Bat keep ruling over ball

Batsmen continued to rule over cherry as the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) fought back brilliantly against Bangladesh on the second day of the three-day match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

On a benign batting wicket 324 runs were scored in 94 overs yesterday. Bangladesh piled up 303 for three on the opening day of the First Class match.

Being asked to bat in the morning, the tourists replied with 218 for three declared. MCC captain Min Patel threw an exciting challenge to his counterpart Aminul Islam by declaring their first innings 22 minutes after tea break.

Bangladesh then garnered 106 for one in the remaining 27 overs of the day taking an over-all lead of 191 with a day to spare.

The MCC innings was revolved around an unbeaten 113 from one-down Ben Smith. The Leicestershire batsman, who scored an undefeated 101 against Dhaka Metropolitan Eleven at the same venue last week, scored his second unbeaten century on the tour to dampen Bangladesh spirit.

The visitors suffered an early setback when they lost opener Will House in the very first over of the day with the scoreboard reading zero. The left-hander was trapped leg before wicket by Hasibul Hossain in his third delivery.

Smith then came in to join Matthew Wood. Together, they negotiated 47 overs to put on 180 runs. Pacer Shafiuddin Ahmed broke the frustrating MCC partnership by clean bowling Wood for 70.

The Yorkshire batsman fully cashed in on a let-off by Aminul at the first slip in the 22nd while he was on 28. In his 190-minute stay at the crease, he scored 70 runs, hitting eight fours off 152 balls. His fifty came in 138 minutes after facing 112 balls.

Anthony McGrath, who scored two centuries so far on the tour, followed Wood to the pavilion only after two overs, scoring five runs. He became the second victim of Shafiuddin, who finished with two for 38 from his 14 overs that yielded seven maidens.

Smith then collected 31 runs along with Paul Nixon before the declaration came in the 67th over. He took only 51 balls to reach fifty that included seven firm hits to the rope. He smashed six more boundaries off 98 balls to reach the magical three-figure mark.

Bangladesh made a solid response to the MCC challenge with opener Shariar Hossain continuing his fine form.

The aggressive right-hander, who scored 133 in the first innings, was batting on 52 while one-down Habibul Bashar on 38 not out. Shahriar's 91-ball innings was studded with seven fours. Habibul on the hand played 63 balls and hit five boundaries.

Weather permitting, the play will start at 9.30 am. Both the state-run media-- Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar-- will provide live coverage of the proceedings.