Chittagong, March 11: Bangladesh kept their hopes of a quarter-final berth alive by beating England in a nerve-wracking Group B 2011 ICC World Cup encounter at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Friday. The hosts edged England by two wickets as Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam shared an unbeaten 58-run stand to get past England’s score of 225.

The England innings was set up by half-century contributions from both Jonathan Trott (67) and Eoin Morgan (63). None of the remaining England batsmen managed to score more than 20 runs. For Bangladesh, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan took two wickets each to bowl England out for 225 in 49.4 overs.

Chasing that score, Bangladesh openers Imrul Kayes (60) and Tamim Iqbal (38) got off to a blazing start as they brought up the first 50 runs of their innings in just 43 balls. However, with the fall of Iqbal’s wicket with the score at 52, Bangladesh lost another quick couple of wickets with the score reading 74 for three at the end of 14 overs.

An 82-run partnership ensued between Kayes and Shakib Al Hasan (32) that brought Bangladesh back in the game. But a needless run-out that saw Kayes make his way back to the pavilion switched the balance once again in England’s favour as Bangladesh went from 155 for three to 169 for eight in the space of nine overs.

But England could not close out the game as a spirited partnership between No. 7 batsman Mahmudullah and No. 10 Shafiul Islam took Bangladesh home with two wickets to spare.

The victory leaves Bangladesh with four points from as many games in Group B, while England, having lost to unexpectedly to Ireland as well, have five points from an equal number of games.

Brief scores:Bangladesh 227 for 8 in 49 overs (Imrul Kayes 60, Shakib Al Hasan 32, Ajmal Shahzad 3/43, Graeme Swann 2/42) beat England 225 all out in 49.4 overs (Jonathan Trott 67, Eoin Morgan 63, Naeem Islam 2/29, Abdur Razzak 2/32) by two wickets

Man-of-the-match: Imrul Kayes for his knock of 60 that laid the foundation for Bangladesh’s run chase