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.
Related: England’s Stuart Broad hails Bangladesh Test as one of the very best
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