Bangladesh Make History!

After last week’s gloriously close contest, I really wasn’t expecting another. Let alone Bangladesh actually winning it!

So many, many congratulations to Mushfiqur Rahim’s men for breaking their hoodoo and for the first time beating not only England but any top six Test-playing nation since their debut in 2000. I’m being kind to England; the margin was 108 runs, so ultimately not particularly close at all!

It was quite a weird match of ebb and flow, the tidal range of cricketing fortunes abnormally large. Tamim Iqbal and Mominul Haque pushed the home team’s first innings score to a very respectable 171-1 before Moeen Ali sparked a 9-41 collapse before day one was complete. In reply, England never really got going. Not even 50-merchant Jonny Bairstow or Ben Stokes could work some magic. Indeed, the best partnership by far was the 99 produced for the ninth, featuring Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes.

Facing a modest deficit, Tamim Iqbal set off at his usual rapid rate before falling first with the score on 65. Fortunately most of the top five also contributed to the cause, advancing the score to 200-3. Meanwhile, the catches were going down with alarming regularity. Could they ride their luck and set a target of 300+? Er, no. Stokes and Rashid got stuck in on the third morning and it was game on.

With spin again looking to be the most lethal weapon, the target of 273 would undoubtedly be challenging. In came Alastair Cook and Ben Duckett. With half the allotted five days still to come, it would be about patience, skill and application, not the usual England strategy of bash-it-and-hope.

In the event, new-boy Duckett played his usual attacking game while his captain was more averse to finding the boundary. It seemed to be working as the first century came up without loss in the 24th over. Finally, the teenage twirler Mehedi Hasan broke through, and the English resistance crumbled into dust. Hallowe’en humiliation for the tourists but hyperbolic hysteria for Bangladesh.

Cook blamed the inexperience of England’s spinners. Erm, and just how much experience does he think 18 year-old Hasan possesses? In fact, it was the seam of Woakes and Stokes which shone on the first day, while the decision to recall Steven Finn looked rather odd. He bowled 11 overs in the match, conceding 48 runs and taking no wickets. I understand why Zafar Ansari was granted his debut, but not why he was picked for the tour in the first place. Why don’t the selectors take the players in form, not those who play for the London counties and did quite well a few years ago?!

Moeen Ali is a useful spinner but we must remember he is basically a stylish batsmen who was forced to develop his bowling skills as a means of filling a gaping hole in England’s armoury. I’m sure work is being done to coach young spinners into potential Test stars of the future. The value of slow bowling to Twenty20 has probably attracted boys and girls to try their hands at off-breaks and googlies. Unfortunately, the skills required to keep sloggers down to eight runs an over aren’t necessarily the same as those needed to strangle Test batsmen and take ten wickets. It’s the same gulf as that which exits between batting in Tests and one-dayers.

The reality is that England are not going to produce a world-class spinner in the next year. So what they need to do against the likes of Bangladesh and India is to coach batsmen into playing the likes of Mehedi Hasan and Ravi Ashwin. Cook and Root can’t do it all themselves. Number one test nation India might just be licking their lips….

As for Bangladesh, they deserve their celebrations after beating England fair and square over two matches. I wouldn’t be surprised if, given a deciding fixture, the home nation would have wrapped up a series victory. I just hope they are allowed to play more Test matches against the top sides and show this wasn’t a fluke. Of course, that is precisely why England, Australia and India will NOT give them such an opportunity. That is a shame. I’d welcome many more chances to see Shakib and Mehedi in action against the world’s greatest batsmen.

Lancashire and Surrey Up, Somerset Heading Down?

Last week began with Finals Day of the Nat West T20 Blast, in which the spin bowlers dominated the batsmen. Stephen Parry and Arron Lilley were particularly effective as Lancashire took the title.

Bank Holiday Monday saw the T20 double-header at Cardiff. I was there to witness two excellent and contrasting victories for England against Australia. Anya Shrubsole ripped out the first four Aussie women then Natalie Sciver took four wickets of her own before adding 47 decisive runs to earn that consolation win at the end of the Women’s Ashes series. Stars of the men’s game were Moeen Ali and Eoin Morgan for England, although Steve Smith threatened to take his side to victory. Sadly for him, he fell for 90, and Australia’s run chase went with him.

I’ll start my County Championship review in Division Two. As expected, both Surrey and Lancashire clinched promotion with two matches to spare. Surrey went top for the first time with an innings defeat of Derbyshire. Zafar Ansari did his international credentials no harm with a century and five wickets, but it was skipper Gareth Batty who concluded the win with a hat-trick.

