Bangladesh beat the West Indies at Chittagong, while honours are even in the Tests between Sri Lanka and England, and Pakistan and New Zealand.
Pakistan vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Dubai
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first against New Zealand, losing both openers early to be in a spot of bother at 25-2. Colin de Grandhomme picked up the wickets of both openers, Imam-ul-Haq (9 off 27) and Mohammad Hafeez (9 off 24), with Tom Latham holding both catches.
Azhar Ali and Haris Sohail restored order to the innings during a slow but steady partnership of 126 for the third wicket. The pair took 368 balls over their stand at a low strike rate of 34,24, but it was vital that they built a firm foundation as Pakistan are 1-0 down in the series and desperately need a victory in Dubai to give themselves a chance of going for the series win in the third and final Test.
Azhar Ali was unlucky to be run out after a smart throw into the keeper BJ Watling, who completed the run out to send Ali on his way for 81 off 187 balls (7×4, 1×6). Asad Shafiq followed for 12 off 36 balls, but Sohail marshaled the innings through to the close of play to leave Pakistan on 207-4 after the day’s 90 overs.
Sohail finished on 81 not out off 240 balls (10×4) and Babar Azam 14 off 27 balls (2×4), the pair upping the run rate a little with the introduction of the new ball.
While there may be critics who point to a slow scoring rate of 2.3 runs to the over as the sign of a poor day’s Test cricket, Pakistan should be commended for gritting it out and ensuring they are in the strongest position possible to push for a win later in this Test.
De Grandhomme took 2-31 off his 19 overs (econ 1.63), while Ajaz Patel took the other wicket to fall (1-60, econ 3.15).
Pakistan 207-4
New Zealand
Photo: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images
Sri Lanka vs England, 3rd Test, Colombo
England lost their last four wickets for 24 runs to be all out for 336 off 92.5 overs on the morning of the second day of the third Test against Sri Lanka. Lakshan Sandakan (5-95) recorded his best Test innings figures in picking up his second Test fiver-for. Dilruwan Perera (3-113) and Malinda Pushpakumara (2-64) picked up the balance of the England wickets.
Sri Lanka started superbly with a 142-run second-wicket partnership between Dimuth Karunaratne
Sri Lanka (83 runs off 125 balls) and Dhananjaya de Silva (73 off 129), before Adil Rashid dismissed both of them in the space of 14 runs. Keaton Jennings held smart catches to dismiss both batters to add to his catch of opener Danushka Gunathilaka off the bowling of Jack Leach.
Kusal Mendis scored 27 off 36 balls, but the remainder of the Sri Lankan batters fell cheaply as England rolled them for 240 off 65.5 overs, with Jennings also catching Roshen Silva off Rashid to secure his fourth catch of the innings. Keeper Ben Foakes took three catches all off the bowling of Ben Stokes, who finished with figures of 3-30 off 10 overs, in addition to taking a sharp catch at slip off Rashid to remove Mendis.
Rashid bowled superbly to finish with figures of 5-49 to add to his run out of Lakshan Sandakan. At the close, England were 3-0 off four overs.
England 336 & 3-0
Sri Lanka 240
Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Bangladesh vs West Indies, 1st Test, Chittagong
Bangladesh lost wickets steadily through the morning session, their overnight score of 55-5 slipping to 106-7, before losing their last three wickets for three runs to be dismissed for 124 off 35.5 overs. Mahmudullah top-scored with 31 runs off 46 balls (1×4, 1×6), with Devendra Bishoo (4-26), Roston Chase (3-18), Jomel Warrican (2-43) doing the damage with the ball.
Chasing 204 for victory, the West Indies started disastrously, losing their first wicket in the third over with the score on five, with three more wickets tumbling with the score on 11 in the space of seven balls.
Sunil Ambris and Shimron Hetmyer added 33 for the fifth wicket off just 27 balls, before Hetmyer was caught at long-off by Nayeem Hasan off the bowling of Mehidy Hasan Miraz for 27 off 19 balls (3×4, 1×6, S/R 142.10). His departure left the West Indies on 44-5, and they lost their next three wickets for just 31 runs.
Ambris and Jomel Warrican put in a valiant, last-ditch attempt to keep their side on the path for victory, adding 63 runs together for the ninth wicket before Warrican was another victim of Mehidy Hasan Miraz, caught by Shakib Al Hasan at midwicket for 41 off 55 balls (3×4, 1×6).
Ambris fell one run later for 43 off 62 balls (4×4) as Bangladesh secured the win. After a slow start to his Test career, the 25-year-old Ambris’ valiant innings secured his highest Test score in his 10th innings. His previous best effort was 38 scored against India at Hyderabad in the West Indies’ previous Test (against India), to give a glimmer of hope to his Test future.
Taijul Islam was the hero of the innings, returning figures of 11.2-2-33-6 (econ 2.91), while Mehidy Hasan Miraz (2-27) and Shakib Al Hasan (2-30) took the other wickets to fall. Mominul Haque took home the Player of the Match honours for his first innings score of 120.
Bangladesh 324 & 125
West Indies 246 & 139
Bangladesh won by 64 runs
Photo: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images
