First Test
All the reaction from England’s thrilling win over Bangladesh
THIS was England’s narrowest Test victory against anyone other than Australia. Indeed, Bangladesh had never lost by fewer runs in their 16 years playing international cricket.
Alastair Cook’s side also became the first overseas team to win a Test match in Asia for two years.
However, those stats from this fantastic Test match sink into irrelevance when measured against the talismanic performance of Ben Stokes.
Inevitably, Stokes has been compared to the two great allrounders of England’s recent past – Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff.
Yet at the age of 25, he could be better than both.
Asked how good Stokes might be after his six wickets and 103 runs – including a match-defining second-innings 85 – in this Test, England coach Trevor Bayliss was emphatic.
“How long’s a piece of string?” said the Australian.
“He’s only young into his career. It’s going to be easier to judge the longer he goes. The potential of the guy – he could be right up there with some of the alltime best all-rounders. Only time will tell.
“But certainly, the strides he’s made here on the Sub-continent playing spin have been top class. It wasn’t all that long ago we were wondering how he might go on spin-friendly wickets.”
While Stokes’ batting in this match arguably proved the difference – that second-innings knock came after England had collapsed to 46-4 – his bowling also offered hope ahead of the six remaining Tests here and in India that make up the team’s arduous pre-Christmas Sub-continental slog.
The reverse swing Stokes, and to a lesser extent Stuart Broad, found was also encouraging. It helped them get over the line in a nail-biting contest that concluded with the Durham man taking the final two wickets of Taijul Islam and Shafiul Islam on the final morning.
They capped a performance that saw Stokes become the first England player to score 100 or more runs and also take five or more wickets in a Test in Asia since Botham did so against India at Mumbai in 1980. In fact, only two other Englishmen have done this in Asia – Ted Dexter in Karachi in 1961-62 and Tony Greig in Lahore in 1972-73.
No wonder Cook is relieved to have such a talented player – dare I say a one-in-a-generation talent – to call on.
“I say it every single time we speak about Ben, the guy is that X-factor cricketer which every side would love to have,” said Cook.
“He balances our side, he gives us options, he allows us to play the extra seamer here or an extra spinner, whichever way you look at it.”
Stokes is a man who made his first Test hundred against a rampant Australia at Perth three years ago and smashed the secondfastest Test double-hundred at Cape Town in January.
This, though, was special. “Yeah, overall, I think this is my most satisfying match,” he said.
Cook will also take much satisfaction from the way his team responded under pressure in Chittagong.
Both teams certainly reacted better than the hapless Kumar Dharmasena, the Sri Lankan umpire who was to endure seeing eight of his on-field decisions overturned in a match that featured a record 26 DRS referrals.
The last of those saw Stokes take the penultimate wicket of Taijul on a fifth morning that had begun with Bangladesh needing 33 runs with two wickets remaining to record their first win against England in nine attempts.
“I was fairly confident this morning if I’m brutally honest,” said Cook.“I thought we’d create the chances, the doubt was whether we were good enough to take those chances. I was fairly relaxed.
“We were confident on that last review. I was going to review anyway but as soon as