[Miraz]

Bulletin

Bangladesh undone by weather and Finn
29 May 2010
Khondaker Mirazur Rahman at Lord's

Bangladesh batsmen failed to cope with the perfect seaming condition on a wet and murky day at Lord's today as they lost 5 wickets for 65 runs in 28.5 overs on a weather dominated day 3 of the first Test. Bangladesh ended day 2 on a bright note on 172 for 2, but the heavily overcast condition took the shine away from the Bangladesh innings as English seamers came on top and reduced Bangladesh to 237 for 7 at close of day 3, still needing 69 more runs to avoid the follow-on.

Play finally started at 3:20 PM local time after rain completely washed the first session of play. Zunaid was first to go after adding only 5 runs to his overnight score as he was trying to leave a Steven Finn's rising delivery but could only manage a faint edge to wicketkeeper Matt Prior. Mohammd Ashraful soon followed him after yet another wrong LBW decision by umpire Ashoka De Silva. The ball was clearly going well over the top of the leg stump but the Sri Lankan umpire through otherwise and raised his finger after a vociferous appeal from the English fielders.

After the departure of Ashraful, skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Jahurul Islam played with lot of caution but Jahurul was undone by a moving delivery from Jimmy Anderson which kissed his bat as he failed to negotiate with the seam movement and bounce of the wicket under overcast condition. Anderson also picked skipper Shakib Al Hasan for 25 to end Bangladesh's hope of posting a competitive first innings score.

In addition to the poor playing condition, Bangladesh again found them at the wrong end of the umpiring decisions. In addition to the wrong LBW decision against Ashraful, the umpires made a mockery of the bad light rule by periodic stop-start under murky conditions which resulted in the loss of Mushfiqur Rahim just before the close of play. Mushfiqur's defense was rattled by an inswinging Finn delivery which was difficult to negotiate with light unsuitable for play.

Bangladesh will hope for some sunshine tomorrow to avoid the follow-on as they require another 69 runs with 3 wickets in hand in the first innings.