Tamim Iqbal, whose fighting century led the visitors’ revival as he added 126 for the opening wicket with Imrul Kayes, could only sit and watch from the pavilion as Bangladesh lost regular wickets after his dismissal.
Iqbal’s fourth Test century - the most by a Bangladeshi after Mohammad Ashraful’s five - followed up his century in the first match. This, too, was a whirlwind knock. The opener hit 11 fours and a six but it was all too familiar a script for his side as they lost track.
After Steve Finn had Kayes, Graeme Swann took over and grabbed three wickets in quick time as James Anderson got rid of Iqbal. Swann showed it was a spin-friendly track - a notion earlier upheld by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan as he took five wickets - and derailed the Bangladesh innings.
Earlier, England resumed on 275 for five and rolled along with Ian Bell and Matt Prior before Bangladesh hit back, grabbing the last five wickets for 43 runs as the hosts were bowled out for 419. Bell completed his 10th Test century and finished with 128 while Prior was dismissed for 93. It was another impressive knock by Bell, who hit 12 fours and a six and has a thing for the Bangladesh attack with an average of more than 158 runs per innings and out of 11 Test hundreds and scoring three centuries against them.
The pair added 153 for the sixth wicket before the visitors hit back through Hasan. The Bangladesh captain - who is the first from his country to play county cricket - took four of the last five wickets to finish with his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests.
But batting let the visitors down later as they trail 1-0 in the two-match series and face yet another whitewash against England.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 6th, 2010.
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