1) Test cricket is alive and gripping
A sport that exists in three international formats is a sport taking risks with its future, and the five-day game now struggles to fill grounds in several nations. But when it is good, it is still the best. In Chittagong, a match that could have been hopelessly one-sided turned out to be a gripper – tight, tense, low‑scoring, ebbing and flowing, keeping us guessing till the final hour. And this was not just proper cricket but modern cricket, with infusions of urgency; Bangladesh began their run chase as if playing T20. Which was a sound tactic, because it stopped Alastair Cook choking them with close catchers.
2) Cook does not fully trust his spinners
England saw a dustbowl of a pitch, picked three spinners, and even opened the bowling with two of them. But when push came to shove, Cook turned, again and again, to his seamers. Stuart Broad was given a nine-over spell, which is like bowling 15 at Trent Bridge. Broad did take two wickets, but the big one– the captain, Mushfiqur Rahim – had been grabbed by Gareth Batty, who was soon sent into a baffling exile to add to his 11-year layoff. In the gloaming, Cook had a stark choice: bowl two spinners, or call it a day. His decision was a poop for the party and a poke in the eye for Batty, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
3) England still have situations vacant
There has been a job going at the top of the England batting order for years and in the summer, following the sudden retirement of James Taylor, there was a gap at No4 as well. England handed those places to the exciting Ben Duckett, who at least reached double figures twice, and the unexciting Gary Ballance, who did not. England fielded just four specialist batsmen in Chittagong, and they made only 96 runs between them in eight innings. Ballance, arguably, was playing as a specialist short-leg. By not being picked, Lancashire’s Haseeb Hameed had a good game.
4) Two tiers are not the answer
In September, Test cricket very nearly adopted two divisions. It worked for the county game, but it would not work for Tests because there are not enough teams (only 10) and it would deprive us of matches such as this. David can hardly defeat Goliath if they are not allowed to meet. Until now, Bangladesh had never taken 20 wickets in a Test against one of the top teams – only Zimbabwe (six times) and a West Indies side who have fallen on hard times (twice). To dismiss England twice for less than 300 was a giant leap.
5) Reviews are a form of entertainment, too
Even before it ended, this match had gone down in history, and perhaps infamy, as the Test with the most decisions being overturned. There is a Leonard Cohen song – Take This Waltz – that goes “Your mouth had a thousand reviews” and it may have felt like that to the hapless umpire Kumar Dharmasena, who had only to raise his finger in the direction of Moeen’s bat to find himself contradicted – three times in quick succession as it happened. But this does not make the decision review system a bad thing. It adds drama, and justice. Can we have one for referendums, too?
