MANCHESTER // Bangladesh's one-sided Test series in England will not live long in the memory for the minnows of Test cricket. Amid the wreckage of two crushing defeats - by eight wickets at Lord's and by an innings at Old Trafford - one of the things they can salvage is the performance of Shahadat Hossain. The fast bowler will be able to one day tell his children and grandchildren that the tour resulted in his name being etched on the honours board at Lord's for taking five wickets.
But the biggest plus from the two matches has been the emergence of Tamim Iqbal as a genuine Test opener. The 21-year-old batsman was first blooded as a 17-year-old rookie, and he made half-centuries in both innings against New Zealand on his Test debut in 2008. But he then failed to pass the 50 mark in his next 19 innings. He went back to the drawing board and attempted to curb his attacking instinct and adopt a more measured approach.
"I was in two minds but decided to go slow and that was not working," he said. "I sat with our coaches to work out whether I should play the way I did in one-dayers," he said. "They said, 'Enjoy your batting, whatever you feel just do it.'" That pep-talk clearly did the trick. He blazed 128 against the West Indies in July last year and has not looked back. The knock in Kingstown, Jamaica, proved a watershed in his hugely promising career. He has averaged 57 in his last 18 Test innings, which have included whirlwind hundreds in bowler-friendly conditions in successive matches against England.
"Some days it will look fantastic and some days it will look ugly, but this is my way and I should keep on," he said defiantly. The England bowlers have resorted to bowling steepling bouncers and tempting the dashing left-hander into hooking the ball into the trap at deep square leg. It has belatedly worked and you only had to look at the joy on the face of James Anderson when he dismissed Tamim for two yesterday to see how big a price the home side had put on the scalp of the Chittigong-born player.
"He is a destructive player," admitted Graeme Swann, the England spinner. "As we saw at Lord's he hits sweetly all around the ground. But you always think you've got a chance with him sooner or later." Bangladesh rely too heavily on him. They have collapsed like a pack of cards once he has been dismissed in every innings, evidenced by them losing eight wickets in a single session on Saturday. "Once Tamim's gone, the score does not seem to go too far forward. For us it's important that he or Mohammad Ashraful is there keeping the runs going," said Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, who feels Tamim would benefit from playing in the Indian Premier League or English county cricket.
"I'd love to see him get picked up by a county," said the Australian. "He has made big scores against India and England and he could do the same against county sides I'm sure," he added. @Email:lthornhill@thenational.ae