England complete the task

It took England 3.5 overs and 17 minutes to apply the finishing touches to a routine victory over Bangladesh at Chester-le-Street as Matthew Hoggard took the two remaining wickets to fall on the third day of the second npower Test match in front of a small but expectant crowd at the home of Durham.

Steve Harmison, taking the first over as Hoggard bowled the last delivery of the second evening, drew an outside edge from Aftab Ahmed with his first ball of the morning, only to see it fall comfortably short of Geraint Jones behind the stumps amidst a quietly subdued atmosphere, many ticket holders staying away in the expectation of a quick completion.

Aftab Ahmed, nonetheless, wasn’t complicit with England’s desire for a rapid conclusion as he slashed a down-on-pace Harmison over the slips to the third man boundary and followed it up with a sweetly-timed straight drive off the same bowler before Hoggard ended the resistance. A brace of away-swingers were driven at by tail-enders Tapash Baisya and Mashrafe Mortaza, providing a brace of catches behind the wicket for wicketkeeper Jones and first slip Marcus Trescothick – even if the Somerset left-hander needed a second attempt to hold his.

Ahmed was unbeaten on a run-a-ball 82* as Bangladesh finally totalled 316, their highest against England and virtually as many as they had amassed in their three previous efforts combined, but still not enough to force England to bat again – the hosts recording victory by an innings and 27 runs.

The English summer now turns to the ODI arena, as the NatWest Series – Australia joining England and Bangladesh – commences on Thursday, June 16th, as England play Bangladesh at the Oval, before the Australians play their fellow tourists in Cardiff on the following Saturday. Before that, the Bangladeshis visit Derby and Worcester for warm-up matches and the Australians travel to Arundel, Leicester and Taunton as well as playing a Twenty20 International at the Rose Bowl.

With Bangladesh finally showing the discipline and batting talent that their supporters and coach, Dav Whatmore, had promised they were capable of, perhaps it’s not too much to imagine that the ODIs may be a little more competitive?

Bangladesh 104
Javed Omar 37, Khaled Mashud 22
Steve Harmison 5-38, Matthew Hoggard 3-24

England 447-3
Ian Bell 162*, Marcus Trescothick 151
Mashrafe Mortaza 2-91, Aftab Ahmed 1-56

Bangladesh 316
Aftab Ahmed 82*, Javed Omar 71
Matthew Hoggard 5-73, Andrew Flintoff 3-56

England won by an innings and 27 runs

England won the series 2-0

CricketWeb Player of the Match
Ian Bell (England) – 162*

CricketWeb Players of the Series
Javed Omar (Bangladesh) – 155 runs
Marcus Trescothick (England) – 345 runs