Tag Archives: bangladesh

Zimbabwe’s Winning Return to Test Cricket

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OK, I didn’t expect this. Zimbabwe had an almost flawless win against Bangladesh in the first match on their return to Test cricket. They had enough confidence in themselves to offer Bangladesh a sporting declaration and keep their heads when their opposition seemed to made a good start to the chase. Of course, there will be tough opposition in the future for Zimbabwe, but this is a remarkable comeback.

As for Bangladesh, this was a pitiful display of cricketing skills and more shame to them for mouthing off about the “ordinary” bowling of Zimbabwe at the end of the fourth day. It is amazing how even after a decade of Test cricket, Bangladesh cannot perform at all, let alone consistently. 3 wins in all that time.

I favor expanding Test cricket to countries like Ireland, not restricting it by taking it away from non-performing countries. But the example of Bangladesh continues to be a big problem for Tests, including statistical performances of teams and players. The solution is probably to have a group structure for Tests, where say, under-performing teams are relegated to playing until they can qualify for Tests against top tier teams. Or maybe have multiple groups where teams transition in and out. Teams should play more against their nearer competition than against someone much better or much worse than them.

The Future Tours Programme doesn’t quite work well with the problem of vast differences in skills. Right now, the ICC has things mapped out till 2020!!! Does anyone think that the current pecking order in world rankings will stay the same over the next nine years? I don’t think even old East European communist countries had 10 year plans! Even convenience doesn’t serve as an excuse for planning 10 years in advance. Of course, these plans will surely change, but still…

Bangladesh Win Historic With An Asterisk

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After being 5/100 in their first innings, seeing West Indies at 4/227 in theirs and then suffering a batting collapse this morning, Bangladesh wrapped up  the West Indies to gain their first overseas win. It is a historic win, but in context, it is without much meaning as the West Indies were fielding a team with second-stringers third/fourth-stringers because of a contract dispute with the players in the primary Test team.

Bangladesh, of course, cannot be blamed for the troubles of the West Indies board. And this win provides a good start for the new captain Mashrafe Mortaza. But Bangladesh would do well not to celebrate too much. Even against an inexperienced team, they looked lost at times, though each time they were able to make a comeback.

Bangladesh’s biggest problem has been its lack of incremental progress. Once in a while, they win against a big team and the big headlines are out. But they fail to build upon it and soon are losing worse than ever to the regular teams and also losing against Associate Nations. Their batsmen have been terrible, always choosing glory over team. The best example is Ashraful who once in every ten innings makes an amazing score and then fails to reach double figures for the rest. He failed in this Test too and it is time he finds himself removed if he cannot produce consistent performance.

To be fair to Bangladesh, their bowling has shown improvement. But without the consistent batting to back it up, they will go nowhere. As far as the West Indies are concerned, I don’t think they will mind this loss much. A match against Bangladesh was never going to be important. And this loss can always be explained away.

Bangladesh Surrender to the Irish

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bangladesh-ireland-over-worm

Bangladesh is the most maddening team in the world. They have some of the most exciting batsmen and bowlers, but cannot translate those resources into consistent performances. It has been almost a decade since they became a Test nation, yet except for the odd upset, they have not improved much. Part of this has to do with the fact that the players seem to value style over function. They will endure the worst defeat as long as they can go down in the most suicidal fashion.

bangladesh-ireland-over-runs

Today was no exception. Every batsmen seemed to be playing for the crowds instead of for the team. Perhaps the worst offender was the captain Ashraful who having been given a life playing a nonsensical shot decided to repeat it just a few balls later. They managed to reach a barely respectable total after some lusty hits from the “Bengal Tiger” Mortaza in an over that eventually turned out to be the most productive of the entire match.

bangladesh-innings

In contrast, the Irish started slowly, almost as if they were paralyzed by the thought of winning the match. Luckily for them, Niall O’Brien could not run because of an injury and decided to get his runs through boundaries and succeeding at the effort with 30 of his 40 runs. Although Ireland were in a comfortable position staying ahead of Bangladesh’s equivalent runs at each over, they had the Mortaza onslaught to scale. The second O’Brien brother, Kevin, rose to the task ending the match with a flurry of hits. No final over salvation for Bangladesh.

ireland-innings

So Ireland once again qualify for the second round at a World Cup. They will be in Group F, but before that, they will have a group leader selection match against the Indians. The Irish bowling was good today and if they can repeat the effort, they should have a good chance against India. On the other hand, their batting is rather brittle.

Bangladesh will return home. They were placed in an easy group for advancement to the second round and they botched it. The return of ICL players may help improve the quality of the national team, but what they need foremost is greater discipline and a reliance on continuous improvement through hard effort instead of relying on pure talent.

