Ben Stokes gave England a firm grip on the first Test with bat and ball before Shakib Al Hasan’s five for 79 revived Bangladesh hopes here on Saturday.
Stokes hit 85 runs in the second innings to steer England to 228 for eight at stumps on the third day after his three-wicket burst earlier in the morning helped it dismiss Bangladesh for 248 runs.
The visitors now lead their hosts by 273 runs, which could be handy on a pitch that offered spinners plenty of turn, making life difficult for batsmen from both sides.
Stokes appeared to have mastered the wicket with his counter-attacking innings, which came off 151 balls with six fours and three sixes.
Jonny Bairstow gave him a good company as the duo shared 127 for the sixth wicket to bail out England from a precarious 62 for five in the second innings. Bairstow missed out on a very deserving half-century, leaving the pitch for 47 after he was played on by Kamrul Islam, the bowler’s maiden Test wicket and only wicket so far taken by a Bangladeshi seamer in the match. Shakib soon trapped Stokes in front to end an highly impressive innings before he completed his 15th five-wicket haul with the scalp of Adil Rashid. Chris Woakes (11 not out) and Stuart Broad (10 not out) will hope to extend England’s advantage before they set the fourth innings target for Bangladesh. Shakib led Bangladesh’s fightback before the lunch break leaving England at 28 for three after the visitors took a 45-run lead in the first innings. England’s hopes of building a sizeable advantage were dealt a blow when debutant spinner Mehedi Hasan induced an edge from captain Alastair Cook to send him back for 12.
Scoreboard:
England 1st innings: 293
Bangladesh 1st innings (overnight 221 for 5)
Tamim Iqbal c Bairstow b Batty 78
Imrul Kayes b Ali 21
Mominul Haque c Stokes b Ali 0
Mahmudullah c Root b Rashid 38
Mushfiqur Rahim c Bairstow b Stokes 48
Shakib Al Hasan st Bairstow b Ali 31
Shafiul Islam c Broad b Rashid 2
Sabbir Rahman c Cook b Stokes 19
Mehedi Hasan lbw b Stokes 1
Taijul Islam not out 3
Kamrul Islam b Stokes 0
Extras: (B-2, LB-4, W-1) 7
Total: (all out; 86 overs) 248
Fall of wicket: 1-29, 2-29, 3-119, 4-163, 5-221, 6-221, 7-238, 8-239, 9-248.
Bowling: Broad 8-2-12-0, Batty 17-1-51-1, Woakes 7-2-15-0, Rashid 16-1-58-2, Ali 22-4-75-3, Stokes 14-5-26-4, Root 2-0-5-0.
England 2nd innings:
A Cook c Mahmudullah b Mehedi 12
B Duckett c Mominul b Shakib 15
J Root lbw b Shakib 1
G Ballance c Kayes b Taijul 9
M Ali c Rahim b Shakib 14
B Stokes lbw b Shakib 85
J Bairstow b Kamrul 47
C Woakes not out 11
A Rashid lbw Shakib 9
S Broad not out 10
Extras: (B-2, LB-8, Pen-5) 15
Total: (For eight wkts; 76 overs) 228
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-27, 3-28, 4-36, 5-62, 6-189, 7-197, 8-213.
Bowling: Mehedi 18-1-54-1, Shakib 31-7-79-5, Taijul 15-2-40-1, Kamrul 8-0-24-1, Mahmudullah 1-0-6-0, Shafiul 3-0-10-0.
