Bangladesh are just 95 runs ahead with only four wickets in hand which made their job difficult to save the game that they ruled in the first two days.

Skipper Sakib al Hasan was still at the crease with 25 not out, giving his side some hope. He will resume batting with nightwatchman Shafiul Islam, who was yet to score.

Earlier in the morning, all-rounder Tim Bresnan compiled a Test-best 91 to give England a 77-run lead with a first-innings total of 496.

Opener Tamim Iqbal wiped out the deficit with a typically chancy a half-century, but no one else could play a big innings.
Tamim, who was caught by Steven Finn at point off spinner Graeme Swann for 52, had his fair share of luck as England fielders dropped him three times with spinner James Tredwell being the unlucky bowler on every occasion.

Wicketkeeper Matt Prior put the opener down when he was on 15, Tredwell failed to hold a sharp return catch on 26 and Jonathan Trott dropped an easy chance at point with Tamim three runs away from his second fifty in the game.

Tredwell was, however, was rewarded for his good efforts with the wicket of Junaed Siddique (34), whose drive hit captain Alastair Cook’s toe at silly-point and looped up for a simple catch for the bowler.

Bresnan had Mahmudullah caught by Prior for six and Swann dismissed debutant Jahirul Islam.

Jahirul, who made a duck in the first innings, had his first two scoring shots in Test – two sixes – before he was eventually bowled by Swann for 43. The biggest blow came from Stuart Broad who had vice-captain Mushfiqur Rahim bowled for three.

This was the dismissal that Bangladesh badly wanted to avoid before the close as they needed some one like Musfique to hold the fort on the crucial fifth day.

Broad had earlier also dismissed opener Imrul Kayes, who failed to prove his Test credentials once again having been bowled for four. Broad, however, needed some help from luck to get his wicket as the ball hit him on the thigh pad before it deflected onto the stumps.

England resumed their innings on 440 for eight and batted nearly 20 overs in the morning to add 56 runs.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak (3-132) claimed two wickets, both with stumpings by wicketkeeper Mushfique, and Sakib finished with figures of four for 124 bowling 66 overs, the highest by a Bangladeshi in a Test innings.

Earlier, the hosts were all out for 419 runs in the first innings. Opener Tamim Iqbal scored the highest 85 (71) followed by Mahmudullah 59 (123), Naeem Islan 59 (172) and pacer Shafiul Islam 53 (51).

England bowlers Graeme Swann grabbed four wickets while James Tredwell and Tim Bresnan took two wickets and Stuart Broad and Steven Finn one each.

Earlier on Saturday, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and elected to bat first.

The visitors are leading the two-match Test series by 1-0 after beating Bangladesh by 181 runs in the first Test in Chittagong.

Earlier, the visiting England crushed the hosts by 3-0 in the three-match one-day international series.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Jahurul Islam, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain.

England: Alastair Cook (captain), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell and Steven Finn.

Jonathan Trott (64) and Ian Bell (25) were the two unbeaten batsmen at the crease.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan dismissed the most dangerous English batsman Kevin Pietersen on 45. Rubel Hossain ridded his team of Paul Collingwood on a duck and Abdur Razzak grabbed Alastair Cook’s wicket on 21.

Earlier in the morning session, English bowlers let down captain Cook who had planned to wrap up the Bangladeshi tail in quick succession.

An outstanding fightback by last recognised Bangladeshi batsman Naeem Islam (59 not out), lower order batsmen Shafiul Islam (53) and Rubel Hossain (17) made it a day for the hosts.

The trio took the Tigers’ total to a handsome score of 419 runs.

Shafiul was dismissed by a wide delivery from Tim Bresnan to send an edge through to Matt Prior, who took a tremendous catch diving forward in front of first slip.

Graeme Swann managed to cut the tail off finally as his delivery found Prior’s safe gloves after kissing the edge of Rubel’s bat. It was Matt Prior’s third dismissal of the match so far.

Swann, the off-spinner, again became the most successful bowler as he sealed four wickets against his name while James Tredwell and Tim Bresnan bagged two wickets each and Stuart Broad and Steven Finn took one each.

