Bangladesh v. England - 2nd. Test

[couragous cloke]

Geez, the bangers arent as bad as i thought they were, their bowling attack isnt that bad, if they could get the batting upto scratch they might be something in the future..

[Donny]

Clarke gives England the edge after another collapse

The Wisden Bulletin by Freddie Auld


England ended the second day of this Test holding the edge, but only after another shocking collapse in which they lost their last five wickets for 13 runs from 80 balls to be bowled out for 326. Mashrafe Mortaza took a Test-best 4 for 50 and the clatter of wickets again surrendered a strong position and threw away a good start to the day, this time by Nasser Hussain and Chris Read. Rikki Clarke did put England back on track with two quick wickets, but Bangladesh held out to close on a battling 93 for 4.

England's morning progress was solid rather than spectacular, with 74 runs coming in the first two hours for the loss of only Clarke's wicket for 55. Read and Hussain carried on untroubled until lunch, with Hussain happy to play second fiddle. Read was the main aggressor, playing positively from the start, hitting six boundaries and taking the attack to the bowlers.

However, just like yesterday, England suffered a sever bout of the post-lunch blues as the bowlers turned up the heat and the lower-order melted. Read's dismissal started the slide when he was caught by Rajin Saleh at short-leg off Enamul Haque jnr for a bright 37 (313 for 6). One over later and Hussain followed, snicking Mortaza to Khaled Mashud, the wicketkeeper, who took a good catch low to his right for 76 (313 for 7). That left the tail horribly exposed, and it offered precious little resistance as Mortaza cashed in on some cheap wickets. The last three batsmen fell for a miserly 13 runs to complete a wretched hour for England.

On the flat Chittagong pitch, the new ball was vital, and Richard Johnson and Matthew Hoggard both made early breakthroughs. Johnson continued his healthy knack of taking early wickets when he picked up Javed Omar in his second over. Trying to turn a straight ball through midwicket, Omar instead got a leading edge straight to Michael Vaughan at mid-off (6 for 1). Hoggard then tempted Habibul Bashar into a loose drive with a classic awayswinger which he edged head-high to Mark Butcher at gully (44 for 2).

Hannan Sarkar, meanwhile, took the fight to the bowlers and was keen to get forward and drive anything full. For a while, Bangladesh's scoring rate was more sprightly than it had been all series as Sarkar mixed the odd boundary with quick singles on both sides of the wicket. Hoggard, in particular, banged in the short balls to unsettle the batsmen, but it was the improving Clarke who turned the tide England's way.

Clarke replaced Johnson ahead of Martin Saggers, the debutant, and he was rewarded for another tight spell with two wickets in as many balls. His first victim was the big one of Sarkar for 28, with a bit of help from Asoka de Silva, who did his already dwindling popularity in these parts no favours. Sarkar went right back to a full delivery and was hit on the back pad. The ball was arguably missing leg stump, but de Silva quickly made up his mind and sent Sarkar on his way (61 for 3).


And with the first ball of his next over, Clarke dismissed Alok Kapali for a golden duck. Kapali tentatively defended a short ball which kicked up and hit the handle of the bat for Butcher to take his second catch at gully (63 for 4). Clarke was on a hat-trick and Bangladesh were threatening to take a leaf out of England's well-read book on The Art of Collapsing.

But no-one can do it quite like they can, as Rajin Saleh and Mushfiqur Rahman defiantly held out for the last 15 overs. But only just. After Rahman creamed a square-drive for four off Saggers and spanked a Clarke slower-ball to the fence, he was dropped on 14 by Marcus Trescothick at first slip off Hoggard. It was hard chance low to Trescothick's left, but not only did he spill it, he also injured his thumb and had to leave the field immediately to have an X-ray.

Ashley Giles wasn't brought on until the 36th over when the light was fading fast, but he bowled as well as could be expected given his current lack of confidence and was starting to find a rhythm just as the umpires offered the light to the batsmen with four overs of a mixed day for England remaining.

[Donny]

Bangladesh in more trouble as Johnson grabs two early wickets.

They are 6/110 and still need 17 to avoid a follow on. Johnson has 3/30.

