Bangladesh in England (News Articles, Editorials, Media Outlets etc.)

[cricman]

Any experience is probably good experience for Bangladesh, but the timing of the Asia Cup, sandwiched between the Test and one-day series in England, has denied Tamim Iqbal the chance for an overseas slot in the revamped Friends Provident t20.

Just as Northamptonshire have taken the imaginative step of signing Elton Chigumbura, the Zimbabwe all-rounder, so Iqbal would have made an eye-catching addition for a forward-looking county, rather than employing a former Test player or minor Australian.

Would Iqbal have been a gamble? Probably not. Save for a few blows from Graeme Swann yesterday, his was the most entertaining batting. He took a liking to Tim Bresnan on the way to a fourth half-century in five Test innings against England this year. He has also taken them for a one-day hundred.

There was a touch of “stand and deliver” about Iqbal at times when he swung lustily without a lot of footwork, and the odd shot raced to a part of the ground he did not envisage. But other strokes oozed quality. To think of him as a chancer heading for a deserved fall seriously underestimates his ability.

Only Sachin Tendulkar reached 1,000 Test runs at a younger age and now, three months on from his 21st birthday, Iqbal is Bangladesh’s fifth-highest run-scorer. He averages about 37, which is outstanding by the standards of his country. By comparison, Habibul Bashar, who was known as the Bangladeshi Bradman, finished with a career average a fraction above 30.

If Iqbal has been a new threat to England, his family are known. Nafees Iqbal, an older brother, scored a hundred in a warm-up game against Nasser Hussain’s touring side of 2003-04. His uncle, Akram Khan, enjoyed his best cricket before Bangladesh made their Test debut. With an imposing figure, he saw his job as to crash balls as far, as quickly and as often as he could. The style is in the genes.

Iqbal’s latest effort was a brave as much as a spectacular affair. Two days before the game he visited a specialist to assess the wrist he damaged in a domestic game before this month’s World Twenty20. He was given a choice: tape it up and hope to avoid another bang or undergo surgery and sit out the next three months. The allure of playing at Lord’s answered the question.

Bowlers will continue to look for chinks, but an equally dangerous opponent may be burnout. The second npower Test finishes on June 8, the Asia Cup in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, runs from June 15 to 24 — monsoon permitting — and warm-ups for the 50-over games against England back here get under way on July 3. That wrist will only get sorer.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle7139506.ece

Very Complimentary for Tamim

[cricman]

Boycott: Bangladesh won the last 2 sessions, Played good cricket

[Ahmed_B]

FIRST TEST: BANGLADESH MAKE ENGLAND SWEAT-Dailystar.co.uk

Tigers bite back at Lord's-Skysports

Bangladesh resistance frustrates England-Cricket.co.uk

Bangladesh make England struggle in first Test-BBC

Bowlers toil after Trott double-century-Cricket365

Bangladesh Respond Well To Trott's Double-Century-Cricketworld

[Nadim]

Ryan Sidebottom replaces injured Bresnan for England

England have called up Nottinghamshire seamer Ryan Sidebottom for Friday's second Test with Bangladesh following an injury to all-rounder Tim Bresnan.

Sidebottom is the only change from the squad that completed a comfortable eight-wicket win at Lord's on Monday.

Bresnan took four wickets at Lord's but has a stress fracture in his left foot and will be further assessed this week.

Sidebottom, 32, played the last of his 22 Tests in South Africa in January and has 79 wickets at an average of 28.

The left-arm seamer was most recently involved at international level as part of the triumphant England World Twenty20 squad in the West Indies.

He played in all seven of England's matches, finishing as their joint highest wicket-taker with Graeme Swann, with 10 wickets at an average of 16.

"It's very unfortunate that Tim Bresnan will miss the second Test through injury as his bowling benefitted from five days of Test cricket during the Lord's Test and he would have been looking forward to getting more overs under his belt at Old Trafford," England National Selector Geoff Miller said.

"It does, however, provide Ryan Sidebottom with an opportunity to push for Test selection following his outstanding performances in the World Twenty20.

"The entire bowling unit will be better for the overs bowled during the first Test and looking to further build on this in Manchester."

"I'm very excited," Sidebottom told BBC Radio Nottingham. "It might be some reward for the way I performed in Barbados.

