DHAKA, (Reuters) – Alastair Cook cracked an unbeaten century to lead England to a nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second test yesterday as the tourists wrapped up a 2-0 series win.
Set a target of 209 in little less than two sessions, skipper Cook scored 109 as England cruised to victory with more than 30 minutes of play remaining on the fifth and final day.
Cook, who faced 155 balls and blasted 11 fours in recording his 12th test century, put on 167 runs with Kevin Pietersen (74 not out) for the second wicket after fellow opener Jonathan Trott (19) was controversially given run out by the third umpire. “It’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of credit to Bangladesh to the way they’ve made us work, especially (the) last 10 days, but it’s a very satisfying feeling,” Cook told reporters.
“I think we could have got up to 250 in 50 on that wicket. We didn’t mind them playing a few shots, we were happy to sacrifice a few runs for wickets, instead of having to prise them out. Once we got a good start, and kept wickets in hand, towards the end we could chase anything down,” he said.
Off-spinner James Tredwell claimed three of Bangladesh’s last four wickets to help England bowl out the hosts for 285 runs in their second innings in the first over of the afternoon session.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan was the last man out, falling four runs short of his century when he charged down the pitch to a Tredwell delivery but failed to make contact and was stumped by Matt Prior.
SCOREBOARD
England beat Bangladesh by nine wickets to win the series 2-0.
Bangladesh first innings 419 all out (T. Iqbal 85, Mahmudullah 59, N. Islam 59 not out, S. Islam 53)
England first innings 496 all out (I. Bell 138, T. Bresnan 91, J. Trott 64, M. Prior 62)
Bangladesh second innings (overnight 172-6)
T. Iqbal c Finn b Swann 52
I. Kayes b Broad 4
Z. Siddique c and b Tredwell 34
J. Islam b Swann 43
Mahmudullah c Prior b Bresnan 6
S. Hasan st Prior b Tredwell 96
M. Rahim b Broad 3
S. Islam c Trott b Tredwell 28
N. Islam c Pietersen b Tredwell 3
A. Razzak lbw b Finn 8
R. Hossain not out 0
Extras (lb-3 w-5) 8
Total (all out; 102 overs) 285
Fall of wicket: 1-23 2-86 3-110 4-130 5-156 6-169 7-232, 8-258 9-275 10-285
Bowling: Broad 16-2-72-2, Bresnan 13-2-34-1 (w-1), Tredwell 34-8-82-4, Finn 9-3-21-1, Swann 30-7-73-2.
England second innings
A. Cook not out 109
J. Trott run out 19
K. Pietersen not out 74
Extras (b-2 lb-4 nb-1) 7
Total (one wicket; 44 overs) 209
Fall of wicket: 1-42
Did not bat: P. Collingwood, I Bell, M. Prior, T. Bresnan, S. Broad, G. Swann, J Tredwell, J Finn. Bowling: Shafiul 6-0-22-0, Razzak 15-0-67-0, Shakib 8-0-31-0, Mahmudullah 7-1-38-0, Rubel 4-0-26-0 (1nb), Islam 4-0-19-0.