Cricket: Kirtley strikes to put England A in charge

England A 356 Bangladesh 186-9

AL SHAHRIAR ROKON was the rock on which the England A attack foundered yesterday - but the tourists still took control of their match with Bangladesh on the third day in Dhaka.

Replying to England's 356, Bangladesh closed on 186 for 9, still needing another 21 to avoid the follow-on. The Bangladesh total would have been even more modest but for the efforts of Rokon, who scored 73 and shared in a 70-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Khaled Mashud (30) which lifted the side from a shaky 54 for 4. Eventually he became one of James Kirtley's four scalps when he was caught by Paul Franks.

Chris Schofield and Michael Davies tested the pair on a pitch offering appreciable turn, and Mashud was caught at slip by Vikram Solanki as he pushed out at the Lancashire leg-spinner.

Davies, the Northamptonshire slow left-armer, found success when he changed to bowling over the wicket, pushing his first ball across Mushfiqur Rahman, who edged to wicketkeeper Rob Turner. Davies struck again in his next over, producing a ball which turned and lifted to Enamul Hoque, who fended it off to Ian Ward at short leg.

Kirtley struck when he trapped Shabbir Khan lbw, but the last-wicket pair held out until bad light stopped play.

"I was struggling a bit at the start trying to get a wicket to get up and running and fortunately got a few in the end," the Sussex pace bowler said.

"There's not a lot in the pitches out here. I've never regarded myself as someone who has to rely on the pitches but, as a skiddy type of bowler, they can sometimes assist you."

England A won toss; third day of four

ENGLAND A - First Innings

(Overnight: 279 for 6)

R J Turner c Islam b Enamul 24

C P Schofield b Bikash Ranjan 54

P J Franks not out 18

R J Kirtley b Hasibul 0

M K Davies lbw b Hasibul 0

Extras (b10 lb3 w1 nb4) 18

Total (128.3 overs) 356

Fall (cont): 7-309 8-355 9-356.

Bowling: Hasibul 30.3-5-85-5; Bikash Ranjan 18-5-48-1; Rahman 4-0-18- 0; Enamul 41-17-77-1; Shabbir 16-3-70-0; Habibul 18-3-38-2; Al Shahriar 1-0-7-0.

BANGLADESH - First Innings

Shahriar Hossain c Kirtley

b Schofield 20

Javed Omar b Kirtley 11

Habibul Bashar c Solanki b Franks 2

*Aminul Islam c Turner b Kirtley 6

Al Shahriar Rokon c Franks

b Kirtley 73

Mashud c Solanki b Schofield 30

Rahman c Turner b Davies 9

Enamul Hoque c Habib b Davies 7

Shabbir Khan lbw b Kirtley 8

Hasibul Hussain not out 3

Bikash Ranjan Das not out 2

Extras (lb8 w1 nb6) 15

Total (for 9, 71 overs) 186

Fall: 1-26 2-30 3-39 4-54 5-124 6-160 7-168 8-180 9-181.

Bowling: Kirtley 16-6-36-4; Franks 9-0-23-1; Irani 5-1-10-0; Schofield 20-4-66-2; Davies 21-10-43-2.

Umpires: Syed Mahbub Ullah and Afther Uddin.