[Donny]

All out 152. England's lead is 174.

They will now build an big lead. Even if they get knocked over, They'll still lead by 350 +

[Sultan of spin]

I am a big fan of Nasser Hussian and with Stewart and Gough gone and Caddick not in the side Nasser is about the last old fashioned, traditional english battler left. But I think if Nasser is going to remain in the test side he has to improve his scoring rate, it's not like he was facing Warne and Mc Grath it was only Bangladesh so I don't think there is any excuse for such a poor scoring rate. I must admit though i was disapointed he didn't get a ton after working so hard.

[Donny]

Johnson five-for puts England in charge

The Wisden Bulletin by Martin Williamson

England's post-lunch blues continued when they lost Mark Butcher and Michael Vaughan quickly after the break. With a thumb injury to Marcus Trescothick, England were effectively three down in their second innings after losing Butcher for 42 and Vaughan for 25. They still led Bangladesh by 276 runs, a total which Bangladesh have not yet reached in this series.

Butcher once again fell victim to left-arm finger spinner Mohammed Rafique, who has taken his wicket three times in this series (66 for 1). Butcher was deceived by the quicker ball which he tried to cut but only succeeded in getting a thin edge to the Khaled Mashud, the wicketkeeper. England then lost their second wicket when Nasser Hussain called Vaughan through for a suicidal single but after a mix-up mid pitch, Vaughan was run out by some distance (70 for 2).

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's hopes of bowling England out quickly were dealt a severe blow when Mashrafe Mortaza was forced to leave the field with a knee injury. Mortaza had only bowled four overs when his right knee appeared to buckle in his follow through. He left the field immediately and was taken to the hospital for observation. It appeared he would not take any further part in this match.

Richard Johnson's second five-wicket haul in only his second Test put England in control as Bangladesh lost their last six wickets for 61 runs inside 25 overs on the third day at Chittagong. Bangladesh scrambled past the score needed to avoid the follow on, but for the first time in this series their batting looked fragile and England's second-string seamers enjoyed their day in the sun.

Johnson, whose extra bounce regularly troubled the batsmen, was the pick of the bunch. Under more pressure to perform with the unwell Rikki Clarke back in the team hotel, he struck three times in the first hour as Bangladesh clawed their way towards short-term safety with a mixture of limpet-like defiance - Mushfiqur Rahman - and attacking shots which sometimes seemed quite inappropriate given the match situation.

The first wicket owed much to quite dreadful shot selection from Rajin Saleh. Saleh, who had looked to get after the bowlers from the off, attempted to cut a ball which was far too close to him and Chris Read, the wicketkeeper, held a straightforward nick (107 for 5). In Johnson's next over he removed Khaled Mashud for a duck with a short ball which Mashud could only fend off to substitute fielder Paul Collingwood at third slip (110 for 6). Khaled Mahmud took on the bowling in a successful bid to get Bangladesh to the 127 they needed to avoid the follow on, twice hooking Johnson who was peppering him with short balls. But with one run needed a full-length ball from Johnson lept a little, caught the shoulder of Mahmud's bat and lobbed to Collingwood. Mahmud had made 15 off 16 balls (126 for 7).

A delighted Martin Saggers took his first Test wicket, ending Rahman's 95-ball 28 with a peach which bounced and left him - he had to play, nicked it, and Read took his second straighforward catch of the morning. Johnson took his fifth, courtesy of a vile heave from Mashrafe Mortaza who deservedly lost his off stump (138 for 9) and then Saggers wrapped things up when Enamul Haque jnr holed out to Matthew Hoggard at long leg.

England - or rather makeshift opener Mark Butcher - faced 12 balls before lunch. He signalled his intent with a powerful, if uppish, drive for four off the first ball of the innings, and smacked two more boundaries off the first two balls of the second over from Mushfiqur Rahman. Marcus Trescothick ... who's he?

There were only two worries for England. The first was that they only had nine fit batsmen on the ground – Clarke being unlikely to surface today and Trescothick out of the match after injuring his thumb yesterday – although their lead should mean they already have enough runs to win this match at a canter. The second - the continuing sloppy slip fielding which saw them put down more chances this morning – is something that might take a little longer to solve.
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England are 2/102 in the 30th. over.

