Bangladesh created history at Bristol earlier today. I could start with England won the toss and choose to field......but I wouldn't. The newsflash is that Bangladesh won. All said. Having defeated all other teams in International cricket, Bangladesh secured their first ever win over England in the 2nd One Day International of the Natwest series 2010.
                                                           England made a few changes to the side by bringing in Jonathan Trott and Ajmal Shahzad in place of James Tredwell and Timothy Bresnan. I liked both changes, bringing in a specialist batsman and a specialist bowler in place of 2 all-rounders but Tredwell should have been given an opportunity to show his worth. He was only given 3 overs, in which he conceded 18 runs. Shahzad was like the umpire of the match, he decided a lot of things, like how long Kayes batted, by dropping him thrice, once each off Anderson, Wright and Broad, in different funny styles as if his eyesight is weak and he had forgotten to wear his lenses. Wright almost got a wicket in the 19th over- twice actually, once when Kayes was out, caught by Kieswetter, it looked out to Wright but no one appealed much and 2 balls later when Shahzad dropped Kayes' catch. Shahzad even took the wickets of 3 of the first 4 batsmen and ran Ashraful out. There was another run out, in which Mortaza and Mahmudullah ended up at the same end. Bangladeshis do provide some humor. Jamie Siddons wasn't pleased though. Bangladesh finished at 236/7, didn't quite score much in the last 10 overs.
                                           Strauss and Keiswetter made a quickfire 33 and 20 respectively. Collingwood, Morgan, Yardy, Shahzad went quickly. They never really got going. But wait, there is more to this, Collingwood was clearly not out, got a big inside edge and was given out lbw and my list of batsmen missed someone, the star of the 1st ODI, Ian Bell. Belly got injured while attempting to take a catch. So badly injured that he could sit out for 6 weeks. Stuart Broad gave us a bit of hope with his 21 off 25 while comeback batsman Trott batted till the end and finished on 94 off 130. It was a remarkable effort, given that wickets kept tumbling from the other end. James Anderson batted at No.10, where Bell should have batted. He made 2 off 7 and Bangladesh started celebrating after they got him out. They had the stumps in their hands while their coach pointed that they still have to take one wicket- that of Ian Bell or Jonathan Trott. He must have learned sign language by now, I wonder how many of the Bangladesh team understand everything he says. Bell came out to bat with heavy strapping on his foot, like he was wearing one pair of shoes in one foot. But he wasn't needed. Trott took a couple on the first 2 deliveries of the over and when 6 were needed off 4, Trott edged the ball to the keeper and Bangladesh won!
                                                                England have been known to respect and never lose a game against the minnows. Yeah, they did lose to Netherlands in the ICC World Twenty20 last year but that was a Twenty20 in which winning isn't as hard as it is in ODIs and Tests for the less developed cricketing sides. England did take Bangladesh lightly, having rested Graeme Swann and paid the price. They should still have won without KP and Swanny.They would have won, had they not been so sloppy in the field. And they could have still won it, had Bell batted at No.10. Anderson just wasted the deliveries and in case, Trott would get out at that point, Bell would have to bat with Anderson, which would have put him under immense pressure. I wanted England to win, very badly but at the end, I did enjoy watching Bangladesh celebrate. They rarely win so every time they win, they celebrate like they have won the World Cup and it was good to see that they got supporters in England. It's good to see minnows win and prosper. I did enjoy the match, best match of the summer. The next game is on Monday at Edgbaston, the noisiest of all England grounds. Cheers!