Taijul, Mehidy pin Zimbabwe down
DHAKA: Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam claimed his third consecutive five-wicket haul on Tuesday to put Bangladesh in command in the second Test against Zimbabwe despite a defiant century by Brendon Taylor.
The home side bowled out Zimbabwe for 304 runs in the first innings on the third day to take a 218-run lead after they had declared their own innings for a mammoth 522-7 the previous afternoon.
Zimbabwe need only a draw to win their first Test series in seven years, with the visitors having won the opening match in Sylhet by 151 runs, their first Test win away in almost two decades.
Taijul dismissed Regis Chakabva for 10 to complete his haul and Zimbabwe’s innings ended immediately, 19 short of the follow-on mark as last man Tendai Chatara was unable to bat due to injury. Zimbabwe edged towards avoiding the follow-on once Taylor hit 110 off 194 balls and Peter Moor added a careerbest 83 to rescue the side from a precarious 131-5.
Bangladesh had occasional medium pacer Ariful Haque to thank for breaking Moor’s 139run sixth-wicket partnership with Taylor when he trapped the right-hander leg before in his first over. Moor, who was dropped on 75 at cover off Mustfizur Rahman, hit 12 fours and a six in his fifth Test 50.
Bangladesh 522/7 dec (M Rahim 219*, M Haque 161, K Jarvis 5/71) vs Zimbabwe 304 (B Taylor 110, P Moor 83, Taijul 5/107, M Hasan 3/61)
FOAKES RETAINED IN PLACE OF BAIRSTOW
PALLEKELE: Ben Foakes retained the wicketkeeper’s position after his dream debut in Galle as England named an unchanged XI for the second Test against Sri Lanka, which starts on Wednesday. The tourists’ batting order is set to be rejigged, though, with Ben Stokes replacing Moeen Ali, who managed zero and three in Galle, at number three. Moeen, who claimed eight wickets in the series opener which England won by 211 runs, will bat at No. 6.
Foakes’s selection means Jonny Bairstow will sit out. England team for 2nd Test: Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (captain), Jos Buttler,
Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson.
CAB COMPLAINS OVER BCCI’S ‘LOPSIDED’ UMPIRE POSTINGS
MUMBAI : The joint secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Avishek Dalmiya, has shot off a letter to the BCCI assistant general manager, cricket operations, KVP Rao, protesting that the ranking system of umpires has been overlooked in allotting first-class matches in December. According to Dalmiya, umpires ranked between 5 and 32 were not considered for Group C Ranji games in December, but those ranked between 33 and 35 have been posted. Five Bengal umpires have missed out despite being ranked higher.
According to a BCCI insider, this could have happened due to the computerised system being followed by the agency hired by BCCI for posting umpires.