Trott ton hands England the edge by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood
Scorecard:	England v Bangladesh
Player:	AJ Strauss, IJL Trott
Event:	Bangladesh in British Isles 2010

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DateLine: 27th May 2010

 

Jonathan Trott displayed a batting masterclass as he helped England take control of the first Test against Bangladesh with a classy century. The elegant right-hander was under some pressure after his failure with the bat during the tour of South Africa as he hardly scored a run. Coming at number three, the spot that caused a lot of heartburn for many promising English cricketers in the recent past the right-hander immediately settled into a beautiful rhythm to score a chance-less century. At the end of the day he was unbeaten on 175 as England in 90 overs scored a behemoth 362 for the loss of 4 wickets.

 

Earlier in the day Shakib al Hasan won an important toss and elected to field first as the conditions were overcast. He trusted his pacemen to make the early inroads and things were going in the right direction for the Bangladeshi side as Shahadat Hossain and debutant Robiul Islam troubled the openers with some hostile bowling. Cook (7, 13b, 1x4) missed out as he was unlucky to be given out to a ball from Shahadat Hossain that was heading over the stumps. Trott strode in and if there were any doubts as to pertaining to his form he quickly dispelled it with a beautiful cover-drive off his third ball of his innings. Strauss got his first boundary with a pulled six and the pair went about clinically decimating the Bangladeshi attack that lacked the teeth.

 

The pair never looked troubled in their 181 run association that consumed 39.2 overs. The pair took their time to familiarise with the Bangladeshi bowling attack and adjust to the sluggish pace of the wicket. Once they acquainted well they opened up. Both the batsmen were neck in neck with the pace of their scoring and though Trott got his half-century mark first Strauss threatened to get to the triple figure mark first. Just when Strauss (83, 129b, 1x6, 8x4) was set for a huge score he was cleaned up by Mahmudullah. Pietersen (18, 29b, 3x4) threatened to run away with the game with some aggressive stroke-play but once again left-arm spin proved to be his nemesis. Bell (17, 36b) was undone by a beautiful off-cutter from Rubel Hossain and it seemed that the visitors were clawing back into the contest.

 

Debutant Eoin Morgan came to the rescue of the English side as he joined forces with Trott who was batting well past his century. The pair eliminated risky and adventurous shot-making tendencies as they helped England progress to a huge score. At the end of the day's play England held the aces of the Test as they finished on a strong note.