Bangladeshi cricket team in England in 2005

Michael Vaughan won the toss again, just like in the first Test, and put Bangladesh into bat. A thoroughly professional bowling performance from the England bowlers followed, with Harmison, playing at his home ground, making the most of the conditions to take 5 wickets as the clearly outclassed Bangladeshis succumbed for 104. Only Javed Omar and Khaled Mashud made it into double figures. In reply, England quickly overcame the deficit for the loss of just Andrew Strauss, the only English batter who averaged less than 80 in this Test series. By close on the first day England were 269 for 3, with pundits reckoning the game would not reach the third day.

On the second day, Ian Bell became the first Englishman to score 100 before lunch in a Test match for 70 years, the last one being Les Ames, as both Bell and Thorpe hit out ahead of the predicted lunchtime declaration, which happened with England on 447 for 3. What followed was what the series had been crying out for earlier: a spirited Bangladeshi performance with proper cricketing shots. Whilst some Bangladeshis did get out to wild shots, the senior players got behind the ball, selected which ball to play, and made the most of the aggressive field placings chosen by England to make partnerships and build innings.

First out was Nafees Iqbal, caught behind for 15 with the score on 50. Iqbal was unlucky, as the video replays suggested the ball had bounced before going into Geraint Jones's gloves, but despite returning to the pitch to appeal to the umpires, Iqbal had to go. Opener Javed Omar, captain Habibul Bashar and Aftab Ahmed all made half-centuries as it was touch and go as to whether England would wrap it up in the two days. When the seventh wicket fell at 245 in the last over of normal play, it allowed England to claim the extra half-hour. But only one more wicket fell as Bangladesh restored some pride. England wrapped up the game within 20 minutes on the third day, but Bangladesh, albeit against an attacking field had made 316, 27 short of making the hosts bat again.

England therefore won the two Test series 2–0, taking both matches by more than an innings. This was their fifth successive Test series win, and the first time that the English had won five successive Test series since 1971. With their first three innings all being over before the Bangladeshis made 200, the series was clearly England's, who consolidated their position at second in the ICC Test Championship table. Bangladesh remain bottom in tenth place. Afterwards England captain Michael Vaughan said, "It's difficult to judge how much we've got out of these games because we've won so easily. We've not had those real tough-in sessions and fight-through sessions where we've lost a batch of wickets. We have had stages when we had to knuckle down but it has been easier than I expected. To win two Test matches in almost two days each is obviously quite an easy series victory." [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/BDESH_IN_ENG/SCORECARDS/BDESH_ENG_T2_03-07JUN2005.html (Cricinfo scorecard)]

One-dayers

After a poor first-class section of the tour, Bangladesh were hoping things would improve on the one-day leg, particularly after their spirited second innings in the Second Test. However, their first warm-up match for the NatWest Series saw them heavily defeated by Derbyshire, but they recovered well to take a six-wicket win over Worcestershire. It was back to normal at The Oval, though, as their bowlers went astray and England cruised to a ten-wicket win.

However, on June 18, Bangladesh scored a surprise victory over Australia, defeating them by 5 wickets. Australia scored 249 in 50 overs and in reply, Bangladesh, powered by a century by Mohammad Ashraful, won with 4 balls to spare. Three losses followed, however, as Bangladesh were knocked out of the NatWest Series final with two games still to play in the tri-series.

Match details

Derbyshire v Bangladeshis (10 June)

"Derbyshire beat the Bangladeshis by 6 wickets"

Derbyshire easily overcame the Bangladeshis in a day-night match at Derby. The Bangladeshis won the toss and chose to bat first against a Derbyshire side that was full-strength except for the injured Michael di Venuto. When Javed Omar, Nafees Iqbal and Rajin Saleh were out cheaply the tourists had fallen to 19 for 3. Tushar Imran and Habibul Bashar then gave some hope that a genuine target might be set when they put on 80 for the fourth wicket, a partnership that included 2 sixes from Tushar Imran. After that, the Bangladeshis lost wickets at regular intervals, finally being all out for 189 with 3.5 overs to spare. Just as Bangladesh's bowling lacked penetration in the Tests, so it lacked penetration against Derbyshire, with Jonathan Moss's 72 helping the hosts home with 11.5 overs and 6 wickets to spare. [http://live.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/BDESH_IN_ENG/SCORECARDS/BDESH_DERBY_10JUN2005.html (Cricinfo scorecard)]

Worcestershire v Bangladeshis (12 June)

"The Bangladeshis beat Worcestershire by four wickets"

Bangladesh recorded their first victory of their tour of England when they beat Worcestershire at The County Ground, Worcester. In a disciplined bowling effort, Nazmul Hossain took two early wickets, Worcestershire collapsed to 168 (despite Bangladesh giving up 33 wides and 6 no-balls), and in a slow, gritty chase, the Bangladeshis - guided by Habibul Bashar's 26 not out and 43 from Javed Omar, made it to the target with 14 overs to spare. [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/BDESH_IN_ENG/SCORECARDS/BDESH_WORCS_12JUN2005.html (Cricinfo scorecard)]

England v Bangladesh (16 June)

