Internet Desk: Former England all-rounder Ian Botham do not want to read too much into Bangladesh’s incredible test win against England. Alistair Cook and his team faced the humiliation of losing the second test against Bangladesh by 108 runs. The loss forced both teams to share the two match test series 1-1.
England succumbed against the spin bowling of rookie Bangladesh bowler Mehedi Hasan Riyaj. Riyaj had a tally of 19 wickets in the series with 10 wickets in the second test at Mirpur. The meek surrender of English batsmen triggered concerns about how England would cope in similar conditions in India, whose attack will feature off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin — Test cricket’s number one-ranked bowler.
“It (a rapid collapse) can happen in that part of the world,” England great Botham told AFP in an interview in London yesterday.
“The wickets are tailored, they are designed to spin.
When you see spinners opening in Tests with the new ball, you get an idea of what’s coming.
“It’s good for them (Bangladesh). But what they’ve got to do is to start winning outside of their own country. That’s the acid test and that’s what England have got to do now.
“At the end of the day, they’ll be judged not so much on what happens in Bangladesh, but they will be judged more on what happens in India.”
Already questions are being raised on the ability of England spinners after failing to deliver against the Bangladeshi batsmen. The England Cricket board has already appointed Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mustaq to work with Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Gareth Batty for the first 15 days of the series in India. Botham though is not losing hope on the England bowlers.
“England have got the bowlers who can take the pitch out of the equation with reverse swing,” the former pace bowling all-rounder added. “If they go out there and they perform they can win.”
There has been a lot of debate to rest frontline bowler Stuart Broad in the final test at Mirpur. The England pace bowler is all set to play his 100th test match of his career when he take on the Indians in the first test match at Rajkot which starts on November 09.
“I presented him with his cap when he first played in Colombo,” said Botham. “There was stuff about Stuart Broad ‘the enforcer’. He got a bit caught up in that. Bowlers, rotate them. I was more in the Ben Stokes category. He won’t get rested and I wouldn’t have either.”