England whitewash Bangladesh
It’s not every day you get to hear this, but England have completed a series whitewash! No matter that the opposition was Bangladesh, England were forced to play professional and calculated cricket throughout the three games and Alastair Cook can be justly proud of a job well done. He has won his first three ODI games in charge of the England team – now for two Test victories too, Mr Cook.
Alastair Cook has enjoyed a sterling start to his captaincy
A maiden century from Craig Kieswetter atop the order set England on their way to a comfortable 45 run victory. The bowling of Tim Bresnan, who collected career best figures of 4-28 from his nine overs, helped to blow the Bangladeshi batting order away. There were glimpses of talent and recovery in the Bangladesh middle order as Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Mahmudullah all got off to decent starts, but the strike rates of Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Mahmudullah were painfully slow. Naeem Islam took time that he didn’t have, too.
The Bangladeshi team are learning, but it is a long and winding road ahead. For England, they will look to capitalise on this winning feeling and roll through the opposition in the two Tests. The discovery of Kieswetter has been a bonus and his 107 today really set England on their way. Eoin Morgan, too, is continuing his development into a fine player and top scored in this series, deservedly being nominated Man-of-the-Series.
The form of Kevin Pietersen is an ongoing concern and, all too predictably, he fell to the slow left-arm of Abdur Razzak. All three of his dismissals in this series have been to slow left-arm spin. It will be very interesting to see how he copes during the Test series.
The Tests are the next goal for England, and if the ODI series is anything to go by, it should be a comfortable stroll for Alastair Cook and England.
By Miles Reucroft
March 6th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Like you, MIles, I was pleased by England’s performance in the ODI’s. I was even more pleased to note the definite progress that Bangladesh are making. At no stage did I feel this was a hopelessly uneven contest. England were plainly the better side but at times we were put under severe pressure and it could even be argued that Bangladesh were unlucky in game two.
I notice that Zimbabwe are doing well against the West Indies. This might be no more than a reflection of the West Indies’ continuing decline. I prefer to believe that Zimbabwe, like Bangladesh, are on an upward trajectory.
If both these cricketing under-achievers can make significant progress it will make international cricket so much more interesting.
March 19th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Was not so much a whitewash in the end but great to see England win – good article btw