Even the English fans wondered the way the Tigers committed suicide one after another before a five thousand partisan crowd.

"Skipper Khaled Mahmud had promised us beforehand that his team won't repeat the mistakes of Dhaka here and you see what the entire team did actually. What 'bad' they did in Dhaka turned 'worse' in Chittagong which is traditionally known as a batting paradise," fumed college student Sumon sitting at the gallery close to media centre. His friends echoed the same dejected sentiments.

Shahin Aftabur Reza, a former cricketer and convenor of liaison sub-committee, was so frustrated that he left the pavilion before lunch and watched the reminder on TV.

"England had played on our weakness by pitching the ball short. The ploy paid off every time," commented Shahin.

"On this perfect batting track, a 200-plus score was always attainable. The way Habibul Bashar and others batted it was as if they were playing in a one day match or chasing a close target and the two run outs in a Test match, I am sorry to say, is a criminal offence," Shahin went on.

Vic Marks, a journalist of London-based The Observer, was also surprised at the 'dismal' performance of the Tigers. "I didn't expect they would surrender so timidly. May be, Bangladesh players are more accustomed to the shorter version of the game."

"I think, England captain Michael Vaughan himself might not have expected such a comfortable win," Marks said.

THE CLAIRVOYANT!

An elderly Englishman along with his wife and son was watching the match sitting near the media centre. Two unbeaten batsmen just came in after lunch when Bangladesh were flagging on the 'hotbed' with 91 for six.

"Vaughan's bowlers will take just over half an hour to rattle the Tigers' tail," said the man in his sixties when asked whether Bangladesh would survive the fourth day or not.

And amazingly, the English pacers took 56 minutes after lunch to wind up the game with one and a half days to spare.

His son was more concerned at the mood of the galleries.

"Everyone in the stands become so unhappy with the silly batting of the batsmen. The Bangladesh batters in this match showed pathetic application and determination," he said hoping that the Tigers would at least put up a better show in the three-match one-day series.

MISSES WIN MATCHES

English fielders committed too many (comedy of) errors during the morning session of the day. But those missed opportunities in the slip cordon did not make any difference as Bangladesh, given a mammoth fourth innings target, still could not capitalise.

Graham Thorpe and Marcus Trescothick dropped at least three straightforward catches. But neither Bashar nor Javed Omar made any real progress after that.

A WISE MAHMUD!

"The defeat could have been worse had captain Khaled Mahmud not decided to bowl first," commented Kalim Sarwar, general secretary of Chittagong Press Club after the match. A university student, Rashed, also supported the view despite Mahmud's decision to field first surprised many.

"We have had, in the past, so many disgraceful innings defeats. Perhaps, we escaped that ignominy at the hands of England here by opting to bowl first. Isn't it better to concede defeat by runs instead of going down by an innings?