England coast home despite Tamim heroics
A tailor-made wicket for spin bowling, an inexperienced captain making a bewildering decision on winning the toss and even an exceptional 125-run knock from Tamim Iqbal -- all failed to induce the Bangladesh to manage their first victory over the inventors of cricket. The wicket was devoid of any grass with very slow, low bounce and provided lots of assistance to the spinners, but the hosts could not take advantage of that due to some irresponsible batting and dropped chances.
As it happened, England coasted on an unbeaten 75-run knock from vice-captain Paul Collingwood and a 64 from skipper Alastair Cook to take home the first of the three-match Beximco ODI Series by 6 wickets with four overs to spare at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
Off-break bowler Naeem Islam took three wickets for 49 runs and skipper Shakib Al Hasan took one for 42, while returning pacer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza bowled six overs without any luck as the Englishmen batted professionally and proficiently to reach their target.
Earlier, despite a raging 125 from opener Tamim, Bangladesh folded for 228 with 26 balls unused, thanks to a three-wicket haul from spinner Graeme Swann and some sloppy batting and running between the wickets from the Tigers. Tamim looked in imperious form, and he played with utter disdain mixed with aplomb as he accumulated runs during his 120-ball stint that provided the backbone for the Bangladesh innings. Most pleasing about Tamim's knock was his adaptability to the different bowlers and his switching of gears to suit the changing tempo of the innings. However he was left with too much to do on his own and perished in a very unpleasant manner at a time when the team were looking up to him for whatever they could get.
An ungainly boundary down to third man got the game going for Tamim and few balls later he got a lucky break when he was dropped on 10 by Eoin Morgan at cover off the bowling of Ryan Sidebottom. That was the only blemish in a majestic performance from the 22-year-old left-hander who is fast establishing himself as one of the most devastating batsman in world cricket.
He showed signs of early aggression threading Sidebottom through cover for four of the fifth ball of the fifth over and then lofted him over long on for six the next ball.
The wicket played well in the morning so all the batsmen had to do was to hit through the line and Tamim did exactly that. The bowlers resorted to banging it in short to cramp him for room, but on a slow wicket that was not a successful ploy either. He raced to fifty in just 32 balls, 44 of those runs coming in boundaries. He picked all the corners of the park, even hitting behind the wicket.
England though got their first break on 63 when Tim Bresnan induced a leading edge from Imrul Kayes after the opener had scored 15 runs.
Once the crater was found, Bangladesh's batting order crumbled softly around Tamim. Zunaed Siddiqui clipped one for a second-ball duck, Aftab Ahmed was left stranded by some indecision in running between the wickets. Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Naeem Islam looked good for the while they were in the middle, but put very little price on their wickets to leave Tamim playing a lone hand. And he did so for the most part of the innings. As the slower bowlers came into operation, Tamim used the V to accumulate most of the runs.
Tamim brought up his hundred from 94 deliveries, four more boundaries added since his tally at half-century. He took 62 balls for his second 50, but that was all very precious in the context of the game. He leaped a few feet off the ground in celebration of the hundred, his first against a major cricketing power and ample evidence was that this century was special.
After getting to a hundred, he once again switched gears, lifting Paul Collingwood over long-on boundary for a maximum. As the batting Powerplay was taken in the forty-fourth over with only two wickets in hand, Tamim decided to go for it all by himself. But this time an ill-judged paddle against Broad brought the outstanding knock to a sombre end. The last wicket added 14 more runs leaving England with a teasing target on a track that something to offer for the Bangladesh bowling attack packed with spinners.
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