Ctg Test tits-bits
Sports Reporter, Chittagong
Cats Life!
Quite bizarrely, England batsman Moeen Ali survived five times before he finally got out on 68. Unarguably its a record even though there is no official source of tracking those sorts of things. Of the five times, umpires gave him out thrice and the unlucky bowler was Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh took two reviews against him in vain before on 6 and after on 29 Shakib failed to get rid of him when he was on 16 and 17. Moeen survived twice when Bangladesh took two reviews against him and ruined Bangladeshs chance to take any review until the 80 overs of the match is finished. Shakib indeed made a strong appeal thrice in a space of just five overs in between pre and post lunch session. After the lunch he raised the appeal of leg-before against Moeen twice in three balls. Kumar Dharmasena responded in three times but it was overturned as the ball spun viciously to miss the stump. Before Shakibs plea, his fellow left arm spinner Taijul Islam first raised an appeal and Mushfiqur took review but in vain. Moeen finally made the ultimate damage of Bangladesh when Mushfiqur took another review after Mehedi Hasan Miraj hit his pad following the bad luck of Shakib.
Jonny Bairstows 1000
A designated wicket-keeper batsman finally scored 1000 runs in a calendar year. Jonny Bairstow is the man who did after former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower. Bairstow however not only has the highest score so far this year but also became the first man to score 1000 runs. His colleague Joe Root however closely followed him with 928 runs. Someone may argue about the likes of Brendan McCullum and Kumar Sangakkara who made scoring 1000 runs in a calendar year their habit but no one did it as a designated wicket-keeper. McCullum scored 1164 Test runs in 2014 and Sangakkara in 2004 (1114 runs) and 2006 (1242 runs) but that year they did play as only specialist batsman. Mushfiqur Rahim might notice!
The debutants
After the inaugural Test against India in 2000, at least three players made debut for Bangladesh five times but for the first time at home, three players debuted when Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan Miraj and Kamrul Islam Rabi got the Test cap during the first Test against England yesterday. Shakib Al Hasan gave the cap to Sabbir while Mushfiqur Rahim and manager Khaled Mahmud gave it to Miraj and Rabbi. Four players made debut against Zimbabwe in Bangladeshs second Test in 2001 while four and three players debuted against Sri Lanka in first and second Test. In 2008 against New Zealand three players including Tamim Iqbal made debut. With these three, the number of Bangladeshs Test players stands 81 in 94 matches.
Sabbir after Shakib
Quite fittingly Sabbir Rahman got the Test cap from Shakib Al Hasan. He was the man after Shakib who played so many ODIs before making debut in longer version format for Bangladesh. Sabbir played 29 ODIs while Shakib who made ODI debut in 2006 played 31 matches before he got the Test cap against India in 2007. Sabbir made his ODI debut in 2014 against Zimbabwe at this very venue. As far as time is concerned, it was the longest time for any Bangladeshi batsman to make him available for Test cricket after his ODI debut.