On Saturday, after electing to bat first by winning the toss, Tigers attained a total of 330 for eight wickets, courtesy to Tamim Iqbal (85) Mahmudullah (59) and Shakib Al Hasan (49).

England are leading the series 1-0 after beating Bangladesh by 181 runs in the first Test in Chittagong.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Jahurul Islam, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain.

England: Alastair Cook (captain), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Steven Finn.

With this win, England took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.

Bangladesh were all out for 331 runs in their second innings chasing a huge 513-run target to win.

In the morning session, overnight unbeaten batsmen Junaid and Mushfiq made their mark on the crease very positively as they smashed English bowling attack all around the park on a regular basis.

Junaid reached his maiden Test hundred milestone by driving Steven Finn’s delivery to the boundary.

The duo, Junaid and Mushfiq, went to lunch unbeaten on 106 and 91 respectively.

Just after lunch, England got much-needed breakthrough of the day as Graeme Swann’s classic off spinner-delivery to a left-handed batsman removed Juanid on 106 as he played forward and got a edge which carried low to Collingwood’s safe hand at the first slip.

Swann struck once again just after five overs as Mushfiq was dismissed in the nervous nineties (95) to miss out on his second Test hundred.

After that, it was only the small-tale of the tail-enders as Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan picked up Abdur Razzak and Shahdat Hossain in quick succession.

Naeem Islam was giving a fightback but it wasn’t adequate enough for his side as Swann grabbed him on 36, which gave the English spinner his first 10-wicket match haul in Test cricket.

Earlier, the visitors declared their first innings at 599 for six wickets and 209 for seven wickets in the second innings, taking a decisive 512- run lead against the Tigers.

Bangladesh were all out for 296 in their first innings in response to visiting England’s 599/6 declared.

The second and final Test between the two countries will begin at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on March 20.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain),Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shadahat Hossain.

England: Alastair Cook (captain), Michael Carberry, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn.

Tamim Iqbal, the highest scorer for Bangladesh with 86 in the first innings, said they can still pull off a victory from this position if one of our batsmen can play an extraordinary innings.

‘At the moment it is difficult for us. But the match has not ended yet. I think they are eying a lead close to 500 runs and they still need to score 70 odd runs to be in that position,’ said Tamim.

‘You cannot predict what will happen in cricket. We scored more than 400 runs in the fourth innings in a Test match against Sri Lanka in Dhaka. So who knows? If two or three of us can play a big innings only Allah can say what will happen,’ he added.

‘We are not conceding a defeat yet, because we know if someone can play an extraordinary innings any thing is possible in cricket,’ said an over ambitious Tamim after the third day’s play.

The statement preceded a late show of left-arm spin that kept England batsmen in check in their second innings after the tourists opted to bat again instead of enforcing a follow-on despite a massive 303-run first innings lead.

The ball started keeping low which was evident in the spell of left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who conceded only seven runs in his four overs and in the process dismissed opener Michael Carberry and first innings centurion Paul Collingwood.
Skipper Sakib al Hasan also generated a sharp turn and removed Jonathan Trott and happy-again Kevin Pietersen, which proved that the pitch has started to crack.

One of Sakib’s deliveries landed on a crack and moved towards the boundary line jumping over the head of a perplexed wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim.

Many believed this could be one of the reasons for England not to impose a follow-on as they did not want to put themselves in a risk of batting in the fourth innings on a potential minefield.

Bangladesh’s failure in the first innings against England off-spinner Graeme Swann is believed to have some kind of negative impact on their confidence.

Swann, without that much assistance from the pitch, scalped five wickets helping the tourists to bowl out Bangladesh for 296 runs and achieve a huge first innings lead.

‘Taking three wickets yesterday [Saturday] put me in good stead. It was hard work today, the pitch wasn’t really responsive but I kept plugging away in the hope that if I got one another might follow and so it proved,’ said Swann, who gave full respect to Bangladesh.

‘Bangladesh batted very well today for an hour before lunch and an hour after lunch and that showed we are going to have our work cut out to take the last 10 wickets,’ said the off-spinner.

