The Hindu : Hussain, Clarke steady England

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 30, 2003

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Hussain, Clarke steady England

England: 237 for four

CHITTAGONG Oct. 29 . Nasser Hussain and Rikki Clarke steadied England with an unbeaten century stand as they closed on 237 for four against Bangladesh after the first day of the second Test.

The obdurate Hussain was on 47 and all rounder Clarke on 53 not out, after the visiting team had lost four top-order wickets for eight runs to slump to 134 for four.

Hussain, concentrating on defence, had a life on 36 when he drove straight back to Mohammad Rafique, who injured a finger as he tried to take the catch. Four runs later the former England captain escaped again when edging through the slips.

Clarke, batting as cautiously as Hussain, chipped slow left armer Enamul Haque (jn) over mid-on for his eighth four to bring up a maiden half-century. The pair scraped together 49 runs in 28 overs in the final session.

Put in, England's opening pair had put on 126 before Marcus Trescothick (60), Michael Vaughan (54), Mark Butcher (6) and Graham Thorpe (0) all fell within five overs. The left-handed Trescothick, dropped off a difficult chance when on 36, started the collapse when he drove at Khaled Mahmud and sliced straight to point.

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