Tri Nation Tournament in Bangladesh

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The recent Tri-Nation tournament, so far, has had more twists than dough being rolled by chefs. First Zimbabwe upset Bangladesh. And now, Sri Lanka has been trounced by an amazing unbeaten 69-ball 92 by Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh definitely have batsmen who can turn it on. See: Ashraful, Mohammad.

ODI’s and, particularly, T20′s, are good avenues for sub-par teams who cannot compete at the Test level. The smaller number of overs allows batsmen to take more risks. An outstanding (or freak) spell by a bowler can also turn matches on their head.

Contrary to their Test performance, Bangladesh has been steadily improving in ODI’s, with not-so-infrequent wins against good opposition. The only problem with them is that they follow a great victory by a long period of indifferent performance, and so the momentum is lost.

Although I have been an advocate for removing Bangladesh from Test cricket, it is sometimes difficult to know what to do with them. They have the potential to beat strong teams in ODI’s – in the recent past, they have defeated India and South Africa. They are also, by some measure, much better than the non-Test playing nations, the odd defeats not withstanding. They have some genuine match-winners.

Since they are not about to removed from Test cricket, the best thing for the Bangladesh Cricket Board to do is to reduce the Tests in each series (essentially playing only 1-off Tests) and provide greater ODI opportunities. Reduce the long rope given to players. If a player (including the captain) has more than a 5-match slump, they should be replaced with someone else. This way, more Bangladeshis can get to play at the international level. With over 153 million people, surely you can collect more than 11 gems to create a performing team, don’t you think?

Preserving the Sanctity of Test Matches

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Perhaps “sanctity” is too much of hyperbole, but I have always felt that Test matches occupy a stratospheric level in cricket or even in all sport. In what other game do you have matches that are played over 5 days (or in the past for Timeless Tests, for no pre-determined duration). Tests are meant to be the ultimate, true challenge for teams who vie to the best. Test matches are cruel to upstarts. A Test match does not reward a freak performance by an individual player unlike ODI’s and T20′s. A team cannot rejoice because of some stroke of fortune, it must keep its guard up all the time, lest the other team sense an opening and crash through it.

The nature of Test matches means that differences between teams are much more pronounced, and show up in badly one-sided results. The recently-concluded Sri Lanka-Bangladesh tour confirms this in ample measure, if you hadn’t already been convinced by the previous Bangladesh series. There is no meaningful contest here, and the only interest is which players take the opportunity to set some personal milestones, like Dilshan, who just hit a century in each innings.

So, what we get is statistics pollution. We have so many nonsense games that make a mockery of Test records. You have teams cranking up huge scores and bowling the other team for next to nothing, and players making runs and taking wickets by the bucketful. What we have is the same scenario if a Test team plays against a 1st-class team and the records are added to Test annals. 

There is a bigger problem at work here. The ICC wants to expand cricket to more countries. So Test cricket for Bangladesh seems like a wise choice. But when you have a record of 52 losses in 59 Test matches, that is not expanding cricket’s popularity. It condemns Bangladesh to be an under-achieving cricket nation and diminishes its growth. What Bangladesh needs is more close contests and, particularly, more wins.

So what I would suggest is create a 2nd tier of Test matches – a group of 5 to 10 countries that have acquitted themselves reasonably well in the ODI arena. Create a new statistics track for these Test matches, different from 1st class, but not Test level either. Have 3-day Tests to start with, so that mismatches will not result in grotesque batting orgies by one team, as they will have to declare by the 3rd day. The matches can extend to 4 days or 5 days after a year of matches. This will allow Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Kenya, UAE and other nations to play a lot more matches. They can gain greater confidence and prepare themselves for the main Test teams.

Here is the 2nd part: Bangladesh will be out of the regular Test circuit, but it can play one-off new-style Tests against the major Test playing nations. If it succeeds in winning a mini-Test, it earns the right to play 5 regular Tests in the next 24 months. If it draws a mini-Test without the help of the weather, it can play 2 regular Tests. The batting/bowling efforts of the players of the major Test teams will be recorded as part of the mini-Test stats and not the regular Test stats. As the 2nd tier progresses, more teams there can earn the right to play mini-Tests against the top Test teams. If they perform well there, they can earn the right to play regular Tests.

Thus, we keep the regular Tests pristine. We provide more match opportunities for weaker teams, and give them a way to graduate into the bigger leagues. Of course, this is all very unlikely to happen as the ICC is more concerned with money-making and ad-hoc decisions than a structured way to improve the game. We will see.

