Tigers create magic and history in Mirpur
After nine fruitless Tests against the inventors of the game, Bangladesh created a seminal moment in their cricketing history and without exception their proudest cricketing achievement by defeating England by 108 runs on the third day of the second Test in Mirpur today. The heroes of the day were newcomer Mehedi Hasan Miraz and veteran Shakib Al Hasan. Mehedi took his sixth wicket of the innings by trapping Steven Finn leg-before with the score on 164 to seal the win.
Earlier, a triple-wicket over by Shakib Al Hasan in the 42nd over of England's brought Bangladesh to within touching distance of history. He first snaked one through the bat and pad of Ben Stokes to bowl the England all-rounder before trapping Adil Rashid in front off the next ball. A ball later he had Zafar Ansari caught off bat and pad at square leg to leave England 161 for eight in the 42nd over with 112 runs still to score.
Before that, Mehedi Hasan Miraz became one of six players in Test history to pick up three five-wicket hauls in his first two Tests when he dismissed Jonny Bairstow in the 38th over on day-3.
Bairstow got a big inside edge and Shuvagata Hom took a dolly of a catch at leg slip.
Bangladesh came back into the contest post-tea with quick wickets to leave England reeling at 127 for 5 after 34 overs chasing 273 for victory in the second Test match.
Mehedi Hasan Miraz took his tenth wicket of the match when he got the crucial scalp of Alastair Cook for 59 in the 34th over to the delight of his teammates. In the 32 over, Mehedi sent back Moeen Ali and Gary Balance as England batters failed to negotiate his turn and bounce.
Shakib Al Hasan got in the act and dismissed Joe Root in the 25 over. In the 24th over, Mehedi got the better of Ben Duckett as the England opener paid the ultimate price for playing from the crease.
England were 100 for no loss after 23 overs requiring another 173 runs to win the second Test against Bangladesh when the players left the field for tea on day-3 at Mirpur stadium.
A great session for the visitors… Ben Duckett has been particularly good, scoring at a decent pace, can be termed quick according to Test standards. Cook has played the perfect foil to Duckett's aggression and kept the Bangladesh bowlers at bay.
Duckett reached his maiden Test fifty and was batting at 56 from 63 balls. Cook was 39 not out at the end of the post-lunch session.
Earlier, a mixture of poor bowling and catching from England and some borderline reckless batting from Bangladesh carried the hosts to a dominant position as they were all out for 296 in their second innings, setting England a winning target of 273.
If England do chase it, it will be by far the highest successful chase at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, eclipsing England's own previous high of 209 for one in March 2010.
That was however against a different Bangladesh attack and on a much more benign wicket. The reckless batting from the hosts had much to do with the prodigious turn on offer and the dual bounce – the batsmen were perhaps not very confident of their ability to fight it out on this wicket.
Almost every over of the morning session, when Bangladesh resumed on 152 for three and a lead of 128, produced some sort of flutter with ball passing bat often, the odd one keeping low and shouts for leg-before.
Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan made a streaky 41 but with Imrul Kayes and Mushfiqur Rahim he helped extend his side's lead over 200 against England in the second Test match of the series at Dhaka today.
Resuming on day-3 with the lead of 128, Shakib took the attack to the bowlers and tried to get on top of them early. Forward short leg missed a tough chance in the 37th over. Jonny Bairstow missed a stumping in the 47th while Ben Duckett dropped a sitter in the next over bowled by Zafar Ansari.
When umpires called lunch on day-3, Bangladesh were 244 runs ahead, with three wickets left. England came back into the contest with the wickets of Shakib, Imrul, Mushfiqur and Sabbir Rahman in the first session. Close calls, missed stumpings, missed chances, wrong reviews, unchallenged close calls marked the action-packed session...England are very much in it…although the pitch is showing signs of deterioration.
Taijul Islam, who came out before Mehedi Hasan Miraz after lunch, was caught behind off Stokes. Mehedi continued to fall well short of his reputation as an all-rounder as he jumped out to Adil Rashid and was caught off a swinging bat at slip. The last wicket of Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Shuvagata Hom added 20 runs before Rabbi top edged a long hop from Rashid back to the bowler.
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