Email Us Forum Mail Article Print Article

Bangladesh v England, Day 3

Friday, October 24 2003

If England thought that they could just turn up on day three and continue to dominate, they would have had quite a rude awakening following a largely serene first half hour. Vaughan struck two splendid off side boundaries before Mahmud turned to Mohammad Rafique. Almost immediately, Vaughan on 48 played a premeditated sweep, the ball kept a little low and the batsman was gone, clean bowled to leave on England 137-1.

In the following over, Mushfiqur Rahman bowled to Mark Butcher, seemingly slanting the ball across the left-hander. Her tried his hardest to leave the ball, there was deviation off the seam back into the batsman who came down too late on the shot and Butcher had departed for an ignominious duck as England's second wicket went down on 140.

Trescothick had an extremely fortunate escape without addition to the score, edging Rafique to slip where the straightforward chance was spurned by Rahman. Nasser Hussain, meanwhile, played a couple of expansive swishes outside off stump without success before Mushfiqur Rahman found the outside edge of his bat and Khaled Mashud took a fairly simple catch behind the wicket as Hussain's duck meant that England had lost three wickets for a similar amount of runs.

Bangladesh were jubilant, but with Trescothick in the 80's and looking very steady apart from the odd rash stroke joined at the crease by arguably England's best batsman, Graham Thorpe, there was still much work to do. Trescothick ploughed on, playing pulls and square drives alike before going down the track and smacking a ball from Mohammad Rafique high over long on to move to three figures for the second time in successive test matches.

Thorpe looked to be in fine fettle, driving Rafique to the fence to get off the mark, and when Trescothick took the aerial route again, this time clearing the sightscreen, it seemed that further calamities before lunch might be avoided. We reckoned without young debutant Enamul Haque jr. Trescothick (113) swept loosely across the line and Khaled Mahmud took a fairly sharp catch at square leg to give the young man a prominent first scalp.

Rikki Clarke and Graham Thorpe set about seeing England through safely until lunch, and this they did with great care as the run rate stagnated. At the interval, England had progressed on to 189-4. Bangladesh had emphatically won the session, in effect taking 4-78 in two and a half hours.

Thorpe played one lovely drive straight past the bowler for his first boundary after lunch. Clarke, meanwhile, was prepared to play the sheet-anchor role as England sought to re-establish the upper hand by grinding their way to a score. A neat turn off his pads by Clarke off Enamul Haque jr. brought him a brace and took England to 200 in the 75th over, a laboured effort compared to the speed at which the runs were coming on the second evening.

Haque floated one invitingly outside Thorpe's off stump, and the batsman needed no second invitation as he stroked it through cover for another cracking boundary to take England into credit. Clarke played a fine on drive for a couple off Mohammad Rafique to move into double figures as Bangladesh continued with the old ball way beyond the statutory 80 overs.

Haque jr. continued to extract prodigious amounts of turn in what continued to be a highly impressive debut, drawing a grudging nod of approval from Graham Thorpe. Bangladesh were sticking manfully to the task in hand, much as they had done earlier in the year against Pakistan. This was no easy ride for England.

A series of maidens was broken by Thorpe, using his feet cleverly to Haque jr. and causing the youngster to vary his nagging length. A short ball was punched through cover for two then the next more flighted delivery was duly despatched next to the sightscreen for a maximum. In the following over, Thorpe rocked back to a short ball from Haque jr. and lofted the ball over midwicket for another boundary.

With the partnership on 49 and with much of the early damage patched up, Clarke (14) seemed to have a mental aberration leaving a delivery from Rafique, anticipating the turn. The ball never deviated one iota, striking the outside of off stump as England were reduced to 224-5.

Read (1) survived a very good appeal for leg before wicket from the first ball he faced before pushing a single, but it was a momentary reprieve. Attempting to cut a ball from Haque jr. which was far too close to him, he edged the ball through to wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud as England found themselves in deep trouble on 226-6.

New batsman Gareth Batty pushed a single to get off the mark from the first ball he faced as it became clear that Graham Thorpe would have to play a significant innings for England to have any tangible advantage at this stage in the game. Another forcing shot off the back foot brought Thorpe a single and took him to his half-century, but England were finding the going very tough indeed against a ball which was by now 100 overs old.

Batty pounced on an overpitched delivery by Rafique to register his first boundary in test cricket, driving the ball straight past the bowler. Two balls later, he clipped a short one for three through midwicket as the bowler seemed to tire. Alok Kapali made his entry into the attack with his gentle leg-breaks as the war of attrition with the old ball continued.

Mushfiqur Rahman troubled Batty, rapping the batsman on the pad perilously close to the off stump, and the batsman immediately profited when he cut the next ball to the third man boundary in order to hoist the England 250. After the sheer drudgery of the earlier partnership between Thorpe and Clarke, Batty's entry to the crease had come almost as a breath of fresh air.

With the new ball having been available for the previous 90 minutes, it still came as a surprise when it was taken at the end of the 105th over. Effortless timing brought Thorpe another boundary, clipping Rahman through square leg with some aplomb. In the following over, though, Batty (19) played loosely at a ball outside off stump from Mortaza and feathered the ball through to keeper Khaled Mashud to leave England on 266-7 and with Thorpe rapidly running out of partners.

With tea beckoning, Khaled Mahmud, in a piece of inspired captaincy, turned to the spin of Mohammad Rafique with the new ball just four overs old - and the bowler immediately had Thorpe dropped, albeit from a brilliant, diving attempt by the fielder at mid-off. The batsman's reprieve was only momentary, for Mashrafe Mortaza struck in the final over before tea with England on 267. A hostile, lifting delivery had Thorpe in two minds, whether to play or leave, but he only succeeded in gloving the ball to Rajin Saleh for a fighting 64.

Bangladesh had comprehensively won the second session to add to the first, and would surely have been contemplating wrapping up the England tail post-haste and reducing the deficit before the close of play.

Steve Harmison joined Ashley Giles at the wicket, but departed for a duck three balls later, walking in front of his stumps where he was struck on the shin by a full toss which would have hit leg stump to give Mortaza his third wicket of the innings.

Khaled Mahmud, perhaps anticipating a cheap victim, brought himself on to bowl and Giles immediately went on to the front foot and drove through cover for two runs. Two balls later, his intent to get on with matters was clearly signalled with a powerful blow over cover for a boundary to take England's lead to 70 - useful, but terribly disappointing given the alleged gulf in class between the two sides.

Matthew Hoggard, a man quite capable of sticking around on occasion, kept out two good yorkers by Mortaza, relying on Giles to eke out whatever runs he could at the other end. Suddenly, in a rare blaze of aggression, Hoggard opened his shoulders to a full pitch from the otherwise impressive Mortaza and plundered a boundary through mid-on to open his account.

Giles took the airborne route for another boundary off Rahman as the last pair continued to add useful runs, taking England into the 290's. The spinner then enjoyed a life when a lofted drive off Rafique went to mid-off, only to spill out as the fielder tumbled to the ground. The end of Giles' innings was quite typical of everything which had preceded it from England's perspective - a simply awful premeditated paddle sweep off the excellent Mohammad Rafique which hit the cue end of the bat, well caught by the diving substitute fielder at forward short leg for 19.

England had stumbled and stuttered to a very disappointing 295 all out, a lead of 92 - satisfactory under normal circumstances but following the start given to the side by Trescothick and to a lesser extent Vaughan, one which does not exactly represent an adequate performance from a side supposed to be the third or fourth best in the world against a team who played with great enthusiasm and more than a little belief.

The Bangladesh second innings commenced with Hannan Sarkar jabbing down on a couple of Hoggard deliveries before he opened his account in some style, leaning on a wide half-volley and threading it through extra cover for a splendid boundary. Rajin Saleh started in similar vein, pouncing on a wide half-volley from Harmison and smashing the ball past point for four.

Harmison may be wayward at times, but when he gets it right he can be supremely effective, as in this game. A ferocious ball to Rajin Saleh (8) took off and flew at the hapless batsman who, in trying to fend it off, could only glove the ball through to a delighted Chris Read. After a lengthy delay, the umpire raised the dreaded finger. Frankly, the batsman looked relieved to be given out. This brought Habibul Bashar in with the total on 12-1, but a partial floodlight failure meant that the batsmen were offered the light which they had no hesitation in accepting.

News filtered through that the power failure was similar to that of England's batting - of gargantuan proportions - so play was duly abandoned for the day. Take nothing away from Bangladesh. They completely outplayed and outfought England on a day of quite enthralling cricket, and they surely are not far away from registering their first victory in the test arena. England will have to show a lot more spine if they are to ensure that they will not be on the receiving end this week. Dav Whatmore will sleep well this evening. .

Close of play summary

Day 3 Bangladesh 203 all out (Khaled Mahmud 51, Harmison 5-35, Hoggard 3-55)
and 12-1 (Hannan Sarkar 4*, Habibul Bashar 0*, Harmison 1-5)
trail England 295 all out (Trescothick 113, Thorpe 64, Mashrafe Mortaza 3-41, Mohammad Rafique 3-84)
by 80 runs with 9 second innings wickets standing

Day 2 England 111-0 (Trescothick 77*, Vaughan 30*) trail Bangladesh 203 all out (Khaled Mashud 51, Harmison 5-35, Hoggard 3-55) by 92 runs with 10 wickets standing
Day 1 Bangladesh 24-2 (Hannan Sarkar 18*, Rajin Saleh 0*, Harmison 2-9)

Posted by Eddie