NOT THE BEST EVER... BUT STILL VERY GOOD

The commentators were calling it one of the best they had ever seen at Lord's... I wouldn't go quite that far. But Tamim Iqbal's 100-ball 104 in Bangladesh's second innings (after following on) against England was certainly amongst the better hundreds there have been!

Tamim Iqbal is one of the two reasons why Bangladesh have been looking more and more promising lately... the other being Shakib Al Hasan.

At the moment, Bangladesh 309 - 3 in 76.3 overs... with each of their top 4 crossing 50. I think it's a first for Bangladesh... and it's come away from home at Lord's. Their No. 5, the ultimate underachiever Mohammed Ashraful is 19* (11)... and he looks good to make it 5 out of 5 to cross 50 for Bangladesh. But then, he always looks good... till he plays the shot to which he gets out! That is, usually, extremely ugly.

Even at this stage, Strauss would not have given up. He knows that England is still in with a decent shot, given how Bangladesh has a history of collapsing just when things look good for them. They might capsize any moment... England will then just have to capitalise. But Bangladesh should be proud of this performance!

Whatever may be the result tomorrow, Bangladesh have played good solid Test cricket at Lord's... something that cannot be said very often about this team. I hope this trip to the home of cricket marks a point of transition in the history of Bangladesh cricket. If they become a more competitive side like the one on show in this match, it will mean that Test cricket is in very good health!