BRISTOL: Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza hailed his players` perseverance after they won for the first time in 2010 with a maiden victory over England here on Saturday.
The Tigers beat England by five runs in thrilling fashion to win the second one-day international and so end a sequence of 24 straight defeats in all formats dating back to a one-day win over Zimbabwe in Chittagong in November.
Victory levelled this three-match series at 1-1 and gave Bangladesh a first success against England after they had lost all 20 of the previous matches (eight Tests and 12 ODIs) between the two countries.
Bangladesh were held to a seemingly below par 236 for seven, featuring opener Imrul Kayes`s 76.
But they bowled England out for 231 with three balls to spare when top-scorer Jonathan Trott was caught behind for 94.
"We are feeling very good," said seamer Mortaza, man-of-the-match for his 22 and two wickets for 42 runs.
"It`s been 250 days since we won so people will be very happy about this win and the dressing room is very happy.
"In the last 250 days we haven`t won any games but we have worked very hard in the nets with the coach (Jamie Siddons). Today (Saturday) we worked hard in the field and that`s why this win has come."
Asked how he`d inspired his side during the innings break, a proud Mortaza added: "I told every bowler to give 100 percent and it was important we took wickets in the Powerplay and also in the middle overs."
England`s Ian Bell, who top-scored with 84 not in the six-wicket series opening win at Trent Bridge on Thursday, broke his left foot fielding while diving for a catch during Bangladesh`s innings on Saturday.
Bell didn`t come out to bat until England were nine wickets down, needing 10 runs off the final over.
"I wasn`t expecting Bell to come out but he did fantastically well for his team," Mortaza said.Bell though didn`t face a ball with seamer Shafiul Islam ending the match when he had Trott caught behind.
"Shafiul did beautifully well with his slower delivery because Trott was trying to play through mid-on and mid-off but he changed his pace," an admiring Mortaza added.
England captain Andrew Strauss praised Bangladesh but said his side had been the authors of their own downfall.
"We weren`t at the races today, it`s as simple as that," Strauss said.
"Our bowling was okay but our fielding was poor and our batting, chasing 237, was a particularly poor effort if I`m honest.
"We`ve only got ourselves to blame but we also have to give credit to Bangladesh for the way they defended that total. They were able to take wickets throughout the innings and keep the pressure on."
The series concludes at Edgbaston on Monday and opening batsman Strauss added: "They thoroughly deserved their victory but for us it`s about licking our wounds and making sure we don`t repeat the same mistakes again on Monday."
BDST: 0413hrs, July 11, 2010
