Ashraful makes his name for tourists

Bangladesh 231 & 148-6 Essex 313 (Bangladesh lead by 66 runs with four wickets left)

The most attentive spectator at these early fixtures for Bangladesh's touring cricketers is an actor. His name is Johnny Dennis and his day job as the announcer at Tests and one-day internationals is to identify incoming batsmen and the bowlers and fielders who get them out.

He was at Chelmsford yesterday and it did not matter to him who won and lost but how precisely they play the game. Maybe as well; Bangladesh were never out of trouble.

As the players leave the field, Dennis scrutinises their faces. On the field he studies their body language, the length of their hair and peculiarities in their equipment. Mohammad Ashraful has a Stuart Surridge bat. Shahadat Hossain has a swagger, long hair and a beard. Robiul Islam is a chunky figure who wears a yellow wristband. There were three more Islams on the field yesterday.

Before lunch, the wicketkeeper was unusually tall. After lunch, the keeper was small and bow-legged. Dennis could tell that the small one, Mushfiqur Rahim, had taken over from the big one, Jahurul Islam. "It's not an art. It's just hard work really," says Dennis, a slight, lean man himself. The problem is identifying batsmen quickly because they wear helmets, and not many Bangladeshi batsmen linger; both openers were out with the score on 12 yesterday, but Ashraful got his second fifty of the game.

They have had little luck. The weather turned cold when they arrived from the West Indies, and yesterday morning's bright sunshine meant they felt warmth on their backs for the first time. The rain came at lunch, but had cleared by tea. Looking on the bright side, the bowlers had restricted Essex's first-innings lead to 82, and two of their faster bowlers, Shafiul Islam and Hossain, took four wickets each. But Essex were fielding a badly under-strength team (and they wonder why crowds stay away for tourist matches).

Bangladesh are also without their two best players, Tamim Iqbal, who scored heavily and quickly against England on their recent tour, who has a cracked bone in the wrist, and the all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who has chickenpox. Tamin netted yesterday, and is expected to play next week against England Lions.

In the Clydesdale Bank 40, Sussex were in a strong position in their top-of-the-Group A-table clash with Somerset after England's Test wicket-keeper Matt Prior cracked 64 off 66 balls, while Yorkshire were well placed to increase their lead in Group B with victory in their game against Holland.