England started Bangladesh tour with strong win

IN AND IN WITH A BANG: England's newest batsman Craig Kieswetter, who hammered a big 143, drives one during his magnificent knock in the limited-overs practice match against BCB XI at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium yesterday.

England cricket team started their tour of Bangladesh with a comfortable victory of 112 runs over the BCB XI at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium yesterday. Centuries from newcomer Craig Kieswetter and vice-captain Paul Collingwood, added with some shabby fielding from the hosts, aided the tourists to this convincing start to the series.

BCB XI captain Shahriar Nafees won the toss in the morning and decided to put the opposition in. But it didn’t take long for the visitors to prove the decision wrong as the bowlers found very little assistance from the pitch to trouble the English batsmen throughout. The two openers Kieswetter and skipper Alastair Cook scored runs at will as they brought up the fifty from as many balls. Then they pressed the accelerator and scored the next 50 in just 29 balls and both scratched up their individual half-centuries. The partnership was broken when young fast bowler Alauddin Babu came into the attack. He struck with his first delivery as he caught Cook leg before wicket.

On the next ball he removed dangerman Kevin Pietersen as the score read 127 for 2. Collingwood then joined Kieswetter in the middle and the two took complete control of the game. The two of them added 125 runs in the third wicket before Kieswetter was removed but not before he had scored a mammoth 143 off 123 balls that included 13 fours and six sixes. He was however helped by sloppy catching from the hosts as they floored him on three occasions by three different fielders. Collingwood played a hurricane knock of 109 off just 74 balls with six sixes and as many boundaries.

More catches were spilled than taken as England raced to 370 for 7 at the end of their fifty overs. Veteran paceman Tapash Baisya was the most successful of BCB XI bowlers taking three for 72 while Alauddin’s two wickets cost him 85.

Chasing this huge target, the hosts lost the wicket of their skipper Shahriar very early to paceman Ajmal Shahzad after scoring 12 uncomfortable runs. Their innings never gained any momentum and kept falling behind the target with every ball bowled. However, credit to them, they managed to survive the full distance of fifty overs chalking up 258 runs losing nine wickets in the process.

There were a few modest knocks from the middle-order including Rokibul Hasan’s 41, Nayeem Islam’s 40 and Mohammad Sharifullah’s 47. Ariful Haque played a cameo of 22 from eleven balls with two big sixes of consecutive deliveries from spinner Graeme Swann. His third attempt ended up down the throat of long-on as the wily off-spinner ended with figures of four for 44 and finished a satisfying day for the tourists.

SCORES IN BRIEF
ENGLAND: 370 for seven in 50 overs (Kieswetter 143, Collingwood 109, Cook 56; Tapash 3-72, Alauddin 2-85)

BCB XI: 258 for nine in 50 overs (Sharifullah 47, Rokibul 41, Nayeem 40, Ariful 22; Swann 4-44, Plunkett 2-57)

Result: England won by 112 runs.

News: Sourced