Why Bangladesh is Bad for Test Cricket

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To understand why continuing Bangladesh’s Test status is such a terrible mistake, look no further than the example of Tillakaratne Dilshan, who hit a run-a-ball 162 runs. Dilshan was playing his 50th Test and his batting statistics (an average just touching 40), if not impressive, seem good for a mid-tier team like Sri Lanka.

Unfortunately, high-level statistics rarely tell you the whole story. Dilshan has played 14 Tests against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, hitting 847 runs at an excellent average of 65. Take that out of the picture and you get a rather under-performing career of 1909 runs in 36 Tests at an average of 34.

I have no idea why Sri Lanka keeps playing so many matches against Bangladesh. It is not as if they cannot hold their own against the bigger teams. They have played remarkably well against England, West Indies and India (at home) in recent times. But by playing these meaningless games against Bangladesh, they perpetuate mediocrity and prevent talented newcomers from getting into the team.

These matches also distort history and put a question mark against true performers. For example, Muttiah Muralidharan has taken 176 wickets out of his 769 Test wickets from 25 matches with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. By comparison, Shane Warne has 17 from just 3 matches. While Muralitharan is a genuine wicket-taker, this issue begs the question of whether he was as good as Warne.

The Sri Lankan Board should rectify this by arranging longer series with the bigger Test playing nations and reducing Tests with Bangladesh, maybe a one-off affair every couple of years, until such time when the Bangladesh team is winning ODI’s consistently.

Bangladesh’s Big Try

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It is tempting to read too much into Bangladesh’s brave attempt at Sri Lanka’s target of 521 runs and falling short by just 107 runs, in the process posting one of the highest 4th innings score. But in fact, the effort actually hides some of Bangladesh’s problems.

Consider Ashraful who lead the chase with a century. This was the first time in 19 innings that he has passed 35 runs. Ashraful’s career has been entirely composed of long stretches of poor form and then a sparkling innings just when everything says he should be dropped. If he ever converted his potential into a run of good scores, Bangladesh would be making a match of more games.

Recently, we have seen many great 4th innings chases, some of them succeeding (such as India’s chase of England’s target and South Africa’s chase of Australia) and some failing, but still providing much excitement. A less recent example was Sri Lanka chasing Australia’s target of 514 and failing by just 97 runs, with Sangakkara hitting 192 and given out incorrectly by Rudi Koertzen. So what is going on here?

One reason is that teams are playing at a much faster pace, thus leaving a lot of time for the final innings. This mitigates the need for teams to take undue risks while chasing, while putting more pressue on the bowling team to both contain the runs and take wickets. In addition, the pitches are staying solid through the entire Test, thus making them less bowler-friendly.

This phenomenon is likely to weigh heavily on captains when their team is playing the third innings of the match. In the past, the game plan was to score faster to post a huge target. Now, this may have to change to: post high scores, but also waste time out in the middle before declaring. 

So watch out for next year. You may actually see some ridiculous targets being set next year, like score 500 to win in a single day.

Cricket’s 2008 Top Headliners!

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So what were the top stories of 2008?

Inaugural Success of IPL

Year 2008 witnessed the opening of IPL (Indian Premier League), the mega event from BCCI that clearly gave cricket a stunning make-over and boost in game excitement, viewership and tremendous marketing potential. The mantra for 2008 became T20 or, as it is called, 20-20. A 3-hour-rapid fire game that takes you to the edge of your seat until the final ball is bowled.

IPL is BCCI’s response to the rival Indian Cricket League (ICL) into Twenty-20 era. They pulled up 8 teams from Indian cities bringing overseas and domestic player mixture. The key difference being IPL swamped in current top International players while ICL dominantly settled for retired, yesteryear stars. IPL is BCCI’s child,  so you can imagine the media attention, money involved is big.

South Africa Record 2nd Highest Run Chase in Test Cricket History

South Africa beat Australia in the first Test of their series by 6 wickets chasing down a huge victory target of 413, becoming, in the process, the 2nd highest-run chasing team in Test cricket. AB de Villiers was chosen Man-of-the-Match for his unbeaten 106 in the chase (and for his vital 1st innings 63 and pouching 4 catches off the Australian batting line). Graeme Smith continued to excel in batting in the 4th innings, with his average the 3rd highest in history, behind Geoff Boycott (England) and Sunil Gavaskar (India). West Indies still hold the record for highest run chaser, scoring 418/7 against Australia in 2003.

The Super Six of 2008

Chanderpaul 6 and Win – In their ODI home series against Sri Lanka.

Mystery Spinner – Ajantha Mendis

2008 saw the entry of a new (yet another!) spin wizard from Sri Lanka with his finger talking googlies, flippers, offbreaks, legbreaks and anything you can spell. He clearly gave India a very hard run during their away series and even India’s strong middle order were unable to read him. Mendis took 26 Test scalps and lead the 2008 ODI bowling with 48 wickets at an astonishing average of 10.12 and economy rate of 3.54. He is overturning the conventional wisdom in ODI where bowlers are relegated to side acts as batsman become big bat bullies.

