Phelan puts his foot down
GARETH Batty admitted that bowling for England for the first time in 11 years made him feel alive.
So it was apt his key wicket of Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal, along with Ben Stokes’ late dismissal of Mushfiqur Rahim, resurrected his side’s hopes after the second day.
Batty, the Surrey off-spinner who celebrated his 39th birthday last week, was a bag of nerves as he sent down his first balls in international cricket since the 2005 Test against Bangladesh at Durham.
But he overcame those early butterflies to have Tamim caught behind in the first hour of the evening session just when he was threatening to score his eighth Test century.
Stokes then struck three overs from the close to remove Mushfiqur on 48 to end a fifth-wicket stand of 58 and bring England back into a first Test that looked as though it was running away from them.
By the close Bangladesh were 221-5, 72 runs behind England’s first-innings total of 293. And while this Test is still in the balance, the tourists will believe restricting their opponents to parity or a lead of fewer than 50 runs will put them in the box seat given the hosts will have to bat last on a wearing pitch.
The breakthrough from Stokes at the end of the day – the first wicket taken by a seamer in this match – felt like a big moment. Batty certainly felt that was the case. “They had a really good partnership, so that massively brought us back into the game and hopefully put them on the back foot a little bit more,” he said.
England have played 142 Tests since Batty’s last appearance more than a decade ago, so his wild celebrations following his dismissal of Tamim – and his nerves – were understandable.
“Unfortunately that’s just me,” he said. “I suppose when you’re just an average player you enjoy every little bit of success. It’s nice to get very good players out.
“Yes, this is all a bit surreal. It was nerve-racking, I don’t mind admitting that. I haven’t felt like that for years, if ever. But that’s a good thing – you’re alive, if the nerves are jangling and you’ve got an England shirt on. Wow, what a place to be!”
Moeen Ali was England’s hero on the opening day after he helped rebuild his side’s innings from the depths of 23-1 with a gritty knock of 68 that saw him survive five reviews.
With luck like that it should have been no surprise the MIKE PHELAN banned his squad from holding an inquest into their mauling by Bournemouth.
Hull’s 6-1 defeat in Phelan’s first official game in charge was their fifth defeat in six league games. They have shipped 17 goals in their last four games.
The squad were to stage their own debrief without Phelan but the idea was vetoed by Sir Alex Ferguson’s former right-hand man, above, and midfielder Robert Snodgrass said: “It’s the manager’s rule and whatever he wants, that’s what we do. He’s an approachable manager but he has an angry side. You don’t get to the top like he has without that.” Stoke boss Mark Hughes says his £13million summer swoop for Joe Allen from Liverpool is starting to look a steal. “Maybe they didn’t quite know what they had got in the building,” he said.
“I was surprised when they let him go.”
Welshman Allen has now scored six goals in his last eight matches for club and country.