Bangladesh v England - Test Series

[canveyshrimper]

Bangladesh win the toss and put England in, from what I saw early this morning the pitch looks to be a real bunsen. Which to my mind makes England's selection of 6 batsmen with Prior at 7 very strange. On the basis of the 8 wickets he took at the same ground I thought Tredwell would be a shoo in, however Steven Finn comes in for his debut, with Bresnan, Broad and Swann making up the attack.

Cook on debut as captain makes a century, latest England 218/2 with Pietersen on 36, and hopefully set for a big score.

IMO this series should be a formality for England.

 

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

If i wanted to block all websites that stream this match...what website is likely to be the most popular to insure i DEFINATELY CAN'T watch the stream online?

 

[Grayson]

I've been watching from the start, drifting in and out of sleep. We've looked pretty comfortable. Cue the collapse.

 

[number11]

KP goes for 99!!

 

[canveyshrimper]

KP goes for 99!!

Beat me to it. Anyone watching? I'm assuming he was giving Razzak the charge?

 

[number11]

Beat me to it. Anyone watching? I'm assuming he was giving Razzak the charge?

No, went back to it and it spun past the bat.

Who'd have thought Cook would get to his ton with a 6, whilst KP out playing tentatively!

 

[canveyshrimper]

No, went back to it and it spun past the bat.

Who'd have thought Cook would get to his ton with a 6, whilst KP out playing tentatively!

Glad I didn't bet on that. It seems Cook is taking to the captaincy in a positive fashion. I'm mindful of the opposition, but he still has to perform whoever they are.

 

[number11]

I just noticed they actually won the toss and put us in. Seems absurd for and alledged turning wicket, especially where we only have a 4 man attack and one has injury concerns, you would have thought they would have wanted to get us working in the field first up and potentially batting last.....

 

[canveyshrimper]

374/3 at close of play, Cook 158 not out. At the current rate of progress I'd say England will declare before Tea tomorrow with 550/600 on the board.

 

[Pubey]

374/3 at close of play, Cook 158 not out. At the current rate of progress I'd say England will declare before Tea tomorrow with 550/600 on the board.

Come on Cooky, get that double ton on the board! Disappointing to see Pietersen not get his ton, how did he look?

 

[canveyshrimper]

Come on Cooky, get that double ton on the board! Disappointing to see Pietersen not get his ton, how did he look?

I've been following on Cricinfo so I've not seen any footage, bloody work filters. :madman: He got to the 90's in around 120 balls, and got out to a tentative playback according to number 11, overall a return to form I'd say.

 

[number11]

Regarding KP, at one stage when he was around the 50 mark the Sky coverage showed an interesting wagon wheel where nearly all his runs had come through the offside, (with some behind square on the leg side)......they compared this to his recent one day offerings where he scored a majority through the midwicket area. Basically they were showing how he had today tried to eliminate his favoured whip through midwicket (which has been leaving him vulnerable) and was playing more 'correct'. I guess once he passed 50 and was happy with the way he was seeing the ball he may have brought the shot back but it was still a credit to him to have disciplined himself in this way (and still score at a decent rate).

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

I just noticed they actually won the toss and put us in. Seems absurd for and alledged turning wicket, especially where we only have a 4 man attack and one has injury concerns, you would have thought they would have wanted to get us working in the field first up and potentially batting last.....

Agreed - I can't for the life of me work out why you'd put us in on an alleged bunsen. One can only presume that it's the sort of pitch that will flatten as the match progresses, as opposed to break up.

Either that, or Shakib Al Hasan has got absolutely no confidence in his own batting line-up.

Superb knock from Cook and good work from KP too, given his recent wretched form. I'm getting rather worried about this whole left-arm spinner business.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Agreed - I can't for the life of me work out why you'd put us in on an alleged bunsen. One can only presume that it's the sort of pitch that will flatten as the match progresses, as opposed to break up.

Either that, or Shakib Al Hasan has got absolutely no confidence in his own batting line-up.

Superb knock from Cook and good work from KP too, given his recent wretched form. I'm getting rather worried about this whole left-arm spinner business.

It also makes England's decision to go in with only 4 bowlers all the more strange. Prior is good enough to bat at 6, with Broad at 7, Swann at 8, and both Tredwell & Bresnan can hold a bat, not sure about Finn.

