Cook Leads By Example As England Dominate First Day

Cook Leads By Example As England Dominate First Day

Alastair Cook celebrates his century against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

©REUTERS/Andrew Biraj (BANGLADESH - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

England 374-3 (Cook 158no, Pietersen 99) v Bangladesh
First Test, Chittagong, day one

England dominated the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong, captain Alastair Cook leading the way with an unbeaten 158.

England, who were invited to bat first by Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, closed the day on an imposing 374 for three.

After handing debuts to Hampshire batsman Michael Carberry and Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn, and seeing Carberry (30) and Jonathan Trott (39) dismissed, Cook added 170 for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen looked set to join Cook in reaching three figures before he was bowled by left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak for 99, his innings, if not the dismissal, a welcome sight for England fans and his team-mates following a lengthy run of low scores.

He stroked 15 fours and hit a six during a fine innings in which he faced just 135 balls, dominating the partnership with Cook, who helped himself to runs on an easy pitch and against some fairly ordinary bowling at times on the way to an 11th Test century.

Nevertheless, he never lost his concentration and he took full advantage of conditions by hitting 14 fours and two maximums, one of which brought up his century, and as he tired late in the day the scoring rate was given a boost by Paul Collingwood, who drove, cut and punched five fours on his way to an unbeaten 32 in 40 balls.

Carberry perished when he was trapped in front by Mahmudullah after sharing an opening stand of 72 with Cook and Trott was caught by wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim off Rubel Hussain and he put on 77 with Cook for the second wicket.

Bangladesh used eight bowlers in all, but rarely looked like getting into the contest and the closest Cook came to getting out was in the final over of the day, when some gentle medium pace offered up by Tamim Iqbal gave him a couple of nervous moments.

© Cricket World 2010

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