England in Bangladesh

Finn looks likely to start now that Onions has been declared unfit.  That'll add a little spice to the match and some much needed agression to the English attack.  I hope Jimmy Anderson's enjoying his rest as I suspect he'll be asked to do a lot of bowling in the summer.

Another hiding in the offing here , Bangladesh just aren't good enough.  England made 599-6dec with big tons for Cook and Collingwood and a sparkling return to form for KP who fell on 99. In reply Bangladesh were dismissed for 296 with Swann the pick of the bowlers , taking 5-90.  Finn impressed as well , fine line and length , a real prospect here.
         Batting 2nd time around (no follow on enforced) England made 209-7 , setting the home side the highly improbable total of 513 to win. Currently they're 59-2 with Swann and Finn taking a wicket apiece.
         You'd have to say this won't go much past lunch tomorrow , even though the pitch is holding up well.
         

Yes mate , Swann's been the pick of the attack for over a year and his batting isn't bad either!

Bangladesh needed their skipper, Shakib al-Hasan to fire. He failed with the bat in the first innings by playing a poor shot. Bangladesh actually look like making around to 350-400 if Shakib can contribute, the likes of Tamim and Rahim make their line up look decent... not to mention the gifted Mahmudullah who looks likes he'll become a bit of a Samaraweera (off spinner turned middle order bat).
       Bresnan is bowling well, surprisingly. I always felt that he was a decent player but a little too bits-and-pieces. The fact he can open the bowling then come on later and gets some reverse swing , in the 130-140kph region, is promising, albeit he is no Anderson. Against another team Bresnan might be lucky to get a test, considering Anderson isn't playing and England would be more confident with an out and out pacer like a Tredwall, Plunkett, etc.
Pietersen is back in form, although I don't really think he was completely out of form... perhaps more out of luck and a bit unseasoned due to a long lay off. Another man though, Jon Trott will be sweating over his place, perhaps not for this series but for the upcoming summer. His position at the moment is comparable to Marcus North of Australia.

BD's batting is good but the bowling is the reason they struggle to win matches.

Fine defiance from Siddique and Rahim , interspersed with some excellent shotmaking. History was always against them though , even when they made lunch without losing a wicket.  Once Siddique went for a terrific 106 one suspected that the rest would cave in pretty quickly. Lovely 95 from the keeper , but I can't agree with zuhair , I though his keeping was diabolical !  Standing up to the spinners on a track that wasn't doing anything , he was poor and allowed so many to go through.
             Another brilliant effort from Graeme Swann , 10-217 , terrific!  Lovely drift and flight , the lad just gets better and better.
          Still , encouraging for the home side , but wickets like that aren't good for the game. Put two decent batting sides on surfaces like this one and you can write down "draw" in the book before the first ball's been delivered!


Edited by Sledger - 16 March 2010 at 7:36am

Sledger is right, from the first morning I watched, Rahim's keeping was very shabby to say the least to the spinners.

Agreed Milks , both those tweakers are well back in the queue now and it'll take some sparkling performances or a drastic loss of form by Swann for them to replace him.  The tests in England this summer will not see a change unless Swann gets injured and then that place could well go to Tredwell.  Nothing special with the lad ,  he's a useful lower order batsman but an average offspinner.  They'll take a second spinner to Australia later this year but he'll only be a drinks carrier.

Edited by Sledger - 17 March 2010 at 6:13am

They'll look at the surface first and if it's typically dry , then Tredwell could well start.  Who would miss out is quite interesting. Finn and Bresnan bowled steadily and well in spurts , whereas Broad was rather poor - the latter might find himself twiddling his thumbs , come matchday.

I don't think they will drop Broad for the second spinner. It will be Finn as Bresnan chipped in with three good wickets in the second innings.

England had no problems playing 5 bowlers against Australia and they won , twice at home in a row. Realistically they would win playing 3 bowlers with the inconsistency of BD, I wouldn't doubt that, but seriously just play 5 batsman, keeper and 5 bowlers. Most of the bowlers can bat. Bresnan, Broad, Swann are all rounders, without a doubt.

Bell's doing a Collingwood here. But have to say, umpiring has been horribly bad and unfortunately for the hosts, most of it has gone against them. BD seriously need to find two good fast bowlers to be able to take twenty wickets in a game - their batting is pretty ok and quite settled now.

I would have liked to see England get a bit adventurous and declared 50 or even 100 runs behind. It would have thrown Bangladesh into unfamiliar territory and obliged them to go on and set England some sort of run chase.

At the rate they are likely to score at tomorrow, getting a lead of 200 will take them almost half the days play and probably kill off any chance of a positive result for either side.

They do lead by almost 200 and not by the end of day's play - it is just lunch. Thrilling game this one could turn out to be. If Englnad take the last wicket early - they will still have 5o plus overs to chase 200 runs. Surely, a draw against the BD won't sound too good for the England team - they will have to shuffle the batting order a bit in order to press victory.