``Bangladesh played very impressive cricket,'' was the observation of England captaing Adam Hollioake who said it would be more useful to his team for first quarter final of Wills Cup than the practice match against Zimbabwe on Wednesday .
Highly praising Bangladesh's performance in the exhibition match, he said they (Bangladesh) lost the match, but played a very, very good cricket in all the departments.
Hollioake was also impressed with the crowd at the BKSP ground as nearly 8,000 cricket fans, including a considerable number of ladies enjoyed the well-contested tussle between the willow and leather.
He, however, seemed a little worried as England pacer Mathew Fleming, who missed the match against Bangladesh due to injury, would not be able to play the first quarter-final against South Africa on Sunday.
In the day's match, Bangladesh displayed good form in all departments. The local cricketers particularly came up with some inspired bowling and fielding against a much stronger side.
Left-arm spinner Mohammed Rafique captured five wickets for 47 runs in 9 overs while Safiuddin Ahmed Babu bagged three for 44 in 8 overs. Vice Captain Sujon took one wicket for 38 runs in 9 overs.
Winning the toss, the home captain Aminul Islam Bulbul sent the visitors to bat first in a wicket that promised early success by the bowlers.
England scored 229 runs for 9 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs.
The two Bangladesh opening bowlers, Hasibul Hossain Shanta and Safiuddin Ahmed Babu, made a good start for the team forcing the England batsmen to struggle for run.
Early in the innings, England scored 53 runs for two wickets in 15 overs. Babu took both the wickets of Alistair Brown and Graeme Hick.
Graham Lloyd, who was dropped by Shipon in short mid-wicket with his score of only 8 runs, made team highest 61 off 66 balls with seven fours.
Neil Fairbrother, much known is Dhaka for his appearence for local giant Abahani Club in 1993-94 season, contributed 48 runs off 72 balls that featured a huge six over the long-on against Bulbul.
Opener Nick Knight made 27 off 63 balls with two boundaries while Mark Ealham added 18 runs off 16 balls with a four and a sixer.
In reply, Bangladesh began their innings positively but managed to score 193 runs for 9 wickets in 50 overs.
With the departure of opener Shipon (10), Javed Omar Belim Gulla and one down Faruque Ahmed played consistently to build up the Bangladesh innings contributing 55 runs in the partnership.
Gulla scored 36 runs off 72 balls with four magnificent boundaries while former national captain Faruque added 28 runs off 59 balls that included three fours before he was out badly, offering a simple catch to wicket keeper Jack Russel off Dougie Brown.
Captain Bulbul scored team highest not out 60 off 80 balls with eight hits to the ropes. His 50 came from 75 balls that included four fours.
However, the Bangladesh lower-order batsmen did not click and failed to do the job needed to win the match.
Dougie Brown was the most successful bowler for the England team who claimed four wickets for 15 runs in 7 overs while left-arm spinner Anthony Giles took three for 45 runs in 10 overs.
Ian Austin captured two wickets for 18 runs in 8 overs.
After the impressive match against England, Bangladesh skipper Aminul Islam Bulbul said it's a good sign that his boys played well after continued bad performances for last one year.
``We improved in bowling and fielding. But we still have to give up the tradition of throwing wickets after scoring 20-30 runs,'' he said adding the time has come to be more positive.