BC bulletin from Lord's: First Test Day 2

[Miraz]

Bangladesh in England, 2010

Bulletin

Shahadat and top-order fight for Bangladesh
28 May 2010
Khondaker Mirazur Rahman at Lord's


Shahadat Hossain made amends for his debut Lord's performance with a fiery spell of fast bowling and grabbed 5 wickets for 98 runs to become the first Bangladeshi to find his name on the Lords honor's board as Bangladesh took the fight to the opposition in the 2nd day of the first Test at Lord's today. After picking up the last 6 England wickets for 143 runs, Bangladesh top order batted sensibly to end day 2 on 172 for 2 needing a further 134 runs to avoid the follow-on.

After restricting England to 505 runs all out, Bangladesh openers Imrul Kayes and Tamim Iqbal started with a blend of caution and aggression in their bid to see off the new ball. Tamim struck successive boundaries in the second over of Bangladesh innings to set the tone and he continued his blistering form with swashbuckling stroke play all over the ground. He was particularly merciless to Tim Bresnan who was hit for 5 boundaries in a lackluster opening spell.

At the other end, Imrul Kayes played with plenty of grit and determination as he managed to bury the ghost of short bowling with some impressive shot selection. Bangladesh saw off the new ball threat as they went to Tea with 67 runs on board and without loss of any wicket.

Tamim Started the post-tea session with successive boundaries and raced to his 8th Test half-century and looked in an ominous touch as he punished every England bowler who dared to stand in his way. However, an injudicious call for a quick single which was never there ended Tamim's brilliant innings as a direct throw from Kevin Pietersen found Tamim well short of his ground. After Tamim's departure, Zunaid Siddique joined Imrul Kayes and steadied the ship in an assured fashion. Zunaid shared a 46 run second wicket partnership with Imrul Kayes who was finally out after scoring his career best 43 runs. Imrul could not get away from a nasty climbing delivery from Steven Finn which was directed towards his rib cage and edged to Andrew Strauss at first slip.

On a number of occasions in the past, Bangladesh suddenly slipped from a strong position by losing a number of quick wickets, but the new boy Jahurul and Zunaid Siddique showed the ever improving side of the Bangladesh team as they battled with plenty of commitment to deny England bowlers and remained unbeaten at the close of play. Zunaid picked up his 6th Test fifty on the way with the help of 8 boundaries and the pair added 38 runs in the unbeaten 3rd wicket partnership.

Earlier, the day started brightly for Bangladesh as they picked up debutant Eoin Morgan after adding only 4 runs to his overnight score. A faint edge to Mushfiqur off Shahadat's late moving delivery was enough to undone Morgan who was fast tracked to Test cricket by some encouraging performances in the limited over games. Bangladesh bowlers bowled with lot of hearts and checked England's progress which ultimately resulted in the wicket of Matt Prior who was stranded in the middle by Jonathan Trott who was too much focused on his maiden double century and sent back Prior after initially calling him for the second run. .

Prior was well short of the crease as a powerful throw from the deep by Shamsur Rahman reached Mushfiqur Rahim who removed the bell in a flash. Among the procession of England batsmen, Jonathan Trott was exception with some unimaginative but efficient batting. He finally reached his double century off 318 deliveries with the help of 18 boundaries.

Tim Bresnan, who is setting his focus to become England's next Andrew Flintoff was next to go as Shahadat angled one away from him and he obliged with a healthy edge to Zunaid Siddique who smartly pouched the catch at the first slip. Jonathan Trott soon became Shahadat's 4th victim as he guided a rising delivery to the safe hands of Imrul Kayes at gully.

Graeme Swann came in with some aggressive intent and clubbed couple of sixes off Shakib Al Hasan but the Bangladesh captain had the last laugh as he picked Swann in the same over courtesy of a diving catch at the deep square leg by Rubel Hossain. Bangladesh's fielding was inspirational today as they grabbed every opportunity that came their way.

Finally, the moment came for Shahadat as he tore through the defense of James Anderson to rattle the castle and became the first Bangladeshi bowler to grab five wickets at the home of cricket. Bangladesh could only manage 3 wickets in their first Lords Test in 2005, but this time they took 10 wickets for 505 runs to deny England to declare their innings for the first time on home soil against Bangladesh.


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