Saturday, May 29, 2010

England cruise against Bangladesh bowling

England eased to 105 for one at lunch against some undemanding Bangladesh bowling after being asked to bat first on the opening day of the first test at Lord's on Thursday.

Andrew Strauss, returning as captain after taking a break from the game during the away series against the same opponents this year, took 14 balls to get off the mark.

His second scoring stroke was a six over mid-wicket off debutant medium-pacer Robiul Islam and, although his timing was sometimes awry after his slow start to the county season, he was still at the crease at the interval with 40.

Jonathan Trott, whose place is under pressure after he first struggled in his native South Africa and was then tied down by the spinners in Bangladesh, played with authority from the start.

He steered his third delivery for four behind point and moved confidently on to the front foot to drive two further boundaries through the off-side. At lunch he had scored an even half-century with five boundaries.

Alastair Cook, who captained England in Bangladesh in Strauss's absence, struck the first boundary of the day, a confident off-drive to the Pavilion boundary. But he had made only three more when he was lbw to Shahadat Hossain pushing half-forward.

That was to prove Bangladesh's only success of the morning session and, bearing in mind their average of nearly 67 for each test wicket taken abroad, Shakib Al Hasan's decision to field first was clearly defensive and designed to protect his frail batting lineup.

Bangladesh were, at least. boosted by Shakib's presence after his recovery from chicken pox while their leading batsman Tamim Iqbal will bat with taping on his injured left wrist.

Eoin Morgan was given his first test cap for England in recognition of his outstanding one-day form.

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-48849120100527

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