Cook crafts patient century as England dominate

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, (Reuters) – Alastair Cook  made a patient unbeaten century in his first test as England  captain to lift his team to a commanding 374 for three on the  opening day of the series against Bangladesh yesterday.

Cook’s 11th test century made the hosts regret their  decision to bowl first and he had reached 158 not at the close  with Paul Collingwood unbeaten on 32.

Former skipper Kevin Pietersen was out for 99 after adding  170 runs with Cook for the third wicket.

Cook, quiet initially, grew in confidence to hit 14  boundaries and smash off-spinner Mahmudullah over long on for  the second of his two sixes to reach three figures.

His opening partner, debutant Michael Carberry, was first  out for 30, unable to cope with the spin of Mahmudullah.

The left-hander had clubbed six fours, including three in  one over from seamer Rubel Hossain, but was dropped by  wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim for 30 off Mahmudullah before being  trapped lbw in the spinner’s next over.

Jonathan Trott was next to go when he was caught behind for  39, replays suggesting the short-pitched ball from Rubel struck  him on the helmet before flying through to wicketkeeper Rahim.

COVER BOUNDARY

Bangladesh brought their fielders around the bat for the  struggling Pietersen, but he showed no sign of nerves and drove  left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak for a cover boundary to get off  the mark.

He struck Shakib Al Hasan for a six and two fours in four  balls to move into the 90s before his weakness against left-arm  spin resurfaced and Razzak bowled him with the right-hander one  run short of his 17th test century.

“Probably at the end of your career you look back and think  one run could have made a difference to me personally, but for  the team 99 was very important,” Pietersen told reporters.

“One run is really insignificant, though it may not look it  on the scoreboard and I’d have taken 99 this morning that’s for  sure,” Pietersen said.

“You don’t like getting out for 99. I’ve had a 99, I’ve had  a 97, I’ve had a 96, I’ve had a 92…yeah, it’s not nice. But I  can tell you getting out for 20 the other day wasn’t nice,  getting out for one in the one-day series wasn’t nice. It’s  never nice getting out,” said Pietersen.

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said his side were now  virtually out of the match.

“I don’t think two teams can win the game from here, I think  we are pretty much nearly out of the game, unless we bowl  terrifically in the morning, and then we have to bat the house  down,” he said.

“We’ve probably put ourselves out of the game which we tend  to do a lot in the first day or first session of a game. Our two  fast bowlers bowled really poorly and let the team down and our  two spinners didn’t put the ball in the right areas. It’s been a  difficult day,” Siddons added.

Scoreboard

England first innings
A. Cook not out                                                       158
M. Carberry lbw b Mahmudullah                      30
J. Trott c Rahim b Rubel                                       39
K. Pietersen b Razzak                                             99
P. Collingwood  not out                                         32
Extras (b-4 lb-3 w-2 nb-7)                                   16
Total (three wickets; 90 overs)                      374
Fall of wickets: 1-72 2-149 3-319
To bat: I. Bell, M. Prior, S. Broad, G. Swann, T. Bresnan,  S. Finn.
Bowling: Shahadat 12-2-50-0 (w-2 nb-2), Rubel 13-0-79-1  (nb-5), Shakib 21-2-80-0, Naeem, 11-1-38-0, Mahmudullah  14-1-45-1, Razzak 17-1-71-1, Aftab 1-0-2-0, Tamim 1-0-2-0