'Nothing but a horses-for-courses strategy': Why England had to turn to Bazball because of its player pool
Bazball was developed as a strategy devised to use the resources efficiently rather than revolutionize the system.
It took a massive recovery effort, but England find themselves well ahead in the first Test against Bangladesh with two days to play on a pitch in Chittagong that is only going to get harder to bat on. Join The Roar for live scores of Day 4 from 3pm (AEDT).
After finishing the first two days well and truly in the contest, five wickets down and 70 runs behind in their first innings, Bangladesh would have been confident of a first innings leads.
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Those thoughts quickly evaporated though as first Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, and then Ben Stokes decimated their tail to ensure they would end up all out for 248, 45 runs short of the 293 England set.
Batting last on a pitch that is taking plenty of turn in Chittagong realistically meant a first innings lead was needed for the hosts, but England’s top order capitulated for the second time in the match and brought the Tigers right back into it.
At one point, England found themselves 5 for 62 before Ben Stokes, who scored 85 led the recovery effort for the tourists which seems them still batting at stumps.
Stokes was joined at the crease by a ressilient Jonny Bairstow who backed up his first innings half century with another 47, showing he can score runs when it counts, as England slowly but surely made their way to 8 for 228 at stumps.
England’s biggest strength on this tour is how many good batsmen they have down the order and in their tail so there could well be a fair few runs to come yet with the lead already at 273.
Day 4 Prediction
Given how England’s top order was absolutely decimated yesterday, and the way the pitch appears to be favouring spin more and more as this match goes on it’s going to take something of a miracle for the Tigers to chase this down.
They will give it a red hot go, as they have done this whole match but as was expected before the match they are going to be overrun.
Frustratingly, they were on top of the match during Day 3, but England have knuckled down, built a score and as long as their spinners get it right this match should be over today.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of Day 4 from 3pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to get involved by dropping a comment in the box below as the action unfolds.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde