England break Bangladesh resolve in first Test

Steve Finn was the pick of England’s attack as they ran through Bangladesh on a rain-hit third day of the first Test that saw only 28.5 overs bowled.

Play finally began at 1520 BST after a morning of drizzle and Bangladesh lost five quick wickets as they slumped from their overnight 172-2 to 237-7.

Finn had Junaid Siddique caught behind and trapped Mohammad Ashraful lbw while James Anderson also took two wickets.

Mushfiqur Rahim was then bowled by Finn after tea before bad light intervened.

The Middlesex paceman’s third wicket of the day, and fourth of the innings, further enhanced his growing Test reputation.

He produced a hostile opening seven-over spell that saw him bowling at a consistent 88mph and he made the initial breakthrough on a tough day for the tourists who struggled to adapt to the cold and overcast conditions in north London.

The morning rain, while not particularly heavy, was constant enough to wash out play until mid-afternoon.

606: DEBATE Finn is a very promising find, even apart from his wickets, he’s been very consistent lancer01

And when the match did resume Finn, Anderson and Tim Bresnan made the most of helpful conditions to bamboozle the Bangladesh batsmen with some delightful swing and seam bowling as England overcame their frustrations of the second day to rip through the tourists’ middle order.

Siddique gave an early indication that he was ready to continue taking the fight to England, carving Graeme Swann to the cover boundary in the first over of the day.

But he failed to capitalize on his good start and was gone a couple of overs later, undone by a sharp, rising delivery from Finn, who was bowling from his favoured Pavilion End, as the number three failed to pull his bat away in time and glanced the ball off the face to a grateful Matt Prior behind the stumps.

Finn then got one to nip back and rap Ashraful on the pads, and umpire Asoka de Silva upheld the bowler’s appeal to leave Bangladesh on 185-4, although replays suggested the ball would have gone over leg stump.

And he threatened to demolish the Bangladesh batting line-up on his own, almost scything Jahurul Islam in two while Shakib Al Hasan very nearly gloved a nasty short ball to short leg.

However, Anderson, who in contrast had struggled to find his rhythm in his opening overs, suddenly found his line to remove Jahurul with a classic delivery that shaped in before nipping away, the Bangladesh batsman doing well to nick the ball to Prior.

And after troubling left-hander Shakib with a couple of inswingers, Anderson angled one across, caught the edge and first slip Andrew Strauss held on to the catch at the second attempt after Prior deflected the ball into his path.

Bresnan was the unlucky one of the seam-bowling trio, remaining without a wicket at tea, despite producing a series of testing deliveries. He beat Mushfiqur on numerous occasions but the Bangladesh wicketkeeper and Mahmudullah held on to reach the break on 229-6.

The players emerged after tea to a more gloomy Lord’s and the poor light had the players trudging back to the pavilion after just 13 deliveries.

They were off for all of five minutes before umpire Billy Bowden called them back out for what would prove to be a controversial end to the day’s proceedings.

The umpires took the players off for bad light three times after tea

First Finn, bowling with the new ball, produced another superb delivery that jagged back and hit Mushfiqur’s middle stump to pick up his third wicket and leave Bangladesh on 234-7 with the tail exposed.

But Bowden immediately took the players off for bad light, only to have them all return five minutes later for another 10 minutes before finally calling it a day.

The Tigers will begin Sunday’s fourth day 69 runs short of avoiding the follow-on – and seamer Anderson hopes England can press home their advantage.

“We didn’t bowl very well at all yesterday and kept missing our lengths so it wasn’t difficult to improve, but we made good use of the bowling conditions,” he told BBC Sport.

“We’ve still got three wickets left to take and about 70 runs to play with, so with only two days left we’d probably look to make them follow on.

“But we’ll have to assess that in the morning. People expected us to roll Bangladesh in this series but they’ve shown they’re a much-improved side and a lot better than people think.”

Anderson was rested for the tour of Bangladesh earlier this year – and then found himself carrying the drinks during the ICC World Twenty20 as Ryan Sidebottom was preferred.

“It meant I had three months where I didn’t do much bowling – I still don’t feel I’m anywhere near where I wanted to be,” he explained.

“I think the longer the spell I bowl, the better I get – most bowlers would tell you that. I want to do as much bowling as I can in this series.

“We’ve taken a lot of encouragement from England winning an ICC tournament, even the Test side, but I think we can improve further as a bowling unit.”