England versus Bangladesh Test: Jonathan Trott Shines
Jonathan Trott made an ideal start with an unbeaten 175, in his second Test century against Bangladesh at Lords. His stunning Ashes debut about nine months ago had just begun to fade when he came back with a brilliant knock, probably just at the right time. On the opening day at Lord's, the hosts made 362 for 4. Along with Andrew Strauss, he shared a second-wicket partnership of 181 runs. Andrew made a comeback onto the international scene with a confident knock of 83 runs. Trott was accompanied by a solid innings by Eoin Morgan until the close of the first day.
How the England team go about their cricket generates a lot of interest. There is surely plenty of room for improvement according to Strauss and Andy Flower. Strauss will definitely feel disappointed for the loose cut that sent him back to the pavilion at a time when the need of scoring big hundred’s was the need of the hour. On the other hand, the left-arm spinner once again managed to outthink Kevin Pietersen, who couldn’t completely lift himself up for the occasion. However, Morgan as well as Trott closed the day with a double century, a knock seldom seen from the English side in the recent past.
Trott struggled hard to build on his ideal debut as questions were being raised regarding his long term place in the squad. So it was a tough winter for him. The intense nature of Trott's character was fully exposed by both the tours. In South Africa, a psychological pressure of playing against his former country badly affected his performance. Moreover, the high quality of pacers from South Africa further damaged Trott’s batting. While in Bangladesh, he was brought to a virtual standstill as a result of a trial by spin from the local boys in green.
He has started the season in a good manner that suggests his will to stamp his authority on the opposition such as Bangladesh at Lords. Only in his third ball, he was into his stride with a square cut. Trott smashed flowing cover drives off Shahadat Hossain’s bowling. During his stay of six hours on the pitch, he hardly put a foot wrong.
With his sixth cover drive of the innings, Trott reached his century off 133 balls. His celebrations on the occasion suggested that he really needed this knock. Although, the ball was heading over the stumps, Cook was trapped on the pads by a Shahadat Hossain ball. An umpire decision review system has been scrapped for this series.
Bangladesh’s decision to bowl first was actually based on their fear of how their batting line up would tackle the conditions rather than a genuine faith that they could run through the English batting order. Although there was movement in the pitch, the Bangladeshi bowling could not take any significant advantage of the situation.
Strauss scored his first run after 18 balls and took time to settle down on the pitch. By clipping another boundary to the leg side and a drive through the covers off the front foot, the captain moved the score steadily to show his good form.
In order to target Trott, Shakib Al Hasan brought himself on in the tenth over of the innings, showing that he was not worried to take an initiative in situation. But the pitch had little to offer him as the conditions were totally different from Dhaka. The varied line of the Bangladeshi bowlers gave plenty of opportunities to pick up easy runs for Strauss and Trott. The Bangladesh fielders fumbled in the field on a regular basis and did not back their bowlers.
Against Mahmudullah’s tight off spin bowling, Strauss chopped a slow ball onto his stumps. Pietersen after Strauss’ departure was also deceived by a beautiful arm ball of Shakib which clipped his off stump. After a careful start, Morgan managed to tick along well. As the situation moves into Day 2, the writing already seems to be all over the wall. Bangladesh has to fight very hard in order to make a meal out of the current situation.
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