Rain meant no play was possible before lunch on the third day of the first Test between England and Bangladesh at Lord’s yesterday.
On Friday, Bangladesh fast bowler Shahadat Hossain took five wickets and then revealed he feared he might never play Test cricket after a desperate debut at Lord’s five years ago.
As an 18-year-old, Shahadat had figures of no wickets for 101 runs in just 12 overs as England won by a crushing innings and 261 runs inside three days in 2005, but it was a different story on Friday, with Shahadat becoming the first Bangladesh bowler to take five wickets in a Test innings against England, with a return of five for 98 in 28 overs.
PHOTO: AFP
By stumps on the second day Bangladesh were 172 for two.
Junaid Siddique was 53 not out after openers Tamim Iqbal (55) and Imrul Kayes (43) made a fine start.
Bangladesh were still 333 behind an England first innings 505 featuring Jonathan Trott’s 226 and they needed a further 134 runs to avoid the follow-on, but their improvement was undeniable.
“My debut here in 2005, I was very nervous,” Shahadat told reporters. “This time I try my best, just bowl line [and] length. It’s the first time Bangladesh has got a name in the book [on the Lord’s honors board], that’s very important. I just tried to be accurate, bowl quick with swing, line and length, and nothing else.”
Thinking back to his first Test at Lord’s, Shahadat said: “I had a nightmare debut. I never felt I would get a second chance to come to Lord’s.”
“I played for the ‘A’ team and came to England where I became the highest wicket-taker. I thought if I get another chance at Lord’s, I must make amends,” he said.
He certainly did, with a burst of three wickets for 12 runs in 21 balls, he wrapped up the England innings shortly after lunch.
Bangladesh’s batsmen then backed up Shahadat’s good work although, as the paceman pointed out, they were facing a far less threatening pace attack than the 2005 class of Stephen Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff, who went on that season to help England regain the Ashes from Australia.
“It was the best bowling attack with Harmison, Jones and Flintoff. The bowling was very fast,” Shahadat said.
Turning back to Friday’s play, he said: “The batting was very good, Tamim and Imrul gave us a good start and Junaid carried it on.”
England’s bowlers struggled for both penetration and accuracy on a good batting pitch, the exception being 21-year-old Steven Finn, who was making his home Test debut on his Middlesex home ground having first featured at this level during a 2-0 series win in Bangladesh in March.
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