Rain hit the other three games but Lancashire weren’t robbed of success. In fact, Kent forced them to follow on thanks to hundreds from Robert Key and his young successor as captain, Sam Northeast. At Chelmsford, Essex had the best of proceedings against Northamptonshire but a draw was inevitable. The result also hastened the sacking of the home coach Paul Grayson, paying the price for the county’s consistent under-achievement. Let’s hope the new crop of batsmen restore good times in Essex before the wealthy competitors lure them away. Leicestershire and Gloucestershire also played out an unremarkable draw.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire produced another devastating performance, twice bowling Somerset out for under 200. Ballance and Bairstow each passed 90, while Brooks and Sidebottom were the pick of the reliable seam bowling unit. Somerset were dragged back into the relegation fight as both Sussex and Hampshire enjoyed vital victories.

At Chester-le-Street, Durham succumbed to Hampshire inside three days. Ryan McLaren and Fidel Edwards each claimed seven wickets and Chris Rushworth took just two for Durham. Ryan Pringle (99 for Durham) and James Vince (16 fours in 76 not out) were the only players to make 50.

There were more runs at Worcester, where the home side were well beaten by a rampant Sussex. Luke Wright’s 226 was by far the top score of the week, and he was ably supported by Ben Brown and Chris Nash. Chris Jordan enjoyed a return to form with the ball, too. There was something for Worcestershire to savour; teenager Joe Clarke scored an unbeaten 104, his first Championship century. The loss of the first day meant Warwickshire’s contest with Middlesex was something of a damp squib.

While Worcestershire’s fate is far from sealed, just seven points from safety, they really need to win both remaining games. Somerset’s escape is in their own hands, facing both Sussex and Hampshire in the coming weeks. Yorkshire’s coronation as champions again should come this week at Lord’s. Just five bonus points will be enough to put both Middlesex and Nottinghamshire mathematically out of reach.

Team of the Week: Burns (Sur), Key (Ken), Smith (Aus), Sciver (Eng W), Wright (Sus), Northeast (Ken), Brown (Sus +), Ansari (Sur), Brooks (Yor), Parry (Lan), Shrubsole (Eng W)

Bairstow Breaks Durham Hearts

Last week the bowlers were in command but this time, the County Championship was extraordinarily kind to the batsmen, and wicketkeepers in particular. Even the Aussies got in on the act, making hay in the Kent and Essex sunshine in a week which saw those in the London area experience their hottest July weather on record.

The first v second battle in Division One proved surprisingly one-sided. Once Jonny Bairstow achieved a career-best 219 not out, and shared with Tim Bresnan a 366-run seventh wicket partnership – the third highest in all first-class cricket and a Championship record – Durham’s pretensions to the title looked distinctly feeble. Bresnan then added three wickets of his own to make the home county follow on. Mark Stoneman capped a good personal week with a solid 131 but all in vain.

At the other end of the table, Nottinghamshire lifted themselves to seventh by beating fellow strugglers Worcestershire in a relatively low-scoring affair at Trent Bridge. Riki Wessels (Notts) and Tom Fell (Worcester) each made two half-centuries, and Richard Oliver fell on 99, but the star bowler was the under-rated medium-pacer Jack Shantry. In the Notts second innings the recorded Murali-esque figures of 35.4-13-48-5. And still ended up on the losing side!

Hampshire are now back at the bottom following a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Middlesex. The Hants top order again failed, and James Harris helped himself to eight wickets. Meanwhile, at Edgbaston, only twelve wickets fell across all four days! Warwickshire and Sussex each declared on more than 600 with six centurions and another triple-hundred stand. Laurie Evans and ex-England ‘keeper Tim Ambrose piled on 327 for the sixth wicket as Sussex resorted to giving all eleven a bowl. A shame that ‘keeper Ben Brown couldn’t add a wicket to his unbeaten 119 from his eight tidy overs!

Next up, Yorkshire could put real distance between themselves and the rest by beating Warwickshire, while Worcestershire face another relegation battle, this time against Hampshire. Somerset go for a third consecutive success at home to Sussex, but somehow I can’t see it happening. Consistency is sorely lacking but then so is quality of the opposition bowling in recent weeks.

There were only two Second Division fixtures, but the promotion battle looks more interesting as a result. Leaders Lancashire could only draw with Northants, for whom young Ben Duckett contributed more than 200 runs. However, Surrey scorched Gloucestershire by an innings before the heatwave really took hold in London. Ben Foakes top-scored for the home team before Tom Curran (7-20) and Zafar Ansari (6-30) ripped through the vulnerable visitors on days two and three.

Next week, Glamorgan can catch up with one of their two games in hand (playing Derbyshire) but Lancashire can restore some momentum by beating Essex. Leicestershire and Kent will badly want to achieve the win which would consign the other to last place.

Team of the Week: Stoneman (Dur), Ansari (Sur), Duckett (Nor), Evans (War), Wright (Sus), M Marsh (Aus), Bairstow (Yor, +), Bresnan (Yor), T Curran (Sur), Harris (Mid), Shantry (Wor)