Bell guides England to series lead by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Scorecard:	England v Bangladesh
Player:	Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, IR Bell
Event:	Bangladesh in British Isles 2010

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DateLine: 8th July 2010

 

England after winning a hard fought one-day series against Australia recently brushed aside the Bangladeshi challenge with ease. Bell who was recalled into the side batted with poise and class as he led England's chase. This was after Bangladesh set a target of 250 for the loss of nine wickets in their 50 overs. England in reply made

 

Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket that clearly did not hold any demons.

 

Opener Tamim Iqbal had a prolific run on the soil of UK when he toured for the Test series and he continued in the very same fashion. The first two balls from Anderson found the boundary ropes and it seemed that the English bowlers would be left scratching their heads. Anderson and Bresnan proved too much a luxury for the English skipper Strauss who turned to his now go-to bowler Broad. The tall right-arm pacer immediately put a strait-jacket on the scoring and Tamim Iqbal with his scoring opportunities cut out began to look fidgety.

 

Finally Broad trapped Tamim leg before with a well thought out slower delivery. Imrul Kayes struggled with the scoring and he was put out of his misery by Anderson. The pair of Junaid Siddique and Raqibul Hasan batted sensibly as they helped Bangladesh put up a fight. The pair exhibited batting of top class as they found the boundaries on regular occasions to keep the scoreboard moving. Junaid Siddique got to his fifty and looked good for more before Yardy trapped him leg-before with a fuller length delivery. Shakib never looked at ease in the middle and he was dismissed as he tried to force the pace.

 

It was around this time that the visitors lost the steam and struggled for boundaries. Mushfiqur Rahim deposited Anderson into the stands for two huge sixes before a slower delivery from Bresnan ended his cameo. Raqibul Hasan made a classy half-century but was struck a painful blow by a pacy yorker from Anderson. The batting powerplay never produced the fireworks that was promised in the initial part of the innings and at the end of the fifty overs Bangladesh got a sub-par score of 250.

 

Strauss and Kieswetter is taking those first baby steps to be one of the answers at the top order for the forthcoming World Cup 2011 and so far they are okay as to say. Strauss is using his new found aggression to the hilt as he is taking on the opening bowlers head-on. A career strike-rate of 77 is sure to go up if the English skipper keeps playing in this manner. The southpaw latched on anything that was short and he cut and pulled without holding back. If the ball was pitched up he drove on both side of the wicket to put the Bangladeshi bowlers in some difficulty.

 

Kieswetter on the other hand who walked into the side at the expense of Matt Prior on the back of his exploits in the T20 World Cup is finding the going a little bit hard. The pace of Shaun Tait had clearly unsettled him in the Australian one-dayers and here he was not able to find the middle of the bat. But as the overs went by and with the ineffectiveness of the Bangladeshi bowlers being exposed the pair began to blossom. Strauss raced to his fifty and some poor running between the wickets terminated his innings. Kieswetter soon departed and then the pair of Bell and Collingwood took the match away form the visitors.

 

A partnership of 80 developed between the two in 16.2 overs in which the main ingredient was the running between the wickets. Boundaries were few but the pair kept the scoreboard ticking by some smart running between the wickets and the Bangladeshi fielders were inadequate to stop the stolen singles and twos. Collingwood departed before he could see his side to win and Morgan once again displayed his audacious shot-making ability in his short stay in the middle. Ian Bell meanwhile got to a well-paced half-century with little trouble. England in the end cantered to a six-wicket win as they took lead in the one-day series.