Limited overs international
batting first

batting first = Bangladesh
score first innings = 190
overs first innings = 45.2
batting first highest scorer = Aftab Ahmed
batting first highest scorer initial form = Aftab Ahmed
batting first highest score = 51
batting first highest score balls faced = 58
bowling first best bowler = Steve Harmison
bowling first best bowler initial form = SJ Harmison
bowling first best figures = 4/39 [10]
batting second

batting second = England
score second innings = 192/0
overs second innings = 24.5
batting second highest scorer = Marcus Trescothick
batting second highest scorer initial form = ME Trescothick
batting second highest score = 100*
batting second highest score balls faced = 76
bowling second best bowler = Andrew Strauss
bowling second best bowler initial form = AJ Strauss
bowling second best figures = 82* (77)
winning team = England
win margin = ten wickets
stadium = The Oval
city = London
country = United Kingdom
umpire1 = Aleem Dar
umpire1 initial form = Aleem Dar
umpire1 country = Pakistan
umpire1 country short form = Pak
umpire2 = Mark Benson
umpire2 initial form = MJ Benson
umpire2 country = England
umpire2 country short form = Eng
MOTM = Marcus Trescothick
MOTM initial form = ME Trescothick
MOTM country = England
MOTM ctry short form = Eng

Amid rains at The Oval, Jon Lewis had a stunning ODI debut for the English cricket team against Bangladesh, removing Javed Omar and Mohammad Ashraful with successive deliveries before taking out Nafees Iqbal in a good opening spell. Admittedly, it was aided by cloudy skies, which gave Lewis plenty of swing - his main threat - but it was still a decent return for the debutant. Steve Harmison was his usual erratic self, going for nine off the first five balls of an over before removing Tushar Imran with a ball that was gloved onto the stumps just before the end of 15 overs, making it 57 for 4. Habibul Bashar, the highest averaging Bangladesh batsman, gloved a short ball from Harmison to a diving Geraint Jones, and he was on his way for 19 - Bangladesh now 72 for 5. Lewis actually bowled his ten overs straight, ending with three for 32, as the last over was just an exercise in defending from the visitors. Wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud was next to go, attempting a pull off a poor ball down the legside, for 1. However, a solid recovery from Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Rafique slowly gave the Bangladeshis a chance, before rain intervened again after 30 overs.

Coming back from the rain break, Aftab and Rafique continued to smack the England bowlers, particularly Paul Collingwood, but eventually Rafique gave a chance to Harmison at long leg and the Bangladeshis were seven down for 152. And only a couple of overs later, Aftab was out in a close run-out decision, for 51. Khaled Mahmud then went for a golden duck, playing a poor shot to a short ball from Harmison, his fourth wicket of the day. However, Nazmul Hossain and Mashrafe Mortaza frustrated the English bowlers, with Darren Gough eventually ending the resistance as he got Nazmul for 6 to end the innings for 190. However, the Bangladeshis offered no resistance in the bowling, as only Mortaza was hit for less than six an over. Marcus Trescothick hit his ninth one-day international century off just 76 balls, Andrew Strauss supplied with a level-headed 82, and ten extras added up to a total of 192. The winning runs - a four from Strauss - were hit inside 25 overs and with all ten wickets to spare. [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/OD_TOURNEYS/NWS/SCORECARDS/BDESH_ENG_NWS_ODI1_16JUN2005.html (Cricinfo scorecard)]

Australia v Bangladesh (18 June)

Australia recorded a thumping 10-wicket win over Bangladesh to level their head-to-head record in the NatWest Series to 1–1. Under leaden skies at Old Trafford, Ricky Ponting made the wise decision and chose to bowl, and short-balls from Brett Lee immediately had the Bangladeshis worried. They survived six overs without loss before Javed Omar was trapped by an in-swinger for a 20-ball 3. Tushar Imran was next to fall to Lee, and many expected a procession to begin, but Shahriar Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful gave the crowd a treat with some special strokes. Ashraful had two top-edged sixes, as Lee was dispatched for 20 runs in the eleventh over. By the drinks break after 15 overs, Bangladesh were 76 for 2, having added 53 from the last 39 balls. Ponting, however, brought on the spinners Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds, who both got a fair amount of turn out of the Old Trafford pitch, and Symonds had Shahriar bowled for 47 with a yorker that he played late to. The next ball, he got the out-of-form captain Habibul Bashar, and the wickets began to tumble quickly. Symonds got five wickets for 18 runs, Hogg three for 29, Bangladesh collapsed from 137 for 6 (when Khaled Mashud was bowled by Hogg) to 139 all out in three overs, as Ashraful went for 58 and no one else really offering any resistance to the slow Australian bowlers.

Bangladesh had Adam Gilchrist in some trouble early on, especially through fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, who had him beaten several times in the opening overs, but Matthew Hayden was imposing at the crease, punishing the inevitable bad balls from Nazmul Hossain who was taken off after three overs, having conceded 29 runs. However, no one could stop the rot, Hayden and Gilchrist taking runs at will after a while to see Australia to the target inside 20 overs. Australia thus closed the gap to England to three points, as the situation indicated by the ICC rankings before the series became more and more possible - that Bangladesh were to be whipping boys and England and Australia would go through. [http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/OD_TOURNEYS/NWS/SCORECARDS/AUS_BDESH_NWS_ODI6_25JUN2005.html (Cricinfo scorecard)]

England v Bangladesh (26 June)

Bowling

Bangladesh Test

Batting

Bowling

England Test (and first-class)

Batting

Bowling

Bangladesh List-A

Batting

Bowling

Bangladesh ODI

Batting

Bowling

ee also

External sources

[http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Seasons/Tours_2005.html CricketArchive]

References

* "Playfair Cricket Annual 2006"
* "Wisden Cricketers Almanack 2006"