Sabbir keeps hopes alive as history beckons

Bangladesh 248 and 253 for 8 (Sabbir 59*, Taijul 11*) need another 33 runs to beat England 293 and 240 (Stokes 85, Bairstow 47, Shakib 5-85)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Bangladesh's hopes of securing their greatest Test victory were in the hands of their debutant batsman, Sabbir Rahman, and his final two tail-end partners, after an enthralling fourth day at Chittagong finished with three of the four results possible, and history on the cards for Test cricket's youngest nation.

The situation at stumps, after a sensational final session played out in front of a fervent, expectant and ever-growing crowd, was simple. Bangladesh, chasing 286 for victory, were 33 runs short with two wickets remaining and Sabbir standing tall on 59 not out from 93 balls - a supremely gutsy performance from a man who utilised his experience in ODI and T20 cricket to break down the chase into calm and manageable chunks.

Alongside him at the close was the redoubtable figure of Taijul Islam, whom Sabbir trusted with the strike as he accepted every single on offer from a deep-set field, and who subverted all conventional tactics in the final over of the day's play by swiping Gareth Batty for two ambitious lofted strokes down the ground, to reach the close unbeaten on 11 in a ninth-wicket stand of 15.

England, by that stage, had earned the right to be considered favourites once again, having cracked the crucial partnership of the innings - Sabbir's 87-run stand for the sixth wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim - before dispatching two more of Bangladesh's debutants, Mehedi Hasan and Kamrul Islam Rabbi, with minimum fuss.

But, with a notable lack of faith in his trio of spinners (notwithstanding a hard-earned three-wicket haul for Batty) Alastair Cook telegraphed his team's anxiety throughout a gripping final session. The new ball, due in two overs' time and such a key weapon throughout this contest, may well be ignored if Ben Stokes and his fellow seamers can locate the sort of reverse swing that derailed Bangladesh's first innings when play resumes on the final morning.

It was a far cry from England's ambition at the very top of the innings. After being bowled out for 240 in the first 20 minutes of the day, England had made their intentions plain from the outset by handing the new ball to two spinners, Batty and Moeen, for the first time since the Lord's Test against South Africa in 2008.

Both men bowled some unplayable deliveries, but Bangladesh's attitude was established in a skilful and aggressive 43 from Imrul Kayes, who found a means to counterattack in style, sweeping with intent to disrupt their lengths and pick off his boundaries behind square, while playing with confidence off the back foot in between whiles.

Tapping into their recent success in one-day run-chases, Bangladesh were happy to live dangerously in the opening overs - Tamim in particular twice came close to holing out - but their positive mindset sowed some early seeds of doubt in Cook's mind, as he shed a few close catchers to patrol his boundaries. Nevertheless, England's patient approach slowly reaped its rewards, and after removing Tamim and Kayes before lunch - the latter caught on the sweep as he attacked Adil Rashid out of the rough - Batty returned with a spring in his step and an extra zip through his action, to grab two lbws in eight balls and put England firmly in command at 108 for 4.

Bangladesh's middle-order, however, contains two of their toughest nuts in Mushfiqur and Shakib Al Hasan, and for the best part of an hour, the pair pushed back against the tide. Mushfiqur produced yet another unflustered display of patience, skill and experience - he has, after all, been playing Test cricket for longer even than Cook, England's newly crowned most-capped cricketer - while Shakib seemed eager to atone for his wasteful dismissal in the first innings.

A pair of fizzing boundaries off Rashid lifted the spirits of the crowd - a slammed drive through mid-off and a vast bottom-handed swipe over long-on for six - but, on 24, he received the best ball of the innings to date, a perfect ripping offbreak from Moeen that he couldn't help but nick to the keeper.

Enter Sabbir, with the chase in the balance at 140 for 5. His performance featured two distinct tempos - firstly, when he arrived at the crease in the 41st over, Sabbir's one-day instincts were to go for his shots, and with two big sixes and a four in his first 25 runs before tea, he gave a nervous crowd plenty reasons to cheer as their numbers and belief mounted with every stroke.

After tea, however, he was sufficiently confident to retreat back into his shell without losing any of his intent. England resumed the final session with 107 runs to defend and, with the ball exactly 50 overs old, Cook's instinct was to revert to the familiarity of his seamers - Stokes from one end, Chris Woakes from the other - with Rashid's legspin thrown into the equation after half an hour of attrition in a bid to buy a breakthrough.

Stuart Broad, who had bowled a total of four overs in the first two sessions, joined the fray with a tight angled line into the off stump. But with the reverse-swing of the first innings proving hard to replicate, Mushfiqur and Sabbir had no reason to rush their approach. With caution on the front foot and an eye for the occasional flick off the pads, the pair ground down the requirement on a ball-by-ball basis, embracing the need to take the match into the fifth day if required, in spite of the mounting excitement in the stands.

On 34, Sabbir had the moment of good fortune that most players need in such tense scenarios, when Jonny Bairstow - whose glovework had been impressive for much of the match - failed to gather a thin leg-side tickle as Broad strayed onto the pads. It was a tough opportunity, but the sort that needed to be taken, and England's frustrations mounted after the drinks break when Broad's second over of the restart was taken for two boundaries, Bangladesh's first for 19 overs. A short ball was gleefully pounded in front of square by Mushfiqur, before Broad fizzed a yorker out of the footholes and away for four byes.

Cook had no option but to revert back to his spinners, and the situation looked ominous when Batty's second delivery was paddle-swept through fine leg for four by Sabbir. But, before the over was out, Batty had made the critical breakthrough, bursting a leaping offbreak through the top of the pitch and into Mushfiqur's glove, for Ballance to snaffle at leg slip.

The breakthrough had come with 59 runs still required, but if Sabbir had any doubts about the task now in his hands alone, he banished them in style, drilling Batty out of the rough through long-off to bring up his maiden half-century from 76 balls.

But Sabbir couldn't bat at both ends at once, and two of his fellow debutants came and went with minimal resistance. Mehedi was pinned on the crease by a nipbacker from Broad for 1, before Rabbi endured a three-ball stay that was as brief as it was eventful - he might have been run out and bowled in the space of two deliveries, before Broad delivered him a pair on debut courtesy of another important grab from Ballance at short leg.

With the light fading and 48 runs the requirement, Sabbir declined the temptation to farm the strike and regularly helped himself to a single off the first ball to expose his partner, Taijul. The tactic kept England frustrated to the close, with Broad completing a valiant nine-over spell that went for 12 runs in total, although Taijul was lucky to survive on 3 when a thick edge from Batty fizzed through the cordon at a catchable height. Cook's refusal to bowl spin from both ends spoke volumes as the umpires called off the chase in the twilight.

Win, lose or tie, this has been a contest to savour, on a surface that deserves huge praise for offering a distinctly subcontinental challenge without descending into a puff-of-dust farce. And whatever the outcome, Bangladesh have played their part and more in the most compelling Test match in this country since Australia's terrific scare at Fatullah in 2006. On Monday, within an hour of the resumption, Sabbir could have made himself a national hero.