England Under-19s suffered a heavy defeat in their last World Cup warm-up match against hosts Bangladesh despite a big all-round contribution from captain Brad Taylor.
The Hampshire off-spinner was the pick of the England attack after Bangladesh had won the toss and chosen to bat in Chittagong, earning 2-25 from his 10 overs.
He then top-scored with 41 from 52 balls but by the time Taylor came in the damage had already been done as England lost their first three wickets without scoring a run, and they were eventually dismissed for 149.
Lancashire’s Saqib Mahmood took two wickets with the new ball but Bangladesh recovered to post a challenging total of 246 for eight on a pitch that favoured the spinners. Dan Lawrence, the Essex opener, took two of the other wickets to fall and Middlesex’s Max Holden claimed one, both with off-spin.
But England then made a disastrous start to their reply, slipping to nought for three in the second over as Lawrence, Holden and Somerset’s George Bartlett all fell without scoring.
Essex all-rounder Callum Taylor continued his good pre-tournament form by making 36 from 51 balls including three fours and a six, sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 56 with Sam Curran.
But when Curran went for 29 from 44 balls England were 76 for seven and facing defeat.
Taylor, who made a number of important contributions with the bat in last summer’s home series against Australia, salvaged some respectability by top-scoring with 41 including two fours and two sixes.
Yorkshire’s Jared Warner, who had only bowled three overs, provided stubborn support in an eighth-wicket stand of 52, and went on to 16 from 71 balls. Hampshire’s Mason Crane was last out for 12, only the fifth England batsman to make double figures.
England had won their previous two warm-up games against Namibia on Saturday and South Africa in Dubai last week. Now their long build-up is over, and they begin their World Cup campaign with the first of three group games against tournament debutants Fiji on Wednesday.
Source: ECB