NatWest Series – Bangladesh in England: A look back!
After the recent success against the Australian side, England was charged up to face the rather non-threatening Bangladesh side during the NatWest Series.
Bangladesh had faced enough controversy even before landing in England with the last-minute change in captainship from Shakib Al Hasan to Mashrafe Mortaza.
England was happy to have Ian Bell join the squad after almost 20 months on the sidelines. However, he would have to fight for his place on the team with Kevin Pietersen rested for the tour, but Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan almost assured their places in the starting XI. And so Bell did, in the very first game after his comeback, he scored a well paced 84 not out off 101 balls.
Bangladesh was hit with a disastrous stroke of bad luck after the first game itself. Along with losing the match, Bangladesh also lost Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan to injuries and had to call for replacements in Mohammad Ashraful, Naeem Islam and Saghir Hossain on an urgent basis.
England was already thinking about finishing off the tournament at Bristol. Bangladesh was in disarray, surrounded by defeat and injuries. They were also under tremendous pressure to perform as the second One Day International (ODI) turned out to be a must-win for them. This time they delivered and they delivered well. After being restricted to 236, Bangladesh still managed to keep England at bay. Apart from Jonathan Trott, no other English batsmen looked to get on with the run-chase.
Many attributed this to some complacency that could have crept into the England team. Having already won three tournaments in a row after also being crowned as World Twenty20 champions, it would have been hard enough for England to keep their feet on the ground.
But the defeat to Bangladesh surely brought them crashing down to the ground. They would have realized that no team in international cricket can be taken lightly.
The series was very evenly contested so far, with both teams winning a match. But when it came to the final match, England was left without Ian Bell, who fractured his toe muscle and was ruled out for at least 7 weeks. England needed an urgent replacement and had to call upon Ravi Bopara. Bopara had been a part of the England Lions side that was playing in the tri-series against India and West Indies.
Bopara made good use of this opportunity in the final match by performing well with both, bat as well as ball. England’s best batsman was definitely Andrew Strauss, who was the tournament’s highest run-getter after scoring a career best 154 in the final ODI.
Credit needs to be given to Trott as well, who played two very impressive innings in which he had featured. Apart from Ian Bell’s 84 in the opening match, no other English batsmen put up a strong performance in the tournament.
Stuart Broad bowled quite economically and Tim Bresnan played a good supporting role as an opening bowler. But the pick of the bowlers was Ajmal Shahzad, who terrorized the batsmen with his pace and bounce.
Having been carrying around drinks for a long time in previous matches, Ajmal finally got his chance during the second ODI and he did not disappoint, picking up five wickets in two matches.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, did not have any match winning performances. Apart from one innings by Raqibul Hasan and Imrul Kayes each, no other innings really grabbed anyone’s attention. At an incredible bowling average of about four runs per over, Mashrafe Mortaza made a good return to Bangladesh cricket but failed to receive support from the rest of the bowlers.
Sadly, this has been the story of Bangladeshi cricket for quite some time now. They have some incredible talent hidden in them, yet somehow they don’t manage to deliver. It’s about time that Bangladesh started making the performances of Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique and others count for something.
However, eventually it was England who finally won the tournament. This now becomes their fourth series win in a row, the earlier victims including the likes of Australia and South Africa.
Ajmal Shahzad
Tags: