England overcome early scare

With a mixing of pace and spin combination, Bangladeshi bowlers terrorised England top order, yet the hosts were in firm control recovering the early blow to go onto a safe destination.
Ian Bell led the charge with patient batting as England were 215 for four on the stroke of tea.
Earlier stylish bastman Kevin Pietersen shrugged off left arm spin scare to hit a sparkling 81 ball-64 runs knock that helped England to revive the innings which was severely damaged by Shaiful Islam Suhas’s opening spell burst in the morning session.
Pietersen though negotiated the left arm spinner duo Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzak with quite confidence and sheer intense, he eventually succumbed to his old nemesis Shakib Al Hasan. He struck seven fours and one six during his knock. Afterwards Bell alongside Eoin Morgan firmly took the control of the game and added an undefeated 70-run partnership. When Morgan was typically quick-fire to amass scores, Bell was cool in the crease. On the stroke of team Bell was 52 while Morgan was 33.
An earlier AFP re[port adds: Bangladesh’s Shafiul Islam returned to international cricket with two wickets after England threatened to run riot on the first morning of the second Test at Old Trafford here Friday.
At lunch England, who won the toss, were 92 for three, with Kevin Pietersen 22 not out and Ian Bell unbeaten on five.
The hosts were in cruise control mode at 44 without loss until 20-year-old pace bowler Shafiul, in only his fifth Test and first since facing England in Dhaka in March, took two wickets for four runs in seven balls to get rid of Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott.
And then left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, like Shafiul recalled after Bangladesh dropped pacemen Rubel Hossain and Robiul Islam from the team that lost the first of this two-Test series by eight wickets at Lord’s, struck first ball when he had opener Alastair Cook (29), pushing half forward, caught at slip by Junaid Siddique.
Shafiul gave the Tigers – who’ve won just three of their 67 Tests – the control they wanted with an opening spell of two for 18 in nine overs.
By contrast Shahadat Hossain, who took five first innings wickets at Lord’s, conceded 26 runs in his first four overs.
England captain Strauss, carrying on from Lord’s, where the left-handed opener made two 80s, struck several crisp boundaries off the grunting Shahadat.
But Shafiul, living up to coach Jamie Siddons’s prediction that he would “bowl good areas and be consistent”, dragged Bangladesh back into the match.
Left-hander Strauss, having made 21 featuring four fours, edged a good length ball from the paceman to Imrul Kayes at second slip. And 44 for one became 48 for two when Shafiul bowled Trott, who made 226 at Lord’s, for just three with a well-executed off-cutter.
England gave a Test debut to Ajmal Shahzad after Tim Bresnan, the Yorkshire paceman’s county colleague, was ruled out with a foot injury.
All the Bangladesh players wore black armbands as a mark of respect for the more than one hundred people killed on Friday after fire swept through an apartment block in Dhaka.
 
Courtesy of The Independent