An extraordinary contest was settled when England, needing 237 to win, lost Jonathan Trott for 94 to the third delivery of the final over.

At the other end was Ian Bell, bravely batting with a broken foot.

Bangladesh’s 236-7 did not look nearly enough at the interval but the tourists battled brilliantly with the ball.

The result ended a run of 14 defeats for Bangladesh in one-day internationals.

Trott, playing only his fifth one-day international and first since November, was so nearly England’s hero – though even if he had won the match at the death his achievement would have only served to mask a thoroughly lacklustre display by England in every department.

It would be churlish to take anything away from Bangladesh, however. They were forced to shuffle their squad at short notice when two batsmen succumbed to injuries in the series opener at Nottingham, and held their nerve admirably during a tense conclusion.

When Ajmal Shahzad was bowled by Shakib Al Hasan in the 40th over of the chase, England were 166-7 in the 40th over and 71 runs were still needed. Bangladesh were clear favourites.

But the momentum briefly swung back England’s way. New batsman Stuart Broad was not content to let the required run rate get any further out of hand, and one huge six from him off Rubel Hossain left 36 wanted from the last five.

Bangladesh hit back. Broad (21) speared the first ball of the 47th over to point and Trott struggled to hit boundaries for a while, leaving himself and James Anderson needing 23 from the final 12 balls.

Trott, who had played with utmost patience for so long, was forced to up the ante. Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza saw his second ball, a perfect yorker, deflected down to fine-leg for four and the third was beautifully driven down the ground for four.

When Anderson was then caught off the final ball of the over, Bell had to hobble to the crease with Eoin Morgan as his runner, and 10 wanted off the last six balls.

In the event, Bell did not need to face a ball.

Trott crashed each of the first two balls, bowled by Shafiul Islam, for two. But the third was a slower ball which he could only edge to wicketkeeper Jahurul Islam, and Bangladesh could finally celebrate a famous win.

The last hour had produced a wonderfully thrilling finish, though the match as a whole had provided fairly dire fare for much of its life.

England should be good at chasing by now – this was the eighth ODI in succession in which they had found themselves batting second, and they had won five of the previous seven – but neither of the two openers was able to get past the 10th over.

Strauss played some lovely shots in reaching 33 from 36 balls before trying to be a bit too cute against the seam of Rubel only to knock a catch off the face of the bat to Jahurul.

Craig Kieswetter went soon afterwards. He had raced to 20 from 17 balls but a loose drive was snicked to Jahurul and Hossain, a skiddy seam bowler and a tactical replacement for the slow left-armer Faisal Hossain, joyously celebrated again.

He could have added Paul Collingwood to his tally from the very next ball but a raucous appeal for yet another catch at the wicket was declined by umpire Richard Illingworth despite evidence of an audible nick.

England had to regroup fast, but Collingwood only made 10 before falling lbw to Abdur Razzak and Eoin Morgan departed the same way for just one.

When Michael Yardy (10) was bowled by Shakib Al Hasan playing across the line England were 115-5 in the 26th over and in serious trouble.

Trott desperately needed a partner to help him nurse the team somewhere towards their target, but Luke Wright (15) endured another poor day in England colours and was unable to be that man, edging Shafiul Islam to slip.

Having weathered a nervous patch in the field, and an exploratory over from Mohammad Ashraful in which he was hit for a six by Wright, Bangladesh now circled for the kill as the required rate ballooned past six an over – and despite the best efforts of Trott, and for a while Broad, it was to be their day.

England had chosen to freshened up their side, resting Tim Bresnan and James Tredwell. That allowed them to give Yorkshire seamer Shahzad and Trott, who hit 226 against Bangladesh in the first Test of the summer, an outing.

The resultant shape provided greater depth in the batting than normal, and that was just as well for England once Bell had limped off the field following a freakish injury sustained following a routine dive at square leg.

The hosts began accurately enough with the ball, keeping the usually explosive Tamim Iqbal at bay.

And when he was well caught by a diving Kieswetter behind the stumps off a Shahzad delivery that left him a fraction, one always sensed England would be able to keep Bangladesh to a modest total.

But the home side did not make their life as easy as it might have been. For all his intelligent use of both the old and new ball, Shahzad betrayed plenty of uncertainty in the field.

He put down Imrul Kayes in the seventh over for just six in the unusual position of short third-man and four overs later completely misjudged a second chance at third man. They were costly misses, as Kayes went on to make 76.