Butcher made 42 and Vaughan, 25. They lead by 276.

[Donny]

Nasser must have read what you wrote, Sultan. He's hit 61 with 50 in boundaries !!

Not exactly whirlwind stuff but 61 from 95 balls is about twice as fast as he went in the first innings.

He and Thorpe (51) have added 115 for the third wicket and England lead by 360.

[Donny]

Hussain went for 95 and Thorpe for 54 - both to Rafique.Their partnership was 138. Rafique has 3/101.

England are 4/286, a lead of 460.

[Donny]

At stumps, England have a lead of 467 with 6 wickets in hand.

[Donny]

An off-day at last

The Wisden Verdict by Andrew Miller

If anyone had suggested, prior to this series, that Bangladesh would suffer just one bad day in eight attempts, the average response would have been pretty derisive. Merely surviving for eight days, after all, is two more than most people had them down for.

But, to their immense credit, that is precisely what Bangladesh have managed. Less creditably, however, today – the eighth – has been a stinker. They started in an invidious position at 93 for 4, soon slumped to a hopeless one, and by the time Nasser Hussain had been roused from his torpor by the prospect of cheap runs, Bangladesh were displaying the sort of body language that Dav Whatmore was rumoured to have banished.

But England themselves know all about such days. In the time it took to lose the Ashes last winter, they managed one impressive day out of 11 (the second day at Adelaide), and still bounced back to win the final Test of the series. So Bangladesh need not dwell on today's performance. It is not a regression, just one of those hiccups that afflict all emerging teams.

After the scare that England suffered at Dhaka, they were always likely to rally strongly at Chittagong – that has been a feature of English performances on the subcontinent in recent years, regardless of the opposition. And in Richard Johnson, they had just the man to exploit an uncannily receptive third-day pitch. His pace, length and accuracy did to Bangladesh what he had done to Zimbabwe at Durham in May, and in doing so, he became the first English bowler since Nick Cook to take five-wicket hauls in his first two Tests.

At Durham, however, Johnson had employed a much fuller length. Here, he was buzzing around the batsmen's midriffs, and with Martin Saggers taking his lead, Bangladesh's tailenders were reduced to their wafty worst – either stepping back to have a mow, or flapping bouncers down fine-leg's throats. It was an ill-disciplined end to the innings, and the worst sort of justification for choosing to bat second.

The wisdom of that particular decision was once again shown up when the spinner Mohammad Rafique was called into the attack in the fourth over of England's second innings. Rafique was Bangladesh's one ray of light throughout the day. He immediately had Michael Vaughan in all manner of trouble, and deservedly added three more big scalps to take over as the leading wicket-taker in the series. We will never know how effective he might have been, had Bangladesh dared to wait, instead of employing him on a greentop in the first innings.

Rafique's efforts did their best to lift his side, but the stuffing had been knocked out of Bangladesh in the afternoon session, when their impressive young strike bowler, Mashrafee Mortoza, collapsed in his followthrough and twisted his knee. It was a grievous blow, but in truth they were already tottering. As England can concur, sometimes it just isn't your day.

[Donny]

Johnson and Hussain take England out of sight

The Wisden Bulletin by Freddie Auld

For the first time in the series, England enjoyed a day of total domination, starting with Richard Johnson's magic in the morning and ending with Nasser Hussain's evening rampage. England closed the third day on 293 for 5 with a firm stranglehold on the match, extending their lead to a massive 467 against a tired and dispirited Bangladesh side starring down the barrel.

Hussain batted England into an almost certainly unbeatable position, but it was Johnson who got things going with his second five-wicket haul in only his second Test as Bangladesh lost their last six wickets for 61 runs inside 25 overs. They scrambled past the score needed to avoid the follow-on, but their batting was fragile and England's second-string seamers enjoyed their day in the sun.

Johnson (5 for 49), whose extra bounce regularly troubled the batsmen, was the pick of the bunch. Under more pressure to perform with the unwell Rikki Clarke back in the team hotel, he struck three times in the first hour as Bangladesh just about clawed their way towards short-term safety. Rajin Saleh was Johnson's first victim of the day. He attempted to cut a ball which was far too close to him and edged to Chris Read, the wicketkeeper (107 for 5).

