Mushfiqur lifts Bangladesh to 277 for 6

Bangladesh 277 for 6 (Mushfiqur 67*, Sabbir 49, Imrul 46, Tamim 45, Rashid 4-43) vEngland

'Buttler desperately wants to win' - Moeen

Bangladesh have never beaten England in a three-match ODI series. To add them to a list of impressive conquests in their own country in recent years they need to defend a target of 277 in the series decider in Chittagong. History suggests that is a formidable score on this ground.

Bangladesh failed to summon the big innings to make their total impregnable, but consistency from the top order plus an unbeaten 67 from 62 balls by Mushfiqur Rahman - his first half-century in 21 attempts - in a well-judged finale gave their spinners ample opportunity to take advantage of a pitch that turned appreciably for Moeen Ali, and, in particular, Adil Rashid, who returned career-best ODI figures of 4 for 43.

Perhaps influenced, even if only subconsciously, by a feisty second ODI in Dhaka, which resulted in three players being called up before the match referee, England recalled Liam Plunkett, their most aggressive fast bowler, as a mid-innings enforcer.

If it was unsure how much their thinking had been coloured by events, it was undeniable that it was the wrong call. The Chittagong pitch was so slow that it was no time to be The Enforcer - even Dirty Harry would have taken the day off - but it turned from the outset. As the pace bowlers struggled for encouragement, Liam Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder, must have rued a missed opportunity to bowl his offspin on a surface like this.

Fortunately for England, Rashid had the sort of day when the heavens bestowed kindness upon him. He is England's leading wicket-taker in ODIs this year, but three of his four wickets explored the bottomless capacity of legspin to take wickets with rubbish.

Two long hops and a full toss accounted for three of his wickets and, on each occasion, his raised index finger looked like an exercise in positive thinking rather than a gesture of unadulterated triumph. There were some big legspinners along the way as well, but other than contributing to the sense of threat, they brought him only one reward - the wicket of Sabbir Rahman at a vital time.

That a match was taking place at all was a pleasant surprise. The BCB had been concerned enough about the weather forecast to request a reserve day - a belated suggestion that England turned down on logistical grounds - but heavy rain in the 24 hours up to the game gave way to clearer skies as the starting time approached.

There have been no fireworks in this series in the opening 10-over Powerplay, but by the time that England had dispensed with the openers, Imrul Kayes and Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh would have felt quite settled at 106 for 2 in the 23rd over.

A one-legged pull off Jake Ball was reminiscent of the Tamim who flayed England on their first meeting six years ago, and he became the first Bangladesh batsman to reach 5,000 ODI runs with another collector's item - pulling a bouncer from Chris Woakes in front of square. But reputations change and it was the wicket of Imrul that England hankered after most of all, illustrated by a wasted review when he was 31 as they searched unsuccessfully for a hint of glove as he reverse-swept Moeen.

It was Ben Stokes who broke the stand, Imrul clipping him to square leg, before Rashid took four of the next five wickets to fall, repeatedly undermining Bangladesh's innings as it threatened to run away. Tamim, reaching for a short googly which presumably he only read off the pitch, got it as far as Vince at cover; Mahmudullah hit another long hop to cover in similar fashion. Sabbir, at least, received the high-class kill his sprightly innings deserved as Jos Butter held an edge off a fierce leg break. Nasir Hossain was his last victim, this time courtesy of a sinking full toss.

Alongside Rashid, Moeen Ali turned in an economical, if largely unthreatening spell, as he was worked repeatedly into the leg side, partly because of his line, partly influenced by Bangladesh's tactics on such a sluggish surface. His wicket also possessed fortune as he defeated the left-hander, Shakib Al Hasan, on the outside edge and was stumped by Buttler who inadvertently flapped the ball onto the stumps and was fortunate that the bails fell off before he crashed his gloves into the timber.

Bangladesh held their nerve as ten overs elapsed without a boundary - a sequence broken when Mosaddek Hossain struck back-to-back boundaries off Jake Ball - and by the end of the innings Mosaddek and Mushfiqur had been rewarded with an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 85 in 12 overs.

England blew two good chances to remove Mushfiqur. He might have been run out on 26 when Mosaddek sent him back but Jonny Bairstow's shy from short midwicket was well wide. Then on 44 he struck Woakes down the ground but Ben Stokes, having made good ground for the catch, had four bites before putting it down.