The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : England completes innings victory

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Sunday, May 29, 2005

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England completes innings victory

Ted Corbett

LONDON: If there was someone who left Lord's half an hour before lunch after England's win by an innings and 261 runs against Bangladesh with a satisfied grin I would like to meet him. He will not be a member of the MCC committee nor the England and Wales Cricket Board who had to dish out 50 per cent of the £380,000 they received for the 18,000 advanced ticket sales when the game failed to provide 25 overs of entertainment.

He will not be a member of the England bowling squad who took three wickets in the first three overs and then allowed Khaled Mashud and Anwar Hossain to carry the score from 97 for eight to 155. And of course he will not be a member of the Bangladesh squad, on its first visit to Lord's, an occasion it would rather forget after two innings in which its middle order, managed only 101 runs. The whole side contrived to survive for just 78 overs in its two innings.

Expected display

That display is what we have come to expect from Bangladesh which would more realistically pit its skills against Kenya, Zimbabwe, the only side it has defeated in its five years misplacement in senior international cricket, Ireland and Scotland. The Irish are seeking finance to enable them to move into a higher league; perhaps ICC whose coffers overflow should provide loans to make that happen.

It is England which needs most help. "Played badly - won easily" a football manager once said to summarise victory over a poor team and England would be wrong to deliver any other verdict. True, it could hardly win friends by beating the worst side in living memory, however big the verdict, and it is often difficult to play against someone so far beneath your skill level, although the best tennis players seem to manage quite handily.

Hardly good practice

This series — whether it is justified in global terms or not — is hardly good practice for the Ashes, the focus of the whole nation this summer with tickets being sold for ten times their face value and sold out notices even in the hospitality rooms for the final Test in September. Australia will bristle with self-confidence, knowing that a first defeat here for 16 years will result in soul searching by the whole nation. Its most aggressive players have already had their say; the meekest will be sledging at a level beyond a Bangladesh cricketer's dreams. It will bowl tighter, fight harder, bat with attack in mind but play out five days for a draw if necessary. It is so far ahead of England in second place that only a whitewash can take England to the top of the table, a position Australia has held forever.

England's performance, less than seven weeks and a one-day series ahead of the first Test against Ricky Ponting and his men, was typical of the whole Test. Only six runs had been added when Aftab Ahmad was given out leg before to Matthew Hoggard — the ball looked high — and two overs from Steve Harmison, bowling straight and quick, had Mohammad Rafique caught behind and Mashrafe Mortaza bowled off bat and pad.

A decent stand

Unexpectedly, Mashud, calmly, and Anwar, with some luck, added 58 in 98 balls, a decent stand for the ninth wicket in any match but Simon Jones, with his simple direct attack, got a ball to rear around off stump and Anwar flicked it to Trescothick at 155 and Mashud was caught at backward short leg.

The game that might have been over last night and should have been wrapped up 20 minutes after the start on Saturday dragged on an extra hour but it did give us the chance to identify a couple of thousands happy people. The Bangladesh crowd applauded every shot, each single, every misfield as if they had just witnessed victory.

The team cannot complain at the level of support from fans who, an hour after the game finished, were still sitting in the stands as England got in some much needed practice under Matthew Maynard, appropriately appointed assistant coach on Saturday, when an England win meant nothing, even to its most fervent supporters.

Scoreboard

Bangladesh — 1st innings: 108

England — 1st innings: 528 for three decl.

Bangladesh — 2nd innings: J. Omar c Thorpe b S. Jones 25, N. Iqbal c Flintoff b Hoggard 3, H. Bashar c Hoggard b S. Jones 16, A. Ahmed lbw b Hoggard 32, Mohd. Ashraful c Harmison b Flintoff 2, M. Rahim c G. Jones b Flintoff 3, K. Mashud c Thorpe b Flintoff 44, Mohd. Rafique c G. Jones b Harmison 0, M. Mortaza b Harmison 0, A. Hossain c Trescothick b S. Jones 13, S. Hossain (not out) 2; Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-14): 19; Total (in 39.5 overs): 159.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-47, 3-57, 4-60, 5-65, 6-96, 7-97, 8-97, 9-155.

England bowling: Hoggard 9-1-42-2, Harmison 10-0-39-2, Flintoff 9.5-0-44-3, S. Jones 11-3-29-3.

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