In Johnson's next over he removed Khaled Mashud for a duck with a short ball which Mashud could only fend off to substitute fielder Paul Collingwood at third slip (110 for 6). Khaled Mahmud took on the bowling in a successful bid to get Bangladesh to the 127 they needed to avoid the follow-on, but with one run needed a full-length ball leapt a little, caught the shoulder of Mahmud's bat and lobbed to Collingwood (126 for 7).


A delighted Martin Saggers took his first Test wicket, ending Rahman's 95-ball 28 with a peach of a delivery which Rahman nicked behind. Johnson then took his fifth, courtesy of a vile heave from Mashrafe Mortaza who deservedly lost his off stump (138 for 9) and then Saggers wrapped things up when Enamul Haque jnr holed out to Matthew Hoggard at long leg.

England were on a high after a job well done and Mark Butcher, opening in place of the injured Marcus Trescothick, gave them a further lift. He started in a hurry, signalling his intent with a boundary off the first ball of the innings and smacking two more in the next over.

But after he had creamed six boundaries in all, he once again fell victim to left-arm finger spinner Rafique, who has now taken his wicket three times in this series. Butcher was deceived by the quicker ball which he tried to cut but only succeeded in getting a thin edge to Mashud, the wicketkeeper (66 for 1). England then quickly lost their second wicket when Hussain called Michael Vaughan through for a suicidal single but after a mix-up mid pitch, Vaughan was run out by some distance (70 for 2).

Another post-lunch capitulation was on the cards, but Hussain and Graham Thorpe made sure that didn't happen and showed who was boss with an utterly dominating stand of 138. After taking half an hour to get off the mark, Hussain then slowly stamped his authority on the tired attack which was severely missing Mortaza, who left the pitch before tea with a knee injury and will miss the one-day international series. Hussain used his feet well, and drove and cut a barrage of boundaries. He signalled the hundred partnership with a towering straight six off Rafique and for good measure, cut the next ball for another four.

Thorpe went about his business in his own quiet way, knocking off the singles but also crashing anything short in to the midwicket boundary. He didn't even realise when he notched up his half-century, and neither did any of the deadly quiet crowd, which was a measure of how far England were on top.

Rafique gave Bangladesh something to shout about when he trapped Thorpe plum lbw for 54 (208 for 3). But by that stage it didn't really matter. Hussain carried on with ease, nearing his century, passing 20,000 first-class runs, and guiding the lead towards 400. But in the end, Rafique spoiled what would have been the icing on the cake for England with a simple catch off his own bowling to remove Hussain for an exhilarating 95 (231 for 4).

Clarke, up to his eyeballs with Imodium, replaced Hussain and straight away launched Rafique for a straight six in a quick 27 from 15. Read also took his chances, knocking a quick 38 not out, including five classy fours. He added a rapid 59 with Clarke which represented a fine end to what was England's day. Clarke fell lbw to Haque in the final over, and there was then a surprise entrance from Trescothick, who faced one ball before the close.

For Bangladesh, though, the day started badly and got worse. They now have a huge job on their hands to save the match, and considering their highest fourth-innings total is 184, you wouldn't fancy their chances.

[Donny]

Let's hope the Poms show some backbone and declare on the overnight score. They have a lead of 467.

For Bangladesh to win, they'd need to break the world record and if the equal 3rd. rated team in the world is wary of that from the 10th. rated team, there's a bigger problem in English cricket than we think.

If they bat on today and Bangladesh somehow scramble a draw - yes, highly improbable - the psychological damage would be immense.

[Donny]

Well, they did declare.

In the 15th. over, Bangladesh is 2/51. Johnson took an early wicket.

[Donny]

Unfortunately, The Bangers are capitulating.

When you're 470 odd behind and there's no thought of trying to get them, how the hell can you manage TWO run outs !!??

4/66 in the 22nd. 4th. day victory for England ? Looks like it.

[Donny]

All out for 138.

Mahmud top scored with 33. Johnson took 4/44 and 9/93 for the Test to earn Man of the Match.