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England Vs Bangladesh:
Test Match:
Dhaka:
Sponsored by Cable and Wireless:
Stumps:
Day1:
Bangladesh: 143 All Out
England: 231/4
Flintoff: 33*
Collingwood: 15*
Superb Strauss Shreds Opposition!
After Bangladesh failed to post a decent total the England Openers went to work on the new ball attack, Trescothick played a few strokes that were well stopped in the covers and was dropped on 5 after cutting a shot straight to gully, he didnt fully recover and was ran out after a mix up, he called the run and Strauss said no, Trescothick was left stranded and was stumped by the keeper. This could have unnerved Strauss but the captain had a few words with him before facing his first delivery and calmed his nerves a bit, as it turns out it was the best thing Vaughan could have done.
Andrew Strauss cuts one past the fielder and to the boundary to bring up his 50 in style:
Vaughan and Strauss complimented each other perfectly and stayed around in partnership for around 90-100 runs but it was never going to last much longer than that, Strauss pushed on on Vaughan got more and more frustrated after being stuck in the 30's for a while. He eventually was dismissed for 32 after the persistant Tapesh Baisya produced an average ball, it was there to be driven and Vaughan caught it cleanly enough but unfortunately rammed it straight down the fielders throat.
Strauss reaches his hundred with a decent strike rate:
Strauss looked in fine form as he cut, drove and hooked him way to a fantasticly well deserved century, he finished it of by after waiting patiently for the bad ball with a devilish cut which raced away square of the wicket to the boundary. This was tarnished however by the runout of Graham Thorpe for 0 after facing just 3 balls, a very dissapointing wicket to lose so cheaply, Thorpe drove one staight to the man at cover point and started his run, he thought it to have raced through for four, little did he know that the fielder had stopped it, before he realised the ball had gone whizzing back past him and the keeper took his bails.
England Scorecard:
Flintoff was relatively new to the crease when Strauss was dismissed, Mustaq Ahmed was lining them up and he was knocking them down, Strauss took the bait, a ball flighted above eye level was smashed over the boundary for a massive 6 from the second ball of the over, the third ball was exactly the same, only this time it was a leg spinner, Strauss went for the extravogant shot again and sliced it to mid on who held the onto the catch to secure a big wicket for his team after a fantastic piece of bowling. Strauss has a lot to learn and you cant help thinking that if Marcus Trescothick was at the crease on the same number he would have gone on to make a bag load more.
Flintoff took charge after this and Collingwood was ample support for his charge, the bowlers looked generally frightened and he ended the day on 33no. Both batsmen are playing well and if they carry on like they are doing then they may not need to bat again this match, England will probrably declare when they reach a score of about 450 and look to bowl the opposition out within the rest of the day to rest the bowlers again before the next tour match with the Governers XI.
P.S
I wont be doing a full report of the tour matches, just results to save time and get to the big matches!
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