Back in January, in the third Test of Basil D'Oliveira trophy after Collingwood had completed another rescue act, the joke going around was that the next act would be repeated in Chittagong against Bangladesh. There was a logic to it and it precisely was this- Collingwood was a major factor in pulling off draws at Cardiff, Centurion, and Cape Town. Few cynics also suggested that Collingwood be the first choice for games played at these venues and they suggested that Calcutta and Colombo retain their old names!
Well coming back to this series, it got off to an inauspicious start in the media with the withdrawal of Andrew Strauss and Cook was drafted in as the skipper. Adding to Cook's woes was the poor form of Pietersen. Coming back in the series against South Africa, he continued his poor run into the series against Bangladesh. His form was so poor getting into the first Test that he scored 69 runs off 111 balls in 7 innings. It was so poor that a bowler called Allaudin Babu took his wicket twice and he fell left arm spin, four times and once to Ashraful. Out of the closet came stories of him being an average performer away from home, especially sub-continent. Jamie Siddons piled on by saying that his spinners would attack Pietersen from the word go
England are quite popular in handing out multiple debuts is the same Test. Cook himself made his debut in one such Test. In this Test they handed the debuts to Carberry and Finn. The last time, such an instance occured was at Lords in 2009 when Bresnan and Onions made their debuts. Under such circumstances one more Lion-hearted performance was expected from Collingwood
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Bearing all these things in mind, Cook got off to the best possible start by scoring a century on day 1. Also adding to the glee was coming back to form of Pietersen. Only disappointing factor was his missing the century by a run and in the event, it can be easily forgotten that he was out to left arm spinner once again solely on the basis of the runs he scored. In fact, till his dismissal, he was so dominant against them that he scored 61 runs off 74 balls. Collingwood proved once again that he is England's "go-to" man as he played a part in partnerships with Cook and Bell. England declared their innings at 599 and in reply Tamim got off to a start like only he can and the others fell around him like nine pins. Apart from him, only Mahmudullah, Rahim and Naeem Islam provided a semblance of resistance. Swann, like so often in the recent past proved to be the bowling work horse taking five wickets in the process
With a lead of 303 in tow, England started to bat again and pressed on the advantage as they ran up a score of 209, expanding the lead to 512 in the process. With a total of 173 overs possible, they started off in earnest for the wickets. Their efforts received a shot in the arm because of the early wicket of their tormentor from the first innings- Tamim. But Junaid coming in one drop proceeded to play a good knock in the company of Rahim and just about entertained the hopes of making it a close finish. Swann doused all those hopes by picking up one more five wicket haul and a ten wicket haul for the match
Well coming back to this series, it got off to an inauspicious start in the media with the withdrawal of Andrew Strauss and Cook was drafted in as the skipper. Adding to Cook's woes was the poor form of Pietersen. Coming back in the series against South Africa, he continued his poor run into the series against Bangladesh. His form was so poor getting into the first Test that he scored 69 runs off 111 balls in 7 innings. It was so poor that a bowler called Allaudin Babu took his wicket twice and he fell left arm spin, four times and once to Ashraful. Out of the closet came stories of him being an average performer away from home, especially sub-continent. Jamie Siddons piled on by saying that his spinners would attack Pietersen from the word go
England are quite popular in handing out multiple debuts is the same Test. Cook himself made his debut in one such Test. In this Test they handed the debuts to Carberry and Finn. The last time, such an instance occured was at Lords in 2009 when Bresnan and Onions made their debuts. Under such circumstances one more Lion-hearted performance was expected from Collingwood
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Bearing all these things in mind, Cook got off to the best possible start by scoring a century on day 1. Also adding to the glee was coming back to form of Pietersen. Only disappointing factor was his missing the century by a run and in the event, it can be easily forgotten that he was out to left arm spinner once again solely on the basis of the runs he scored. In fact, till his dismissal, he was so dominant against them that he scored 61 runs off 74 balls. Collingwood proved once again that he is England's "go-to" man as he played a part in partnerships with Cook and Bell. England declared their innings at 599 and in reply Tamim got off to a start like only he can and the others fell around him like nine pins. Apart from him, only Mahmudullah, Rahim and Naeem Islam provided a semblance of resistance. Swann, like so often in the recent past proved to be the bowling work horse taking five wickets in the process
With a lead of 303 in tow, England started to bat again and pressed on the advantage as they ran up a score of 209, expanding the lead to 512 in the process. With a total of 173 overs possible, they started off in earnest for the wickets. Their efforts received a shot in the arm because of the early wicket of their tormentor from the first innings- Tamim. But Junaid coming in one drop proceeded to play a good knock in the company of Rahim and just about entertained the hopes of making it a close finish. Swann doused all those hopes by picking up one more five wicket haul and a ten wicket haul for the match
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