Moeen leads charmed life after Mehedi stuns England

Tea England 173 for 5 (Moeen 61*, Bairstow 26*) v BangladeshLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Moeen Ali led a charmed life to revive England’s fortunes on the first day in Chittagong, after the 18-year-old debutant, Mehedi Hasan, had ripped through their top-order to give Bangladesh the upper hand in the opening exchanges of the first Test.

By tea, England had reached 173 for 5 in 62 overs on a lively surface offering both turn and variable bounce to Bangladesh’s arsenal of slow bowlers. Moeen, promoted to No.5 at the head of England’s allrounder-laden middle-order, had made 61 from 153 balls, but had survived five DRS reviews before he had reached his half-century, including three in six balls either side of lunch.

Alongside him, Jonny Bairstow was bedding in on 26 not out, in a sixth-wicket stand of 67 that had helped to settle England’s nerves after the loss of two big wickets in the course of the afternoon – Joe Root, who had counterattacked exquisitely in the morning session but fell to his second ball after lunch for 40, and Ben Stokes, who was late reacting to a big ripper from Shakib Al Hasan that bowled him through the gate for 18.

The star of the show, however, was Mehedi, the teenage offspinner who was one of three debutants in Bangladesh’s ranks, alongside the batsman Sabbir Rahman, and Kamrul Islam Rabbi, a quick bowler. Bowling with purpose and purchase, Mehedi was thrown the ball for the second over of the match and responded to the responsibility with three wickets in his first 11 overs of international cricket.

First in his sights was his fellow newcomer, Ben Duckett – Alastair Cook’s ninth opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss four years ago -who was awarded his cap by Michael Atherton before the toss, having been preferred to Haseeb Hameed at the top of the order.

Duckett had earned his chance with a brace of half-centuries in the ODI series, as well as a …

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