England suffer early setbacks

England lost both openers in quick succession on their way to a laboured 47 for two after 15 overs of their World Cup Group B match against Bangladesh.

Victory here was likely to confirm England's quarter-final place, with a match to spare, and consign their hosts to also-ran status.

But Bangladesh, embarrassed by last week's nine-wicket defeat against West Indies, appeared in no mood to go quietly in front of a fanatical and capacity crowd of 18,000 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

Matt Prior was granted an instant chance to silence them, shunted back up the order in place of the injured Kevin Pietersen after Bangladesh chose to bowl first.

He and his captain Andrew Strauss put on 32 together, but neither was to manage a significant contribution.

Prior's departure - to a stumping, in two parts - was an oddity.

Abdur Razzak's first ball was a leg-side wide, and Prior appeared to think it had beaten the wicketkeeper. He therefore set off for a run but, when the bails were initially taken off by Mushfiqur Rahim, had his foot still grounded behind the crease.

Momentum took Prior forward, though, and Rahim had the presence of mind to pull up a stump for a second chance to complete the dismissal - with England's hapless wicketkeeper-batsman stranded on his walkabout.

The setback, just after Bangladesh had turned to spin at both ends, cut off England's early impetus.

Three overs later, Strauss thought he saw an opportunity to attack off-spinner Naeem Islam off the back foot but instead edged to slip where Junaid Siddique took a sharp and neat catch away to his right.