Jonny Bairstow set off at a steady canter in recording their first century stand as openers, before the former was joined by Joe Root in a clockwork-smooth partnership of 151 in 19.3 overs to give England a formidable platform going into the latter stages - at which point they stumbled against Bangladesh's death-bowling smarts, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan claiming regular wickets.

Although Litton Das, who began the chase by striking Woakes for three consecutive fours, and Mushfiqur Rahim produced half-centuries, their partnership of 72 at close to a run a ball only succeeded in adding some respectability to the scorecard. Woakes ended Litton's hopes of a hundred when his offcutter grazed the outside edge through to Buttler, and when Mushfiqur steered a Topley bouncer to deep third, the Bangladesh innings had become a quest to limit the damage on net run rate.

The margin of victory was a comfort to England, whose standing and confidence had taken a dent following their thumping in Ahmedabad. Again they were inserted after losing the toss, but this time the top order more than produced the goods - if not with the overt aggression Jos Buttler had spoken of after defeat to New Zealand, then via a cold-blooded certainty in their methods.

No one in the current XI does cold-blooded certainty better than Malan, whose imperious form has seen him go from spare part to first pick in a matter of months. His fourth ball, from Mustafizur Rahman, was stroked through extra cover for four and he proceeded to unload his full repertoire of pulls, flicks and slog-sweeps during the course of his 107-ball stay, which was a masterclass in acceleration.

Bangladesh thought he should have been given out caught behind in single-figures, only for DRS to confirm Ahsan Raza's on-field call after a Mustafizur bouncer flicked his shoulder on the way through. That was as close as Bangladesh came to taking a wicket in the opening powerplay, as Malan responded by driving for four and then swinging his first six over deep backward square; two overs later, Mustafizur was pulled into the crowd at deep midwicket and flipped down the ground in another crisp one-two as England's tempo began to increase, leaving them well placed on 61 for 0 after ten.

As Malan moved to a 39-ball fifty, with 40 of his runs coming in boundaries, Bairstow was able to play a little more circumspectly. Nevertheless, he marked his 100th ODI appearance with a first half-century in the format since July 2022, before having his leg stump shivered by Shakib Al Hasan to give Bangladesh a much-needed breakthrough.

There was no respite, however, with Shakib the only bowler to exert any control. Root was quickly into his groove, ending a five-over spell without a boundary by ramping Mustafizur for six over fine leg and then reverse-paddling Shakib for four. At the other end, Malan continued to bear down on three figures - for the sixth time in 23 ODI appearances - bringing up the landmark with a push into the covers off Shakib. In doing so, he became the oldest Englishman to score a World Cup hundred.

In the next over, Malan crashed Mehidy Hasan Miraz for a sequence of 4, 6, 6, 4, before Root notched his second consecutive fifty of the tournament, from 44 balls, as England looked to turn the screw. Root surpassed Graham Gooch as his country's leading run-scorer in World Cups, before another pull, off Taskin Ahmed, brought Malan his fifth six. But thoughts he might eclipse another England record - Andrew Strauss' innings of 158 at Bengaluru - were ended when Mahedi was rewarded for tossing the ball up.

With England cruising through the middle powerplay, scoring at 7.9 runs per over, it seemed as if they were on course to post the second 400-plus score of the tournament - and Malan's dismissal only brought Buttler to the crease, in the mood for carnage. The captain never found his timing during a frenetic 20 off 10, however, and his dismissal to Shoriful, dragging a wide knuckleball on to his stumps, in the 40th over set the stage for a belated Bangladesh fightback with the ball.

Shoriful's variations did for Root - caught behind heaving at another knuckleball - and Liam Livingstone, who lost his off stump to a cutter. Harry Brook, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid all fell to Mahedi as an otherwise dominant innings ended with a bout of ungainly thrashing.

Bangladesh had chalked up a win chasing against Afghanistan in their first game on this ground, but this was a completely different beast. Topley, making his World Cup debut after replacing Moeen Ali in the XI, shredded their chances by having Tanzid Hasan edge to second slip and Najmul Hossain Shanto taken at backward point from consecutive balls, before producing a peach of a delivery to skelp Shakib's off bail and effectively end the game as a contest. Bangladesh eventually battled through to the 49th over, as England's bowlers got a thorough workout - such was their level of comfort, there was barely any need to worry about the state of the outfield as the World Cup-holders avoided being tripped up again.