Little returns as Ireland opt to bowl; Shoriful, Taijul in for Bangladesh ...

Match delayed by rain

Ireland need 182 runs from 33.3 overs.

Innings Bangladesh 246 for 9 (Mushfiqur 61, Shanto 44, Little 3-61, Hume 2-32, Adair 2-44) vs Ireland

Mushfiqur Rahim's 44th ODI half-century held Bangladesh together for most of their innings in the first ODI against Ireland in Chelmsford as they got to 246 for 9.

Mushfiqur, who turned 36 on the day, continued from where he left off in Sylhet in the side's previous ODI series in March, when he struck Bangladesh's fastest ODI century. But, unlike then, other batters didn't give him the right kind of support, and he had to play a patient knock, not getting the space to take off.

Bangladesh lost regular wickets, often when batters looked set. Josh Little led the Ireland bowling with 3 for 61, while Mark Adair and Graham Hume picked up two wickets, and George Dockrell and Curtis Campher had one each.

Bangladesh got a lot of support from the 3000-strong crowd at the Cloud County Ground, but Ireland should be confident about chasing 247 on this pitch, where the conditions are good for batting.

After Andrew Balbirnie asked Tamim Iqbal to bat first, Litton Das fell for his ninth duck as an opener, when Little trapped him lbw in the first over with one that swung back in to his boot.

Tamim followed him back to the dressing room in the fourth over, when his attempted drive against Adair took a thin edge to the wicketkeeper, Lorcan Tucker. It wasn't given on the field, but Adair and Paul Stirling at first slip had heard the nick even though Tucker hadn't. Tamim also appeared fairly confident he hadn't edged it. Replays, however, showed a spike, and Tamim was gone for 14 - it has now been eight innings since he scored a fifty in ODIs.

Bangladesh recovered from the two early wickets but just when they looked like they were getting on top of the Ireland bowlers, Shakib Al Hasan's hoick across the line met with air. Hume had him for the third time in his short career, Shakib falling for 20.

It was 52 for 3 then, and 50 runs later, Najmul Hossain Shanto, who looked in good touch, hit Campher down Adair's throat at deep midwicket after reaching 44. He struck seven fours in his 66-ball stay, adding a half-century stand for the fourth wicket with Towhid Hridoy, who fell soon after for 27 to give Hume his second wicket.

Ireland could have hurt Bangladesh further but Harry Tector dropped an easy chance from Mushfiqur off Campher when the batter was on 19. Bangladesh rebuilt again, Mushfiqur and No. 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz adding 65 runs for the sixth wicket, giving Bangladesh some hope of a good finish. But after hitting some pretty shots and providing good support for Mushfiqur, Mehidy holed out in the deep on the leg side for 27 against the run of play in the 38th over. Perhaps he could have played the situation better with the long tail to follow.

Mushfiqur hung around to get to his half-century, diligently rotating the strike with Taijul Islam, batting at No. 8. They added 33 for the seventh wicket, before Mushfiqur hit a lofted square-cut right to the fielder at sweeper cover in the 45th over.

The Bangladesh lower order doesn't have a lot of batting pedigree, but Taijul scored 14 off 36 balls, and Shoriful Islam struck a six, the only one of the innings, in the 48th over. The last four batters would take pride in the fact that Bangladesh weren't bowled out.

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