Spin sin sets Tigers back

Although Shakib Al Hasan took two wickets, the day did not belong to him nor the rest of Bangladesh's spinners as England smashed them all over for 156 runs in Mirpur yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

Bangladesh's spinners were creamed all over the park yesterday. They seemed to have no answers against the likes of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. Whenever it seemed as though the slower bowlers were pulling it back, out came the reverse sweep, which more often than not resulted in a boundary yesterday, and spoilt the over.

In all, Bangladesh's spinners leaked a total of 156 runs and scalped two wickets -- both of which were taken by Shakib Al Hasan -- in 25 overs at an economy rate of 6.24.

This was their most expensive performance in a bilateral series since 2015 and the second worst in the last two years. The last time the spinners were taken for so many runs was during the World Cup in 2015 when New Zealand's batsmen punished the turners to the tune of 181 runs at Hamilton at an economy rate of 6.27.

Slow bowlers have traditionally been Bangladesh's main strength, but in the last two years -- especially with the arrival of Mustafizur Rahman and the consistency shown by the pacers -- they have depended a lot more upon their pacers for wins.

However, that does not mean that the spinners played no part at all since the ascendancy of the fast men. Yes, the Mustafizurs and the Mashrafe Bin Mortazas were ever present, but the disciplined performances from the likes of Shakib, Arafat Sunny and Nasir Hossain complemented the pace department and together the Tigers managed to form a very balanced attack.

However, with the spinners getting whacked all over the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, that balance was lost. There were a number of reasons which contributed to the expensive figures.

Bangladesh's fielding was below-par. Mahmudullah Riyad and Mosharraf Hossain dropped a total of three easy catches. Had those been taken, especially the first one which gave Stokes a chance, the scenario could have changed -- the hosts probably could have stopped the carnage.

However, the aspect that hurt the Tigers the most was the fact that their specialist slow left-armer, Mosharraf, failed to perform.

He was given just three overs before captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza lost confidence in him. The 38-year-old, who returned to the national side after a gap of eight years in the third ODI against Afghanistan on October 1, gave away 23 runs in those three overs.

Mashrafe was forced to keep him out of the attack since Mosharraf injured his hand.

It was something that Mashrafe mentioned during the post-match press conference.

 "He just came off club cricket while we have been training for yearsand so, playing at this level is harder for him. When I wanted to bring him back into the attack, he had injured his hand. He really had a bad day," said Mashrafe when asked as to why he didn't bowl him.

The match also saw Mosaddek Hossain bowl nine overs and concede 50 runs. That was a surprise considering that he entered the team as a batsman and that Bangladesh went into the game with three specialist pacers and two spinners -- Shakib and Mosharraf. Mosaddek was basically used to complete Mosharraf's overs.

While Bangladesh have been depending on their pacers in the last two years, many believed prior to the series that the team management would revert to their spin attack in order to exploit England's weakness.

In a sense, that is what happened yesterday. Although the pitch was not slow and low and seemed decent for batting, Mashrafe eventually used four spinners including Mahmudullah and did not complete the quotas of his specialist pacers Taskin Ahmed and Shafiul Islam.

The worry for Bangladesh's team management though is that the English batsmen played them with ease. It will be interesting to see what the hosts plan next.