DHAKA, Oct 18: England’s preparations for their first-ever Test series against Bangladesh next week suffered a blow when bad weather ruined their three-day practice match here on Saturday.
No play was possible after lunch on the third and final day of the game against Bangladesh ‘A’ here, forcing the umpires to call a draw.
The hosts’ second-string team, trailing by 91 runs on the first innings, were 81-4 in their second knock when the match was called off.
Michael Vaughan’s English tourists now have two days to train at the nets before the first of two back-to-back Tests starts at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here on Tuesday.
The second Test will be played in the port city of Chittagong from Oct 29 to Nov 2, followed by a series of three One-day Internationals.
England will tour Sri Lanka at the conclusion of the Bangladesh series for three Tests and as many one-dayers.
BANGLADESH ‘A’ (1st Innings) 242 (Nafis Iqbal 118)
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 333 (M.E. Trescothick 96, C.M.W. Read 82, G.J. Batty 50).
BANGLADESH ‘A’ (2nd Innings):
Nafis Iqbal c Thorpe b Harmison 31
Javed Omar not out 29
Aftab Ahmed c Vaughan b Batty 8
Rajin Saleh c Hussain b Batty 1
Najimuddin c sub (G.O. Jones) b Batty 2
Fahim Muntasir not out 2
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-1, NB-4) 8
TOTAL (for four wkts, 33 overs) 81
FALL OF WKTS: 1-40, 2-57, 3-61, 4-67.
BOWLING: Hoggard 6-1-15-0 (1nb); Johnson 7-2-10-0; Collingwood 2-1-6-0; Harmison 4-1-22-1 (1nb, 1w); Giles 7-3-6-0; Batty 7-2-19-3.
RESULT: Match drawn.—AFP