"I'm delighted with my form. Obviously I'm a little bit older now and my Test career is maybe coming towards the end but I don't think I've anything else to prove.

"The icing on the cake would be going to the Ashes and performing in that, but that is too far ahead, but I enjoy all forms of the game."

Bangladesh have never played a Test at Old Trafford but Sidebottom has appeared in two matches there, taking three wickets against the West Indies in 2007 and four more against New Zealand a year later

Source: bbc cricket

[AK420]

^^^^
So I need to make a change to the match thread now

[auntu]

Tamim would be a bit disappointed not to see Bresnan in the English lineup.
He was his favorite pick.

[Aritro]

An in form Sidebottom is twice the bowler Bresnan is. With the Old Trafford pitch apparently being a fast and bouncy one this year, I wouldn't be surprised if we've already left our best cricket for this series behind us.

[Naimul_Hd]

CI blog: Bangladesh proves to be worthy of Test cricket
Mike Holmans

I enjoyed the Lord's Test more than I was expecting to. Even if when Bangladesh fielded, it was the predictable routine of the class side treating the hopefuls with something approaching disdain, when they were batting we watched real competition quite worthy of the designation “Test cricket”.

Shahadat Hossain was the first Bangladeshi ever to get his name on the Lord's honours board, which is certainly a huge achievement. That he picked up his five-for largely through the generosity of careless batsmen or, in the case of Alastair Cook's dismissal, a careless umpire does not take away from its significance in Bangladesh cricket history. It was a reward for persistence and being the bowler who looked least out of place: he looked like a county bowler finding the step up difficult while the others looked like local amateurs volunteering to give net practice.

Tamim Iqbal, the other Bangladeshi to get his name name on the boards, however, got there by playing one of the most dazzling innings ever seen in a Test on the old ground. On the one day of the match when the sun shone brightly, Tamim produced an innings which beautifully matched the weather. There have certainly been bigger Test hundreds scored at Lord's, and at least one was scored quicker - Mohammed Azharuddin's century in 1990 came off fewer balls, and it is possible that Percy Sherwell's in 1907 did too in the absence of a reliable count of balls faced for matches back in his era - but I doubt that any have been played so joyously. So carefree looked his batting that he could have been having a casual thrash with his mates on a tipsy Sunday afternoon a couple of hundred yards away in Regent's Park rather than opening the batting for his country in a Lord's Test.

Not that it was stupid or mindless: as he said afterwards, his main aim was to hit the ball where the fielders weren't and he largely succeeded in fulfilling his plan - such as it was. Slip fielders placed traditionally for the opening overs are largely redundant since he is not a great driver and hardly ever edges behind, and he hits it so hard that even those he does edge usually go way over the head of any pertinent fielder in a close catching position, which means there are usually acres of space for him to send the ball towards. It is by no means as risky as it looks to the conventional eye.

Test captains and new-ball bowlers still treat this type of opening assault as an offence against nature: it is so far away from what is “supposed” to happen that they usually flounder in response. The bowlers get angrier and more frustrated and the captain has to cope with trying to set a field which might have some people in the right places while making allowances for bowlers bowling less reliably. For someone like Strauss, it is obviously a nightmare. But with the likes of Chris Gayle and Virender Sehwag as well as Tamim on the circuit, it behooves captains, coaches and think tanks to devote some serious attention to finding a method to contain these explosions.

Supporting Tamim, Imrul Kayes finally managed his maiden half-century and Junaid Siddique showed the solidity which had started to become evident when England visited Bangladesh earlier in the year. Taken overall, the Tigers' batsmen fully justified their Test status. Even tittering about or being embarrased by Bangladesh's bowling, the Lord's Test was no more or less of a mismatch than Nasser Hussain's youthful England side taking on Australia in the 2002-03 Ashes. Bangladesh weren't able to draw, let alone have a chance of winning, but this performance in overseas conditions shows that they have truly graduated.

Source: http://blogs.cricinfo.com/diffstroke...esh_arrive.php

[Rabz]

Its about time Tamim makes his mark in the county circuit.
He just did himself the greatest favour, scoring a blazzing century in the place of all places.

[AsifTheManRahman]

Test status safe and sealed for another decade.

[alibangali]

Right next mission is the bowling, we need just one world class pacer at the very least and our chances will improve dramatically, it was painful comparing our bowlers to school level but sometimes the truth does hurt.