Bangladesh's chance slips away despite pace bowlers' efforts

The Bangladesh players didn't go down to their haunches when Chris Woakes slammed Shafiul Islam for the winning hit, but you could see that their collective energies were spent. They had given it their all, and if there was any more left, it fizzed out with Imrul Kayes' dropped catch with England still needing 21 runs to win.

The four-wicket loss ended their quest for a seven successive home ODI series win, but from mid-November 2014 till this game, they have taken rapid strides of progress. One of their biggest gains during this time has been to rely less on spinners and a little more on the pace bowlers.

Throughout England's innings on Wednesday, if you didn't know that there was dew in the outfield, it would be hard to understand why Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza kept using his pace bowlers. But he had no other option given the rapid change in conditions at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. This was also a major chance for the pace bowlers to solely win Bangladesh a series-deciding match but they couldn't quite enforce themselves as a unit.

It was already hard for Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain and Mosaddek Hossain to get a good grip on the ball. Shakib looked bemused towards the end as he endured a wicketless performance and had two overs unused. Nasir and Mosaddek provided breakthroughs but they were never going to push England batsmen's skill-level. Mashrafe said that they knew about the evening dew from their 2015 win over South Africa at this ground, so from the beginning understood that his spinners would become ineffective.

"On the wicket the spinners weren't getting any turn towards the end, so we had to use the pacers more. Had there been even half of the dew that fell tonight, the score would have been more difficult for them. It had become very easy instead," said Mashrafe.

He took the new ball along with Shafiul instead of Shakib, but the pair couldn't quite put together a good start. Mashrafe bowled five up front and then brought himself back in the 33rd over for a two-over spell. He finished his quota in the slog overs, finally picking up two wickets. It was quite late in the game but the exit of Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali gave Bangladesh some hope.

Shafiul started off poorly for two overs before he returned to the attack in the 21st over for another two-over spell. He, too, gave Bangladeh a glimmer when he removed Jonny Bairstow and Ben Duckett but couldn't quite make a decisive intervention. He usually bowls a few overs in the first Powerplay before being kept aside for the last ten overs,but because the spinners were hampered by the dew, Mashrafe had to use Shafiul regularly.

Taskin Ahmed was the pick of the trio, bowling with impressive pace but little luck. He beat the bat a number of times, and was used as an attacking option as well as a run-saving tool throughout the innings.

After a poor first over that cost 12 runs, Taskin's next four cost only eight runs. He was quite disciplined too, trying hard to force England to make a mistake. He finally found the edge in the 47th over but Imrul made a hash of it.

There is little doubt that the pace bowlers' improvement is turning into match-winning potential. Mustafizur Rahman, the left-armer whose absence was felt significantly, leads the way with Mashrafe and Taskin always bringing their experience and pace to the party. Shafiul was perhaps lucky to play ahead of Al-Amin Hossain while Rubel Hossain's comeback in the Afghanistan series didn't particularly please the team management.

But the increase in options in the bowling attack can only help the Bangladesh team. Mashrafe said that the improvement of the pace bowlers was marked, and if some of them do get to play the Tests against England, they may continue their development.

"The pacers are doing well now. If you see in the last one and a half years, everyone has improved a lot. These are results of their improvement," he said. "I am sure when Mustafizur returns, the pace bowling group will be stronger. We have to continue, hopefully they will do well in the Test match as well."