Melbourne March 17, 2010 (www.CricketTomorrow.com)
Bangladesh – England Test Series- 1st Test (Played at Jahoor Ahmed Chowdury Stadium Chittagong)
England 599 for 6 dec [ A Cook 175, P Collinwood 145,K Pieterson 99, I Bell 84, Mahmudullah 2/78, Razzak 2/ 157] and 209 for 7 dec [ Cook 39, Bell 39* , Carberry 34,Pieterson 32 , Shakib 4/62, 2 /53] beat Bangladesh 296 [ Tamim 86 , Mushfiqur 79, Mahamudullah 51 , Naeem 38, Swann 5/90 ] and 331 (Siddique 106, Rahim 95, Naeem 36 Swann 5-127) by 181 runs
Player of the Match: Graeme Swann for his 79.3 – 19 217-10 match spell.
Bangladesh in its not too pleasant test match history did not win many but lost a lot. Against England at Chittagong test they lost by a huge margin. But neutral critics will give lot of credit to Bangladesh to make test very attractive through positive display of quality cricket. With its back to the wall after conceding a huge first innings score of 599/7 Bangladesh fought back like real tigers to take the match to the second last session of the last day. Several records were rewritten in the process.
If one evaluates the match by the margin of English win by 181 runs, one will never know the glorious fight back by the young talented Bangladeshis after finishing the first two days as distant second in two prong horse derby under hot scorching sun. Bangladesh lost by the comfortable margin but everyone will agree honours were shared over the last three days of an intriguing test. Tigers must have grown wisdom teeth as they fought with guts and determination and went down fighting. It took Graeme Swann to crate record of the first English spinner to grab a 10 wicket haul [10/217] in the subcontinent and actually first spinner after great Jim Laker’s historic performance of 19 wickets in a test against Australia to have such an exclusive influence in winning a test match.
Bangladesh started the test with its back to the wall. Two superstars of Bangladesh cricket in recent times Mashrafee and Ashraful for different reasons were not in the side. Young upcoming Rakibul made a shocking revelation only a day before the test. Tiger camp was terribly shaken. Shakib won the toss and made a wrong judgement of the pitch! In this hot humid summer days on a dead surface against not too potent English attack it was far better for Bangladesh to let Englishmen bake in the sun. Perhaps Shakib still had feelings of confidence from restricting great Indian batting line up to moderate score bowling first in January this year. But that was a dew soaked moist surface in winter. Anyway indifferent Bangladesh bowling and scratchy fielding put Bangladesh on the back foot as England piled up huge first innings score of 599/6 by mid session of second afternoon. Cook (175) and Collinwood (145) scored two big hundreds. Pieterson (99) missed it and Bell (84) also joined the party. Neither spinners nor the pacers had any purchase in the wicket over the first two days. But heat took serious toll on Bangladeshi batsmen. Bangladesh top order was melted away to a planned English strategy. Tamim was blasting everything on their way but Kayes and Junaid fell to short lifting deliveries aimed at ribcage. Aftab was victim to a diabolic umpiring decision. Mahmudullah looked solid and classy for his 51. When he and Tamim were batting English bowlers appeared toothless. But Mahmudullah became a bit aggressive and lost his wicket. Shakib also went cheaply. On the third morning classy cool Mushfiqur and Naeem fought gallantly to add 113 in the 7th wicket partnership after Tamim and night watch man Shahadat left early. They were looking solid till a suicidal run out of Naeem triggered collapse. Mushfiqur also fell to a blinder of a catch from substitute fielder Tredwell of Swann. Bangladesh innings curtained at 296 still 303 runs adrift. Cook preferred not to enforce follow on. But Bangladesh this time bounced back like true wounded tigers. Bowlers looked purposeful fielding became sharp and agile. England could master only 209/7 in the second innings. Shakib and Razzak did not allow any liberty. But with huge first innings lead England was sitting pretty. A target of 513 was always well beyond Bangladesh reach.
Bangladesh start was not encouraging. Blaster Tamim left early. Kayes also did not stay long. But Junaid looked really determined and solid. Aftab was looking good. But he got out to a good reverse swing of Bresnan. Mahmudullah was also accounted for by a similar reverse swing. Then Shakib got a very poor umpiring decision. He was given LBW to a Swann delivery which never touched his pads. If Bangladesh continue to get diabolic umpiring decision all the time then there is genuine reason to believe that these are deliberately done. Anyway loosing top 5 with not too many Bangladesh by fourth day was looking vulnerable. But last session of 4th day and first session of 5th day saw very high quality test batting by Junaid and Mushfiqur which would have made many top batsmen of contemporary cricket proud. Junaid whose position was shaky before the innings played the innings of his life. His maiden century in a memorable innings against very fast and furious Broad, Finn and quality spinner Swann must have taken Bangladesh to new heights. Mushfiqur for the second time in the test played superlative of class and rare quality. He missed the ton by only 5 runs dancing down the wicket and deceived by the flight of Swann. Bangladesh through some hefty strikes of Naeem reached 331, the highest by Bangladesh against England in test. 167 runs 6th wicket between Mushfiqur and Junaid is also a new record in Bangladesh - England test. Bangladesh eventually lost by 181 runs. Victory of England was never in doubt, but apart from the England’s first innings the match was evenly fought. In fact third and fourth day belonged to Bangladesh.
Graeme Swann must be credited for his marathon bowling efforts in hot humid climate. He bowled 78.3 overs in the match taking 10 / 217. He is the first English spinner to take 10 wickets in a test in the subcontinent. English bowling other than Swann looked pretty ordinary. Bangladesh hopefully will put England into greater test in the Dhaka test to start next Saturday. English batting really struggled against Shakib and Razzak in the second innings... A little bit tidy Mushfiqur behind the wicket and fair umpiring will make Dhaka test more competitive.
Tigers finally appear to grow wisdom teeth. The test temperament is about to be there. Let us hope that they become steady and consistent. We hope complacent English press would change their vision about Bangladesh after good showing of school boyish Mushfiqur and Junaid.
I feel that another spinning all rounder may be taken for Dhaka test. Pacers will not be effective. English batsmen looked vulnerable against left arm spin. We may choose either Rubel or Shahadat and let Aftab share new ball. Shuarawardy Shuva may be added. This will give further depth to batting and Shuva like Shakib and Razzak will create pressure to English batting. Mushfiqur must bat at 4.
My team for Dhaka Test should be
Tamim. Kayes, Junaid, Mushfiqur, Aftab, Shakib, Mahamudullah, Naeem, Shuva, Razzak, Shahadat/ Rubel.
March 16, 2010, 9:34 pm