I'm not overly concerned about the left arm spin business, it's something that happens in test cricket at times. 30 odd years ago Boycott was consistently getting out to an Indian dibbly-dobbler called Eknath Solkar. And I can never forget the travails that Graham Gooch had with Terry Alderman. Although to be fair Alderman was a pretty good bowler.

 

[number11]

Agreed - I can't for the life of me work out why you'd put us in on an alleged bunsen. One can only presume that it's the sort of pitch that will flatten as the match progresses, as opposed to break up.

Either that, or Shakib Al Hasan has got absolutely no confidence in his own batting line-up.

Superb knock from Cook and good work from KP too, given his recent wretched form. I'm getting rather worried about this whole left-arm spinner business.

I wouldn't worry too much about the latter at this stage. Other than Vettori, how many genuinely world class left arm spinners are there. The fact he has got out in tests over the past year to Harris, Benn etc is probably more down to over confidence than inability / technical flaw. Id be quite happy if opposition captains suddenly thought that was the best way to get KP and bring on those kind of players rather than more useful bowlers.

On the toss, TMS said that Shakib thought there would be some moisture early on. He then goes and bowls spinners all day apart from about 5 overs at the start....even giving one of his spinners the 2nd new ball. Most odd!

I hope Collingwood can feast on some easy runs tomorrow.....its not really his scenario (though Bell must be licking his lips at the thought of easy runs) but I think after some of the rearguard actions Colly has fought over the past year he deserves a nice big score without the pressure being on.

 

[number11]

It also makes England's decision to go in with only 4 bowlers all the more strange. Prior is good enough to bat at 6, with Broad at 7, Swann at 8, and both Tredwell & Bresnan can hold a bat, not sure about Finn.

.

Fully agree there. Very defensive line up, and also, if the pitch is a flat track then they are putting a lot of work load on the seamers.....particular a recently injured Broad. Id have preferred Treadwell not to be in the squad, but at least a second spinner could have bowled long spells with Swann.

Id have been more happy for them to leave Carberry out and shift everybody up one.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Bangladesh win the toss and put England in, from what I saw early this morning the pitch looks to be a real bunsen. Which to my mind makes England's selection of 6 batsmen with Prior at 7 very strange. On the basis of the 8 wickets he took at the same ground I thought Tredwell would be a shoo in, however Steven Finn comes in for his debut, with Bresnan, Broad and Swann making up the attack.

Cook on debut as captain makes a century, latest England 218/2 with Pietersen on 36, and hopefully set for a big score.

IMO this series should be a formality for England.

Not nearly as strange as the Bangles' decision to pack their team full of twirly men and then bowl first. Brainless.

Fully agree there. Very defensive line up, and also, if the pitch is a flat track then they are putting a lot of work load on the seamers.....particular a recently injured Broad. Id have preferred Treadwell not to be in the squad, but at least a second spinner could have bowled long spells with Swann.

Id have been more happy for them to leave Carberry out and shift everybody up one.

Carberry didn't look too clever against the slow bowlers. His run-rate dropped significantly against them and he was dropped the over before he got out, and survived a big lbw shout the ball before he was out lbw.

I don't think England gain much from giving him a test, mind you I don't think they gain much from giving Tredwell a game either.

Luke Wright and Adil Rashid must be wondering what they've done to drop so far down the pecking order: their drink carrying clearly hasn't been up to standards. Shahzad as well, since Finn jumped him in the pecking order as well.

I'm actually looking forward to see how Finn fares. He's a great talent but didn't look test class yet when I saw him last summer. He however apparently impressed a lot of people with the Lions, so fingers crossed. I'll be looking in particular to see how much bounce he gets.

 

[canveyshrimper]

England have won the first test by 181 runs, and possibly made harder work of it then they should have done. Fair play to the Bangaldesh batsmen who showed signs of test class and stickability. A match haul of 10 for Graeme Swann who must think Test cricket is a doddle after the year he's had. The second and final test starts on Saturday, and I hope that England go in with 5 bowlers.

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

4 bowlers on that pitch, and against that oppo, was a joke considering that we spent 4 of the 5 tests against the Aussies last year going in with 5 bowlers.

Tredwell for Carberry in the next test.

 

[southend4ever]

Swann - Hero.