England's cricket tour to Bangladesh

Stumps after day 2:
Bangladesh 419 all out (Swann 4-114)
England 171-3 (Trott 64 no, Pietersen 45, Bell 25 no)
England trail by 248 with seven wickets remaining in the first innings.

A good day for Bangladesh who raised their overnight score from 330-8 to 419 and then took three England wickets. The pitch is flat and relatively slow and the bowling not particularly threatening but this has been a more competitive match than at Chittagong. Trott has been very patient in his batting, particularly against spin, and England need to bat well tomorrow to get beyond Bangladesh.
My money would be on the draw as the pitch looks flat and true but we shall see...that's why they play the game!

Shakib Al Hasan bowling figures at present is

1/26 off 24 overs Economy Rate 1:08

(21-03-2010 17:07 )birdlime Wrote:  Shakib Al Hasan bowling figures at present is

1/26 off 24 overs Economy Rate 1:08

Economy rate: 1.08
Strike rate: 144
Al Hasan really didn't look that threatening, he bowled to Trott who is less accomplished against spin than seam and was basically content to play him back. The Bangladeshi spinners really don't look that threatening... cue England collapse playing the sweep shot?

There was some notion from Bob Willis that a draw would represent a moral victory for Bangladesh, that outcome is some way off and really doesn't stand up. The biggest factor in any match is the pitch and from what I've seen of the tracks in Bangladesh they are pretty slow and flat with very little deterioration even in baking heat. They don't look like dust bowls that turn into a raging bunsen burner after a couple of days -they are chief executive pitches that are a bit too batsmen friendly as Mike Atherton has rightly contended.

A draw is a draw and it can be a thrilling draw as at Old Trafford in 2005, Cardiff in 09 or in South Africa this winter or a boring draw (550+ plays 500+ followed by token second innings) but they are all draws. One side may be close to victory but there really is no such thing as a moral victory except in a sort of condescending you're not very good but we didn't beat you so well done plucky South Asian team kind of way. Rant against Bob Willis over!!

England 282-5 at lunch on the third day. Bell 70no, Bresnan 4no.
Trott didn't add to his overnight score of 64 before being unluckily bowled by Hasan of the back of his bat; Prior played freely for 62 before being bowled rather rashly charging Hasan and being bowled on the stroke of lunch.
Bell now averages in excess of 400 against Bangladesh... very good or cheap runs?

Be fair and I love my cricket, I have followed England all over the world .... it is the most boring 2 test matches ever.

They wont last 3 days in England on out tracks.

Bell batted well, but its only Bangladesh

They will struggle over here on proper pitches, the ones we've played on over there are a joke. Hope tomorrow Bresnan gets to his 100 and a lead of 100 overall and then take it from there.

Looking ahead how does this side look:
Strauss
Cook
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bell
Prior
Bresnan
Swann
Broad
Anderson
Finn or Onions

Second test Day 3 Mirpur

England 440/8 off 154 overs

England's lead is just 21 runs with 2 wickets in hand but it could have been worse as they were 3 lbw decisions went against Bangladesh but overall its been a competitve match and if Bangladesh draw or lose this match they can take a lot of positives from this performance.

Love it when you post, the glass is never half full with you is it?

Trust me, you WOULDN'T like to be a quick out there bowling in 90deg plus heat, with about 85% humidity on a pitch that's deader than my great grandma....Close of play now and if they quickly wrap up the Bangladesh tail tomorrow, they most likely WILL win, which should cheer you up a bit!!

Actually, all things considered i think they've bowled ok, Bresnan has toiled away without much luck and Finn looks a promising one for the future. If they had held all their catches in the middle session today (Trott ) it would be wrapped up a lot sooner.

(Ooops!! 654321's post has gone now, he must have thought better of it )

For sum strange reason i thort it was day 5 lol. But i do think we look average.

Yes i wouldn't like to be out there bowling....but i'm not a professional athlete who trains and has played in worse conditions than that either.

Too many average players in the side rite now. I think it might be time to give Eoin Morgan a chance in the test team. Instead of the god awful Trott
The glass is never half full cos is never half full with the England cricket team, cos its so frustrating we have the potential to be the best team in the world.
A win in a minimum expectation. We need to get into the habit of winning in the build up to the Ashes like we did in 2005.


Wotever happened to Chris Tremlett? i thort he was one with real potential, totally disappeared of the radar for the selectors?

(23-03-2010 12:01 )654321 Wrote:  For sum strange reason i thort it was day 5 lol. But i do think we look average.

Yes i wouldn't like to be out there bowling....but i'm not a professional athlete who trains and has played in worse conditions than that either.

Too many average players in the side rite now. I think it might be time to give Eoin Morgan a chance in the test team. Instead of the god awful Trott
The glass is never half full cos is never half full with the England cricket team, cos its so frustrating we have the potential to be the best team in the world.
A win in a minimum expectation. We need to get into the habit of winning in the build up to the Ashes like we did in 2005.


Wotever happened to Chris Tremlett? i thort he was one with real potential, totally disappeared of the radar for the selectors?

I'm completely with you on Morgan, he'd be something that few have seen before in test cricket. But then who'd bat at 3? Pietersen clearly doesn't want the job and Bell's been rubbish whenever they've made him bat there, he's much more comfortable at 5 or 6........I know Trott can look like he's died at the crease at times, but sometimes a "stickler" is what you need at test cricket. I reckon someone who can occupy the crease for long periods will be needed when we go to Oz.

He needs catching lessons though