England work hard to restrict Bangladesh

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the cherished toss and this time he made a mistake deciding to bat first on a wicket which looks a bowler's graveyard although there were some variable bounces with some of the deliveries keeping low on the first day and England will have to bat in the fourth innings on this surface which started to look unpredictable.

Opener Tamim Iqbal made England pay dearly for the early let- off with a whirlwind 85, Mahmudullah Riyad continued to impress with a polished 59, Shakib with 49, Zunaid Siddiqui with 39, Mushfiqur Rahim with 30 and Naeem Islam with 33 were the core of Bangladesh batting which at times looked fascinating and at times very embarrassing.

One encouraging sign for Tigers is that five of the eight Bangladesh wickets to fall were captured by spinners and once again it was Grame Swann, who took the centerstage with three for 94 on a energy-sapping day. Debutant spinner James Tredwell supported him with two for 85.

Naeem has played another responsible innings and everything now depends on how much support he gets from the other end to add some very useful runs to the Bangladesh total.

In a sultry summer heat with the pitch looking an absolutely batting paradise, English bowlers struggled miserably in the first one and half-hour. English bowlers had to pay dearly, whenever they strayed off the line.

Tiger' with their positive frame of mind was unable to carry on the good work for a more substantial total. The early tempo was set by Tamim's blazing assault in the morning session.

As the saying goes that fortune favours the brave as England spilled Tamim twice- a tough chance on 7 by Paul Collingwood at second slip and a much simpler offering to Cook at mid on 35 from a leading edge and Tamim simply slaughtered English attack as long he stayed at the wicket.

Cook quickly to introduce his prized and his Man-of-the- Match in Chittagong, Graeme Swann's, whose introduction was supposed to halt the run avalanche but Tamim was in no mood to let off.

Tamim looked disgusted to have been given out to the dismay of Bangladesh cricket fans while England camp had the greatest escape thanks to Umpire Tucker. He scored 85 off 71 with 13 boundaries and one six.

 Tamim's departure saw Swann burst into action with two quick wickets, trapping the debutant Jahurul Islam in front for a sixth-ball duck (television replays showed it was another bad decision by the other Kiwi umpire Hill) before removing Zunaid Siddique (39), a century-maker in his last innings, in similar fashion after lunch.

Suddenly England looked on the brink of taking control of the proceedings, Shakib joined Mahmudullah for an enterprising 59-run stand.

But when things started to look rosy for Tigers, Mahmudullah, after playing superbly for his 59, drove lazily to point against the first ball of a new spell by Steven Finn.

Meanwhile, Shakib needlessly going for sweep was given out lbw after he scored 49, giving debutant Tredwell his second wicket of the day. Then again Mushfiqur Rahim and Naeem had to go into the rebuilding process.

Bresnan got one to lift awkwardly and Rahim edge behind for his well compiled 30 and Abdur Razzak went on a unnecessary sweep only to Swann's third lbw victim of the day, once again exposing the regular lapse of concentration that continues to haunt Bangladesh's progress for a bigger total.