Sunderland Echo

England lose firstT20si­nce World Cup to Bangladesh

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Jos Buttler defended the compositio­n of his England side but admitted they failed to score enough runs as their first T20 since being crowned world champions ended in defeat.

An England team containing seven individual­s who played in the T20 World Cup final last November seemed light on batting against Bangladesh and posted what turned out to be a below-par 156 for six.

Buttler's 67 off 42 balls appeared to have given England a springboar­d.

But some canny death bowling from Bangladesh's quicks restricted the tourists to just 21 runs in the final four overs in Chattogram.

Najmul Hossain Shanto's broke the back of the chase with 51 off 30 balls then Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan's 34 not out off 24 deliveries got his side home with six wickets and two overs to spare.

Buttler said at the postmatch presentati­on ceremony: "We were in a position to kick on and launch it at the end but we couldn't manage to get away and we were probably 20 short of where we wanted to be.

"We then chased it a little bit in the field.

"If we had extra runs on the board it would have been a little bit easier but Bangladesh came out and played with a lot of intent, took the game on and put us under a lot of pressure.

"It's a differentl­y balanced team, we've got a lot of good all-rounders and that gives you a lot of options.

"We're blessed with options and that's a nice position to be in in the field."

Buttler put on 80 in the first 10 overs alongside Phil Salt, who bristled with intent but became bogged down against slow left-armers Shakib and Nasum Ahmed and made a stodgy 38 off 35 balls.

It marks the second match in a row that Salt has gotten out in the 30s - having done so in the final ODI against Bangladesh in a series England won 2-1 - and he acknowledg­ed his disappoint­ment afterwards.

He said: "They are the most frustratin­g ones for me because you want to be the guy who goes on to win the game.

"That is the mark of a world-class player."

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