Alastair Cook can celebrate his first victory as England’s Test captain, but the plaudits must go to Graeme Swann for claiming the first 10-wicket haul of his Test career.
Fittingly it was Swann who ended the Bangladesh resistance 181 runs short of the target, and claimed his second five-wicket innings haul for the match, when Naeem Islam hit him to midwicket and into the hands of a diving Michael Carberry.
To Bangladesh’s credit batsmen Junaid Siddique (who started day five unbeaten on 68) and Mushfiqur Rahim (who was 47 not out at the beginning of the final day) dug in for the morning session and with England unable to break what would ultimately be a 147-run partnership.
For his part, Siddique reached the personal milestone of a maiden Test century, but as England looked like they might be in for a long day at the office, it was Swann who made the breakthrough in the second over after lunch, getting a ball to turn away from Siddique, who edged it to Paul Collingwood in slip, to be dismissed for 106.
With that, a partnership that had lasted almost 70 overs was at an end, and while Mushfiqur (95) remained defiant for another half a dozen overs, when Swann rattled his stumps in the 114th over, Cook’s side looked to be headed for the expected victory.
Ten overs later, and that’s exactly what had transpired and the hosts were all out for 331. Swann, whose off-spin was once again the most effective weapon in England’s bowling attack, was rewarded with man of the match honours for his match figures of 10-217.
The result is in the book for Cook, who thanks largely to Swann avoided some potentially awkward post-match questions about why he didn’t enforce the follow-on after Bangladesh only managed 296 in reply to England’s first innings total of 599-6 (declared).
It was a decision that Andrew Strauss’ stand-in said was made to provide the bowlers with some rest, but with two consecutive wicketless sessions for England, after tea on day four and then on the morning of the final day, as Siddique and Mushfiqur edged Bangladesh closer to their formidable target.
The end result though, says everything Cook needs it to say about his decision: it was, in the end, vindicated.
And while we might be becoming used to Swann’s standout bowling performances in England’s Test matches after he did the same in South Africa in 2009/10, the off-spinner’s success at Chittagong will surely compel team director Andy Flower and company to give serious consideration to including Kent spinner James Tredwell in the starting XI heading into the second Test in Mirpur.
Of the three pacemen England included in its bowling attack, it was Tim Bresnan in his third Test who stood tallest in the second innings, taking 3-63 from 24 overs, but it’s no accident that Swann turned his arm over for 49 overs in the second innings – more than double that of any of the seamers.
Swann’s dominance with his slow bowling, and England’s reliance on the 30-year-old to shoulder the bulk of the work load, must have nudged the door ajar for Tredwell to win a cap in the second Test.
The second, and final, Test of the series, where England will be seeking a 2-0 series victory and to maintain their unbeaten record against Bangladesh in all forms of the game, begins on Saturday.
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