Cricket Web Colts v Bangladeshis
at Fardin Qayyumi CC
Scorecard
Ball By Ball
A dominant performance resulted in an innings victory for the Colts against Bangladesh, largely due to fine batting on a placid wicket. Bangladesh couldn't convert their starts, and the prospects look grim ahead of the Test series.
Habibul Bashar won the toss and bravely asked Nafees and Tamim to bat first against Wright and Thomas; the suicidal single which took care of Shahriar Nafees set the tone of the innings. Bangladesh played an expansive game and paid the price for it. By lunch they had made 118 runs, but crucially, Nafees, Tamim and Rahim were all back in the pavilion.
Wright and Rai opened the bowling after lunch, with little reward, but Hancock struck gold once more in his short second spell as an outswinger found the outside edge and flew to Towns at point. With Rajin trapped lbw by a regulation fast delivery from Thomas, Bangladesh were into the tailenders, and Wilson feasted by removing Mashud and Mortaza through good use of movement. Bashar had dug in, however, and reached 57 by tea, but when deserted by Enamul he too found the need for expansive strokes. He duly thumped two down the throats of Wilson, who floored an easy one at deep midwicket, and Rai, who managed to dismiss the captain for 66. Thomas ended the innings, and Bangladesh were all out for a meagre 225.
Fitzsimmons and Malthus weren't akin to smashing the bowlers either, and after two overs Shahadat and Mortaza had conceded twenty. However, murky conditions enabled Mortaza to trouble the batsmen with swing, though it was Rasel who utilised them best, bowling a maiden over to Fitzsimmons which concluded in the veteran hoiking the ball up for Ashraful to come in at square leg and holding the catch.
That was as good as it got - though had Ashraful and Bashar held their chances to dismiss Malthus and Towns early on in their stand, it might have been different. The two batted until stumps with ease, reaching the fifty milestone shortly before the day ended, and the Colts trailed by just one hundred runs with nine wickets in hand.
Rasel kept on fighting, claiming good rewards for his line-and-length bowling as Colts pressed on for runs. In one fine spell in the morning session, he grabbed Towns, Malthus and Jasotharan, and had single-handedly reduced Colts to 191 for four. Butler and Kerr treated the medium offerings with disdain, however, racing to a 73-run partnership in 50 minutes before lunch. The battering continued after the interval, as the batsmen's confidence grew to Icarusian proportions. In ten overs with the new ball, Shahadat and Mortaza conceded 60 runs to the rampant batsmen, and once again it took Rasel to break the stand - Butler dragged him on to end a splendid knock of 117, then removed Kerr a few overs later. At 410 for seven, Bangladesh saw an opportunity to end the descent, but Rai made up for his poor show with the ball as he shared a belligerent 84-run stand with Nick Hancock. Eventually, the Colts declared on 518 for nine after Rai had reached his fifty, leaving Bangladesh with 294 in a day to avoid the innings defeat.
Nafees and Tamim seemed determined to cut that deficit to zero before stumps. Thomas and Wright were treated to a spate of cover drives, conceding nine fours, two sixes and 75 runs in the first ten overs. Hancock, however, put the ball on a length, and the straight drive from Nafees fell short - to Thomas at mid on.
On the final day, Colts produced plenty of chances, and took most of them too. Tamim dragged on for 58, leaving Rahim and Bashar to save the draw; that hope faded as Thomas caught the outside edge of Bashar's bat and Jasotharan held a fine catch. Thomas, Wright and Wilson ran through the middle order, and the tail-enders simply didn't have enough staying power, with a credible exception to Enamul, who held out for 43 balls in the second innings and a grand total of 66 balls. Only four of the batsmen stuck in for longer, highlighting the problems Bangladesh will face before the coming weekends' Test series.
Bangladeshis 225 all out
Habibul Bashar 66; NR Hancock 3-37, MW Wilson 3-38
Cricket Web Colts 518 for nine declared
CR Butler 117, WA Kerr 82, JB Malthus 75, DP Towns 72, DK Rai 51*; Syed Rasel 6-129
Bangladeshis 262 all out
Mushfiqur Rahim 71, Tamim Iqbal 58; GM Thomas 4-83, MW Wilson 3-53
Cricket Web Colts won by an innings and 31 runs
Man of the Match: C. R. Butler (Colts)