‘It’s no surprise after the one-day series. They’ve shown they have some very capable batsmen and some capable bowlers as well. It’s no surprise that they are putting up a fight,’ he said.

He, however, exuded confidence as the nature of wicket has now changed.

‘We’ve got a bit of reverse swing going and there’s always a little bit of turn, the odd one hitting a crack and going a bit more so we’re confident,’ said Swann.

Earlier in the day, England declared their first innings on 599 for six wickets.

Bangladeshi batsman Tamim Iqbal, who has become the fastest Bangladesh batsman to reach 1,000 Test runs, in just his 29th innings, was playing some tremendous shots.

Earlier on Friday, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and invited England to bat first.

The state-run Bangladesh Television and Satellite TV channel SuperSport have been telecasting the match live from the venue that began at 9:30am.

Alastair Cook cemented England’s strong position with a hundred against Bangladesh in his first Test in charge.

Alongside Kevin Pietersen’s much-awaited return to form, which ended agonisingly on 99 to a left-arm spinner, the pair formed the backbone of England’s dominant opening-day total of 374 for 3 on Friday.

Cook became the fifth England captain to score a hundred in his first match in charge.

Alastair Cook registered a new career-best but missed out on the chance of a double century on the second morning at Chittagong although his departure for 173 caused England few problems. Paul Collingwood moved effortlessly to 86 at the lunch break alongside Ian Bell, who barely broke sweat as he ended the session on 37, and England reached a total of 599.

Bangladesh’s bowling was better than the first day, particularly during the first hour, but that is hardly a ringing endorsement.

The second and final Test between the two countries will begin at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on March 20.

Earlier, the visiting England crushed the hosts by 3-0 in the three-match one-day international series.

Bangladesh Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain),Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shadahat Hossain.

England Squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Michael Carberry, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn.

Alongside Kevin Pietersen’s much-awaited return to form, which ended agonisingly on 99 to a left-arm spinner, the pair formed the backbone of England’s dominant opening-day total of 374 for 3 at Chittagong.

But Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan wanted to put behind all the emotional issues to shift the focus to the challenge they were going to face against Alastair Cook’s men in the five-day contest.

Rokibul, who came back strongly among the runs with a hundred followed by a half-century against the visitors in the three-day match, was very much in the team plan for the first Test and definitely his sudden withdrawal came as a setback for the home side but the young Bangladesh skipper was very much practical about the current situation.

“I want to put behind all these things and I think boys are focusing on the game. Nobody is indispensable and you know, it’s natural that someone come to fulfill the vacuum because in this world you can not expect a place to be vacuumed for someone no matter how big he is or not,” said a confident Shakib while talking at the pre-match press conference after a training session at the venue.

“I don’t believe that the incident will effect our performance because we don’t want it. We are fully focusing on the game. What happened has happened. There is no scope to be too much emotional in this professional world. Nobody is superman and one should think with his head and not his heart when he takes any decision,” he added.

The all-rounder informed that they were surprised when Rokibul disclosed his desire in the team bus on way to the hotel from the stadium and everybody in the team tried their best to change his mind but the young batsman was adamant in his decision, which apparently irritated the Bangladesh skipper.

“It’s a very emotional decision. Everybody tried their best to convince him but he didn’t change his mind. He didn’t even disclose the reason behind his decision. The decision is simply silly because there are ups and downs in every cricketer’s career and one should accept it,” said Shakib.

“What can I say he made a big mistake. I think it’s not Bangladesh cricket rather he (Rokibul) will be the sufferer for his decision,” added Shakib.

Uncapped Zahurul Islam flew in to replace Rokibul but the team management was not ready to give the highest run-getter in the just concluded National Cricket League a chance in the eleven rather keeping faith with the experienced Aftab Ahmed as the newcomer was left out along with pacer Shafiul Islam and left-arm spinner Enamul Haque.

Shakib made it clear that they will rely on their spin attack against England, who are believed to be weak against slow bowlers especially in the subcontinent conditions.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak was chosen as a specialist spinner after Shakib ahead of Enamul, who once again failed to make it to the final squad while Mahmudullah Riyad and Nayeem Islam will be also there to support them.

