CRICKET SECOND TEST:STUART BROAD deserved to spend the culmination of his England winter quietly celebrating a moment of professional achievement as he proved beyond doubt he had succeeded in his ambition on the subcontinent to come to terms with the art of reverse swing.

Instead, at the precise time that he pronounced his examination passed, first softening up and then bowling Mushfiqur Rahim with big inswingers to leave England sensing victory in the second Test, he became embroiled in yet another debate about his on-field behaviour that has now become so obsessive it is losing touch with reality.

Broad’s technical breakthrough – or moment of petulance for those who saw it that way – came four overs from the end of another exhausting day. His first ball reversed lavishly into the pads of Mushfiqur in a manner not seen from an England bowler all tour, but the umpire Tony Hill’s refusal of his lbw appeal left him slumped, hands on knees, in weary disbelief that his efforts had come to nought.

Mushfiqur was forewarned but the next ball still broke him, again swinging substantially and causing him to play on. Broad, momentarily confused, found himself appealing to the umpire with the bails already on the ground. There have been many times – and this was one of them – where bowlers have hit the stumps and appealed, either because their elation runs away with them or because with their view obscured they have not entirely registered what has happened. Common-or-garden petulance it was not.

But Broad’s fast bowling can be on the narky side of combative. Hill felt the need to have a word both with him and with England’s captain, Alastair Cook. The match referee, Jeff Crowe, showed little interest in taking the matter further. But Crowe did fine Bangladesh’s coach, Jamie Siddons, 10 per cent of his match fee for dissent on the boundary edge on the third day as a succession of close calls went against Bangladesh.

Broad has been the young spearhead of an unsung pace attack that has had to turn itself into a self-help group in the temporary absence of a bowling coach. It has been tough work; Tim Bresnan, his fellow fast bowler, jokes that Broad is currently 3-2 ahead on the times they have managed to make the ball seam during the entire tour.

Finally the end of England’s winter is in sight. It has finished with a hard slog, four days of largely attritional cricket in which England and Bangladesh have been intent on grinding each other down. It has been an honestly fought Test of exhausted bodies and tired minds. For Bangladesh to begin the final day five down, with Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim still in residence, would give them heart. But Broad left them six down, and only 95 ahead, so that England entered the final day as favourites.

Broad began to dismantle their second innings, fortunate to bowl Imrul Kayes down the legside, off his thigh pad. Tamim Iqbal, more fretful than normal, was spared three times against James Tredwell’s off-spin in making 52. Tredwell’s threat was enough for Cook to bowl him ahead of his senior off-spinner, Graeme Swann, for a time.

Matt Prior could not be faulted for missing a thick edge, standing up; Tredwell palmed aside a fierce return catch; but the monumental blunder belonged to Jonathan Trott, who allowed a gentle slice to backward point to flick his fingers and hit him on the forehead. It was one of the great England Test dropped catches of all time.

Jahurul Islam has probably made a unique start to his Test career. He made a duck in the first innings, but second time around, his first two scoring shots were both sixes, Swann planted over long-on on both occasions. Swann, who also failed to hold a low return catch, eventually bowled him through the gate.

England’s lead was only 27 at the start of the fourth day but they eked out another 50 runs before Bangladesh dismissed them for 496 about half-an-hour before lunch. Bresnan’s stout-hearted resistance did not quite extend to a maiden Test hundred but his 91 from 261 balls was full of solid, dependable things. It felt like a very Yorkshire innings, a sort of cricketing version of the man at the bar who does nothing extravagant, rarely grasps attention but is slowly admired for supping his pint with an air of reliability.