Mehedi Hasan Miraz became the youngest Bangladeshi to pick up five wickets on debut as the opening day of the first Test match well and truly belonged to the home side with England posting 258/7 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Thursday.
Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow fought hard for their fifties but they too fell soon after reaching their milestone. England will look to stretch their innings as far as possible when Chris Woakes (36*) and Adil Rashid (five not out) resumes the second day's proceedings on Friday.
The home side named three debutants for the first time since 2008 while it was also the first time Bangladesh played with three debutants at home since the inaugural Test match in 2000 with Sabbir Rahman, Miraz and Kamrul Islam Rabbi receiving their Test caps early in the morning.
Bangladesh's Kamrul Islam Rabbi was one of three debutants
DHAKA TRIBUNETigers skipper Mushfiqur Rahim might have lost the toss but it mattered little as the pitch had a lot to offer for the spinners, right from the opening exchanges.
And it was young off-spinner Miraz who stole the show in his Test bow. He was handed the new ball in the second over of England's innings and showed tremendous confidence. What's more, he immediately got results.
He picked up his maiden wicket in international cricket when he clean bowled another debutant Ben Duckett (14) to start off proceedings.
At the other end, visiting captain Alastair Cook was no doubt quite eager to make his record breaking match a memorable one after becoming the most-capped England Test player with 134 appearances. But Shakib al Hasan gave the home side a huge relief as he shattered the timber with Cook departing for four when he tried to sweep a delivery that eventually went on to hit the stumps after deflecting off his body.
Bangladesh's Mehedi Hasan Miraz is all smiles following the end of the first day's play
DHAKA TRIBUNEMiraz then trapped Gary Ballance (one) in front; the visitors reeling on 21/3 within the first hour.
However, Moeen, who enjoyed all the luck in the world, tried to rescue the tourists alongside Joe Root, adding 62 runs for the fourth wicket as they went to lunch on 81/3.
Root though was eventually dismissed after the lunch break when Sabbir took a sharp catch at slip off the bowling of Miraz, scoring 40 off 49 balls with five fours.
But the talk of the day apart from Miraz was perhaps Moeen, who survived five reviews, including three in the space of six balls.
Bangladesh's Shakib al Hasan provided Mehedi Hasan Miraz valuable support, picking up two wickets
DHAKA TRIBUNEShakib duly picked up his second wicket of the day when he removed the dangerous Ben Stokes for 18 as England were once again struggling on 106/5. However, Moeen kept on going strong at the other end as he was joined by Bairstow. Together, the sixth wicket pair added 88 runs.
Moeen was eventually caught behind to become the fourth victim of Miraz after scoring a well-made 68, featuring eight fours and a six.
Like Moeen, Bairstow too got lucky as he was dropped on 13 at slip by Sabbir off left-arm spinner Taijul Islam in the 49th over. He went on to score his 11th Test fifty. He also became the second wicket-keeper to score 1,000 runs in a year after Zimbabwean Andy Flower, who managed 1024 runs in 2000.
England's Jonny Bairstow tried to rescue the visitors' innings with his half-century
DHAKA TRIBUNEThe Yorkshireman was eventually dismissed after scoring 52 with the help of eight fours as Miraz hit the timber with a sliding delivery to become the seventh Bangladeshi to bag five wickets on debut, and the youngest among them.
The home side will look to wrap things up when the second day's play resumes while England will try to post a decent total in their first innings in order to remain alive in the Test match.
Cook had earlier won the toss and decided to bat first. Stumper-batsman Duckett duly made his debut with former captain Michael Atherton presenting him the cap while spinner Gareth Batty returned to the playing XI for the first time since 2005.
BRIEF SCOREENGLAND 258/7 in 92 overs (Root 40, Moeen 68, Bairstow 52, Woakes 36*, Rashid 5*, Miraz 5/64, Shakib 2/46)
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (C & WK), Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam and Kamrul Islam Rabbi
England: Alastair Cook (C), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Gareth Batty and Stuart Broad