Alastair Cook – famously – never sweats. Perhaps that was the reason why he wandered into the press room looking so calm and collected after his side had completed a hard-earned 22-run victory. Maybe he is a surprisingly good actor or just an increasingly clinical, clear-headed England captain, who has now seen a lot of action.
The overnight target for a historic Bangladesh victory was a modest 33 runs with two wickets and one proper batsman, Sabbir Rahman, remaining – a tricky situation since England are always supposed to beat Bangladesh. But Cook, who, after careful thought and consultation, had decided to give the ball to his pacemen rather than his spinners when play resumed, has been in deeper holes than this.
“I was fairly confident this morning, if I’m brutally honest,” he said. “I thought we would create enough chances; the doubt was whether we were good enough to take those chances. I genuinely thought that 280 was going to be enough. I didn’t think it would get as close as that and the way they played spin in particular was very impressive.
“It was a brilliant Test as it ebbed and flowed over the four days. After the first session I certainly didn’t think it would make the fifth day. The crucial moments were probably at the beginning of the third day when they were 70 or 80 behind with five wickets in hand and we managed to get a lead [of 45].”
On a pitch skilfully designed to favour spin bowlers, England’s match-winner was Ben Stokes, a paceman and a batsman who, in the past, has been found wanting against slow bowlers on turning tracks. But for his presence in the England side Bangladesh would have been celebrating that historic victory.
“I now say it every single time we speak about him,” said Cook. “The guy is that x-factor cricketer which every side would love to have. And he balances our side and gives us options. The one thing that he has done over the last year is to improve his method against spin.”
Much of Stokes’s hard graft in this sphere has been unspectacular and seemingly mundane yet vital. The purpose of this work was not to evolve any new swashbuckling shots against the slow bowlers. It was to learn how to defend more securely against spin bowlers, which means that Stokes is far more frequently around to cause a bit of mayhem later in his innings. In the second innings the rewards were clear.
Now the convoy moves on to Dhaka, where the second Test starts on Friday. Bangladesh have shown their ambition in the first match. They are seeking wins rather than respectability, in which case another spinning track rather than a flat one would be desirable for them and more entertaining for us. Historically, the ball does not tend to turn so much there.
Whatever the nature of the surface, Cook intimated that England are unlikely to field the same XI – without actually dropping anyone. “I’m pretty sure there will be some changes just because of what we have coming up,” he said. “If we play the same side a lot on the tour we could have a lot of guys with not much cricket under their belts coming into a crucial Test match a bit further down the line. We were pretty clear when we came out that we would rotate.”
Cook hinted that there could be at least two changes, which are more likely to be among the bowlers than the batsmen. Sitting next to him at the time was Stokes and he is a bowler, who has expended an awful lot of energy over the past five days. The inevitable question arose and it was greeted with the inevitable response from England’s latest charismatic all-rounder. “Nah, I’ll play all seven … if I still get picked.”
On the evidence of Chittagong there is a very good chance that he will be picked over the next month or two – before anybody else.
