BAN v ENG, 2nd Test Day 1 Review: Bangladesh shoot themselves in the foot

In spite of a wonderfully compiled 104 from Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh shot themselves in the foot when they collapsed to the impressive spinning abilities of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. 13 wickets fell on the day despite the day being cut short rather significantly due to the rain that made a divine intervention towards the close of play. Thus, there will be an endeavor to play more overs on the following day’s play.

The day began well for England when Chris Woakes struck in only his second over. Imrul Kayes, one of the solid Bangladeshi batsmen in the context of the ongoing tour was dismissed for a score of next to nothing. However, whilst England rejoiced, little did Alastair Cook know what was to come. Mominul Haque and Tamim Iqbal began to turn on the heat as the Brits began to wilt.

The onslaught meant that Alastair Cook had to bring his plans of bowling the spinners forward. Although Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid were able to bring down the scoring rate by a significant bit, they failed to pick the all-important wicket of either player. The duo then went ahead and stitched a 171-run partnership, the highest partnership in the series and definitely one of the bigger partnerships as far as the history of Bangladesh cricket was concerned.

However, in spite of this, the fact of the matter remained that the solidity was wilting England. Even newcomer Zafar Ansari could not do much when it came to dislodging the partnership. Tamim Iqbal reached his century soon after the lunch break and looked as though he wanted to convert this to a double and put the brakes on England.

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However, this did not materialize as Moeen Ali succeeded in trapping Tamim Iqbal. While the southpaw had survived the first review, this time around, it seemed as though Kumar Dharmasena had outwitted the system after all. Following this wicket, the Bangladesh wickets crumbled like a poorly structured house of cards.

Moeen Ali was making the ball turn a country mile and the batsmen had simply no answer to the 28-year old’s onslaught. Mominul Haque fell soon after for a well-made 66. Apart from Mahmudullah and Shakib-al-Hasan, none of the other Bangladesh batsmen did get their individual scores into double figures.

Ben Stokes also chimed in with some impressive bowling acumen while Jonny Bairstow was kept very busy behind the stumps. Before long, the hosts were blasted out for a paltry 220 runs. This mean that the hosts had lost 9 wickets for just 49 runs, something they will certainly have to improve upon should they be classified as a dangerous team in international cricket.

Moeen Ali completed yet another five-wicket haul while Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes impressed with some wickets as well.

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While England had impressed yet again with the ball, they now had to see off the new ball which would be operated by Mehedi Hasan, the 19-year old who was a bundle of brilliance in the first Test at Chittagong. Ben Duckett’s horror tour continued as he was removed by Shakib-al-Hasan. Mehedi removed Alastair Cook yet again while Gary Ballance was the next to capitulate to the impressive teenager. The day concluded at 50/3 with the visitors 170 runs behind the hosts.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh, 1st innings: 220 all out (Tamim 104; Moeen Ali 5/57)

England, 1st innings: 50/3 G Ballance 15; Mehedi Hasan 2/26)

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