Fast bowler Jake Ball made a dream debut in Dhaka by becoming the first England bowler to take five wickets on one-day international debut during Friday’s 21-run win against Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, replying to England’s 309-8, appeared to be coasting toward their target, with opener Imrul Kayes (112) clubbing a century and racking up a 118-run partnership with all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
With the hosts needing 39 runs off 52 deliveries, Ball helped England claw their way back into the fight by removing Shakib, who played one of the finest innings of his career before going for 79 off 55 deliveries.
Photo: AFP
Ball bowled young Mosaddek Hossain off the next ball and completed the dramatic win with the wicket of Taskin Ahmed as England claimed the last six wickets for 17 runs to dismiss Bangladesh for 288. The visitors have a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
“It was a debut you can’t forget really,” Ball said after the match. “It was a dream debut.”
Ball, whose only Test match to date has been against Pakistan in July, also praised the England dressing room.
“I think it’s a really nice dressing room to be in,” he said. “The first thing I noticed is how much of unit everyone is as they all back each other.”
“Confidence is really high. We play a brand of cricket that we believe ourselves and back ourselves. We did that today and managed to come out on top,” he said.
A fierce competition to get a place in the starting line-up also helped him, the Nottinghamshire man said.
“The players on the sideline would probably walk into another team,” he said. “It makes you keep performing. There are always people snapping behind you to come into the team.”
England play Bangladesh in the second one-day international at the same Dhaka venue today.
INDIA, NEW ZEALAND
Reuters, INDORE, India
The normally free-scoring Virat Kohli showed the other side of his batsmanship to score the first century of the series against New Zealand and steer India to 267-3 on the opening day of the third and final Test yesterday.
Kohli’s 103 not out was not the most flamboyant of his 13 Test centuries, but the 167 runs he added with Ajinkya Rahane for the fourth wicket laid the foundation for a big first-innings total for the hosts, who hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Rahane was on 79 not out at stumps.
Earlier, Kohli maintained his perfect toss record in the series and had little hesitation in batting first at Indore’s Holkar Stadium, which is hosting its first Test.
Jeetan Patel struck with his fifth delivery when Murali Vijay (10) stepped out to flick the off-spinner and Tom Latham took a sharp catch at short-leg.
Gautam Gambhir’s (29) was trapped LBW by Trent Boult and Cheteshwar Pujara (41) was undone by Mitchell Santner, bowled by a superb delivery.
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