Iqbal eyes county innings

After scoring a century at Lord's on Sunday, Tamim Iqbal wants an encore as he hopes to secure a place on the county circuit.

MANCHESTER // After scoring a century at Lord's on Sunday, Tamim Iqbal has set his sights on doing the same at grounds across the United Kingdom. The Bangladesh batsman will look to repeat his success in London, where he hit 103 off 100 balls, in the second Test, which starts at Old Trafford tomorrow, in the hope it will help secure him a move to English county cricket. He has not had any offers, but believes a similar performance in Manchester will strengthen his case.

"I would love to because if I can play a good season in England then I would be a better cricketer," he said. "If I keep performing in international cricket there will be lots of opportunities. I would love to play county cricket." Bangladesh received plenty of praise for their performance in losing by eight wickets at Lord's, but Iqbal made it clear there is room for improvement. "The batters did their job, the bowlers not so much but our main instrument is spin and there was nothing in the wicket," he said. "I hope here we will get some turn in the wicket. We've got Shakib [Al Hasan], who is one of the best bowlers in the world and if he bowls to his potential we'll do better. It was the first time we [have] played at Lord's for a fifth day but it would have been better if we could have got a draw."

The first Test went to a fifth day partly because of weather delays, and with rain not forecast here until Monday, Iqbal will hoping to maintain his attacking style. "Sometimes it will look fantastic but sometimes it will look ugly and I will get out first ball in the slips," he added. "But I'm happy because I'm playing my natural game. If I don't score that's fine with me because I want to play like this forever." @Email:[e-mail]