26th October

England v Bangladesh. Bit late but it's here.

England Clinch Narrow Win

Waking up at 5am on a Monday morning is not a fun experience, as many retail workers kicking off early shifts can surely attest. But when a test match is on the line, the unease is dolloped with a healthy taste of nerves. At 5am Monday morning, Bangladesh needed 33 runs to beat England, whilst the tourists needed just two vitals wickets. Less than half an hour later, I was tucked back up in bed, as England celebrated a 22 run win, after two brilliant pieces of bowling from Ben Stokes. 

It had been a match decided by the quality of England's all-rounders, as Stokes, aided by Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow, earned his title of man of the match with a sensational batting and bowling display: scoring over 100 runs including the highest score of the match (85) and taking six wickets, including, as noted, the two decisive ones. Moeen, having scored a vital 68 in the first innings to keep England's hopes alive as they collapsed to 21-3 and then 106-5, took five wickets himself to keep Bangladesh on the front foot, whilst Bairstow's scores of 52 and 47 were vital in a low-scoring match. 

For all the talk of how important England's spinners were going to be, seam played a huge part in England's bowling attack, with Stokes' 4-26 in the first innings England's best bowling figures, and eight of the twenty wickets that England needed were taken by seamers, with England's three seamers easily their most economical bowlers. Whilst the three spinners all took wickets, sharing them out almost evenly, all three were expensive, allowing Bangladesh to score much more quickly than they could against Broad and Stokes in particular, especially once reverse swing started playing a part. 

One thing is for sure, if England are to win in India, both their spinners and their top order need to drastically improve and quickly, as twice England collapsed, ending up 62-5 in the second innings on top of their first innings problems. Alistair Cook made critical errors against the spinners, Joe Root only made one decent score, Ben Duckett looked out of his depth and Gary Ballance's days as a test number four look numbered, with Hameed lingering with intent. 

But really, this test match was all about Bangladesh, who were seriously impressive on their own turf from start to finish and really deserved to win the test match. Test debutant Mehedi Hasan, a 19 year old off-spinner, showed England's spinners how it was done, taking 6-80 as he was handed 40 overs of England's 106 over innings, removing Root, Moeen and Bairstow amongst others. And in the second innings, it was Shakib Al Hasan who struck, removing Root, Stokes and Moeen to secure his own 5-fer. 

And with the bat, Bangladesh were equally impressive, the explosive Tamim Iqbal top-scoring with 78 from 179 in the first innings and lower order debutant Sabbir Rahman hitting an unbeaten 64 off 102 to give his team a real sniff of victory on the evening of the fourth day. Bangaldesh's debutants turned in a seriously impressive showing, indicating that their test form, much like their ODI form, is only going to improve over the next few years. 

It was a really really good, low-scoring test match, a real battle between bat and ball that ebbed and flowed for four days and finally was decided by two good pieces of bowling on the fifth day. It was also a test match in which DRS played an incredible role, with a record 26 decisions reviewed and an even more staggering eleven decisions overturned, with eight of Kumar Dharmasena's decisions overturned, a huge blow for him personally with just a 50% correct ratio on DRS. It was a truly dreadful day at the office for Dharmasena, as eight is the highest number of overturned decisions by a single umpire in a test match. 

It's the kind of record that should put any doubts about DRS well and truly to bed, as without it, this test match would have seen a shocking eleven critical umpire errors. Moeen Ali for example, was given out by Dharmasena three times incorrectly before making a score that was critical for England's success and as such it was very fitting that both of England's wickets on Monday morning came via reviews: first an intelligent and success review by Stokes to overturn a decision by Dharmasena, and then finally a desperate gamble from Bangladesh as England claimed their last wicket. 

Overall, this was a test match that highlighted several key facets of the modern game. The increasing use and reliance on DRS to prevent mistakes from umpires, the sense of home advantage that has increased in the game significantly over the last few years, but also, most cheerfully, the rise of Bangladeshi cricket towards the upper echelons of the game. Hopefully they can continue to improve and turn into a proper test playing nation. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Daniel Sturridge scored twice as Liverpool beat Spurs 2-1
• As did the Ox. Arsenal 2-1 Reading. 
• Newcastle put six past Preston. 
• And tonight: Manchester Derby and the quarters draw.
• Wood recalled for Autumn tests.