“We are relying on our spin attack in this condition and hope it will be a good contest,” said Shakib.

And the Bangladesh captain above everything wants a good start to continue their recent good run of form.

Till the filing of this report at midnight, it was known that Rokibul was in Dhaka. The Daily Star made several attempts to contact him but it was fruitless as the batsman’s phone was switched off.

Bangladesh Cricket Board director Jalal Yunus confirmed that Rokibul submitted his resignation letter to team operations manager Shafiqul Haque Heera in Chittagong, who faxed it to the board office in Mirpur. Then he proceeded to board a flight to Dhaka from Chittagong.

The drama unfolded yesterday morning when the 22-year-old Rokibul refused to bat in the nets after travelling to the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium with the team. Then while returning to the hotel he stunned the Tigers in the team bus where he suddenly announced that he would retire from all forms of cricket and would ‘never play again’.

According to team sources, it shocked the entire squad who tried to talk reason into him. But Rokibul maintained his stance and also refused to elaborate.

The team sources confirmed a similar pattern of behaviour. Rokibul implied that he was willing to ‘teach them a lesson’ and it was a ‘revenge of sorts’ after he was unceremoniously axed from the national team for the England ODIs. The team management including the selectors were culprits in his eyes.

At the time, the board did not accept a team with Rokibul in it when the selectors named him in the 14-man squad for the ODIs. That had him cut out of the Tigers side and he was forced to play a practice game against England. He slammed an unbeaten 107 and a fifty to force his way back into the Test series and according to some close to him, he was positive in his talk.

As the drama unfolded in front of his teammates’ eyes, he informed chief selector Rafiqul Alam of his retirement. Rafiqul asked him the reasons of his decision but Rokibul said it was ‘personal’.

After informing the Tigers, Rokibul called up his Jamalpur home where he talked to his elder brother Shafiqul Islam to express his desire.

“He [Rokibul] called me and said that he has quit the national team and was going to Dhaka,” said Shafiqul when contacted over phone.

“He told us that he had informed the captain and the coach of his decision, but I requested him not to take such a reckless decision.

“We know that he is someone who always makes the right call but this [retirement] has shocked us all at home,” said Shafiqul, a service-holder in Jamalpur.

According to Shafiqul, his brother had recently expressed dissatisfaction with the way he was treated by the team management over the last two months. “After returning from New Zealand, he told me that he was just taken therebut made to sit out the Test matches,” said Shafiqul.

“He told me that he was in form but wasn’t scoring enough runs. ‘Maybe that was my only fault’ he said,” added Shafiqul.

There was another version in a leading website where it was claimed that a BCB insider said Rokibul had been ‘compromised’ as the board also rejected his name from the Test squad.

“The selectors were told by the board to drop Raqibul and Ashraful from the Test squad,” the BCB insider told the website. “The selectors refused to drop Raqibul after he scored a century and a fifty in the warm-up game at Chittagong and Raqibul has returned to Dhaka feeling that his position in the team is compromised.”

But Jalal Yunus, also the media committee chairman of the board, strongly denied any such claims. “We completely denounce this report. It was written with the reporter’s own assumptions about the incident,” he said.

“He [Rokibul] was very much in the side and there were no questions about it [his position in the Test team]. The notion that this team was also rejected by the board members is completely false and I would like the contributor to mention the name of the ‘BCB insider’,” added Yunus.

With this victory, England clinched the series 3-0.

Out-of-form Aftab Ahmed showed a little ray of hope for the upcoming test series by showing some tremendous stroke play as he scored the innings’ highest 46 with seven boundaries.

Apart from Aftab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib al Hasan, Mahmudullah were among the run scorers as they scored 40, 38 and 34 respectively.

Tim Bresnan was the most successful English bowler as he bagged four wickets. Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen all took one each.

Earlier, England scored 284 for 5 wickets, thanks to a magnificent inning of 107 by Craig Kieswetter. It was his maiden ODI hundred as well.

Tigrers elected to field after winning the toss.