Two drops by Wright later in the innings were more forgivable since both were extremely tough chances, though on a day when England’s ground fielding was generally far from its best those errors compounded a sloppy overall performance.

Kayes batted with no great tempo nor acceleration to an innings which lasted into the 44th over – and that caused problems for a Bangladesh line-up weakened by the absence through injury of two of their better batsmen, Raqibul Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim.

Kayes put on 83 with Jahurul in by far the biggest stand of the match – though it was Bangladesh’s accurate display with the ball that brought them their hugely important victory.

Sehwag grabbed four wickets for six runs with his off-spin as Bangladesh were shot out for 167 in 34.5 overs after losing their last six batsmen for the addition of just 12 runs.

India cantered past the modest target in the 31st over, with Sehwag’s Delhi teammate Gautam Gambhir smashing 82 off 101 balls with the help of six boundaries.

Sehwag managed only 11 with the bat and Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan removed Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma off successive balls, but India were never in trouble.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (38 not out) put on a match-winning stand of 78 with Gambhir, who fell leg-before to Mashrafe Mortaza when just 10 runs remained for victory.

“The spinners won it for us,” said Dhoni. “It was good we chased a low target, because it is very difficult to bat under lights here.”

Shakib conceded his team did not put enough runs on the board.

“Losing all those wickets in the end was the turning point,” he said. “We had the advantage of batting first before the lights came on, we should have got a much bigger score.

“But we are up for the remaining games against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.”

Defending champions Sri Lanka had opened the four-nation tournament on Tuesday with a 16-run win over Pakistan.

Each team plays the other once in the league with the top two advancing to the final on June 24.

Bangladesh, who elected to bat after winning the toss, made a flying start as openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes hammered 35 from the first 17 deliveries.

After Tamim fell for 22 off 12 balls, caught in the covers off Praveen Kumar, Kayes and Mohammad Ashraful added 46 for the second wicket.

Bangladesh were 81-1 in the 14th over before three wickets fell for 19 runs, two of them to seamer Ashish Nehra who removed Kayes (37) and Ashraful.

Mushfiqur Rahim (30) and Mohammad Mahmudullah (23) put on 55 for the fifth wicket, before India dented the innings.

Sehwag marked his return with a superb spell on the slow wicket at the Rangiri stadium.

He had Rahim caught at the wicket, trapped Suhrawadi Shuvo and Shafiul Islam leg-before and then terminated the innings by bowling last man Syed Rasel.

Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in the next match on Friday.

SCORES IN BRIEF
BANGLADESH: 167 all out in 34.5 overs (Imrul 37, Mushfiqur 30, Mahmudullah 23, Tamim 22, Ashraful 20; Sehwag 4-6, Nehra 2-28)

INDIA: 168 for 4 in 30.4 overs (Gambhir 82, Dhoni 38 not out; Mortaza 2-37, Shakib 2-49)

Result: India won by six wickets.

Man-of-the-match: Gautam Gambhir.

Umpires: Billy Doctrove and Bruce Oxenford.

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.

Well it was not entirely quiet in the end as the sports journalists gave the former Bangladesh captain a standing ovation that was both heart-warming and timely.

The former Bangladesh captain who announced on Monday of his retirement from all forms of cricket, held a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

His legacy as a cricketer and a Bangladesh captain received a major blow when he decided to join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) in 2008 and the man himself admitted it could have been a huge error in judgment.

“It was a big mistake,” acknowledged Bashar, adding that the last two years of his cricket career was not good.

“I can only blame myself because I went to the ICL. It could have been a smooth ending for me but for that, I could not finish my career while playing for the country,” said the right-handed batsman who was renowned for playing the shots at a time when most Tigers batsmen failed to make an impact.

“I have a few grievances but you don’t always get what you want. It has been a long journey from 1989 and I’ve played for Bangladesh since 1995 but I must say I am quite happy with my career,” said the 37-year-old Bashar.

The moment he realised that he was surplus to requirements for Bangladesh, Bashar knew that his time was up.

“It is a harsh reality that I won’t touch bat and ball but I’ve always said that when I’m not selected for the country, I would stop playing.

“But I played club and first-class cricket and even in the last few days of my career I heard some say that I should continue playing. But I knew my time was up,” said the man who has three centuries in his 50 Test matches.

Bashar however slated the practice of senior cricketers being deprived of a retirement from the playing field.

“It has become a tradition. Khaled Mashud had the same treatment while (Aminul Islam) Bulbul bhai didn’t even have a proper ending till today. I hope this trend changes in the future,” said Bashar.

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.