Take a look at Mendis cleaning India’s clock in the Asia Cup final.

2008 Top Performances – Batting & Bowling

Top 10 ODI Batsmen

  1. Gautam Gambir (India): 1119 runs – Gambir came of age this year and stabilized the Indian opening.
  2. Mahendra Dhoni (India):  1097
  3. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka): 942
  4. Virender Sehwag (India): 893
  5. Yuvraj Singh (India): 893
  6. Younis Khan (Pakistan): 865
  7. Salman Bhatt (Pakistan): 861
  8. Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh): 807
  9. Shoaib Malik (Pakistan): 681
  10. Suresh Raina (India): 680

Top 10 Test Batsmen

  1. Graeme Smith (South Africa): 1656 Runs
  2. Virender Sehwag (India): 1462
  3. Ricky Ponting (Australia): 1182
  4. Hashim Amla (South Africa): 1161
  5. Gautam Gambhir (India): 1134
  6. VVS Laxman (India): 1086
  7. Neil McKenzie (South Africa): 1073
  8. Michael Clarke (Australia): 1063
  9. Sachin Tendulkar (India): 1063
  10. AB de Villiers (South Africa): 1061

Top 10 ODI Bowlers

  1. Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka): 48 wickets
  2. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka): 35
  3. Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka): 33
  4. Stuart Broad (England): 32
  5. Sohail Tanvir (Pakistan): 32
  6. Nathan Bracken (Australia): 31
  7. Shahid Afridi (Pakistan): 30
  8. Abdur Razzak (Bangladesh): 29
  9. Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh): 28
  10. Ishant Sharma (India): 27

Top 10 Test Bowlers

  1. Dale Steyn (South Africa): 74 Wickets
  2. Harbhajan Singh (India): 63
  3. Mitchell Johnson (Australia): 63
  4. Brett Lee (Australia): 57
  5. Makhaya Ntini (South Africa):  54
  6. Daniel Vettori (New Zealand): 54
  7. Ryan Sidebottom (England): 47
  8. Jimmy Anderson (England): 46
  9. Morne Morkel (South Africa): 43
  10. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka): 43

Stats Courtesy: Cricinfo.com

High-Tech Review System

ICC embraced the technology to allow the batting or fielding team to appeal against umpiring decisions. Considering the amount of pressure the umpires are involved in making critical decisions which significantly impact game outcomes, this is definitely a welcome move from ICC. Not to say anything about avoiding acrimonious incidents such as what happened in the Sydney Test between Australia and India.

Controversy

Harbhajan Singh made his mark on 2008, but not always in a good way. He and Andrew Symonds were involved in a racial sledge/abuse case that resulted a three test ban on Harbhajan Singh. Not satisfied with that, Harbhajan got into a slapping incident with fellow Indian teammate Sreesanth and got thrown out of the IPL. He is back with the Indian team spearheading the Indian attack.

Well there you go that rounded up 2008 stories. Let’s look forward to yet another exciting year of cricket in 2009.

Sanity Restored in Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Match

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I was negatively surprised to see Sri Lanka out of 293 in their first innings against Bangladesh. Of course, there was no need to worry as the perennial under-performers crashed to 178 and then allowed Sri Lanka to rachet up a lead of 406 runs. The Lankans can declare now, of course, but they will probably wait to let Jayawardene achieve more personal milestones.

However, all is not good with Sri Lanka, because

  • They do seem to be playing a lot more matches with the Bangladeshis than most countries. Some of the batting and bowling averages of the Lankan players are buttressed by meaningless performances against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Thankfully, the latter is not playing Tests anymore.
  • The reliance of the Sri Lankan batting on Sangakkara and Jayawardene is bound to backfire with the bigger Test countries. They need other players to step up and make a difference.

In one aspect, Sri Lanka is lucky that they have Mendis to replace Muralitharan, unlike Australia and India who have yet to find a long-term replacement for Warne and Kumble.

As for the Bangladeshis, they keep making fools of their fans. They don’t seem to have the capacity to fight in a 5-day, 2 innings Test. Once in a while, there is an encouraging performance by a batsman or bowler, but never enough to win matches. Somehow, this is offered as proof that they are maturing as a team.

I say that instead of this charade that passes for Test matches, Bangladesh should be banned from playing Test matches and have a good string of ODI victories against the main Test nations before they are admitted again.

Murali gives Sri Lanka the “edge”??

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Apparently, Cricinfo hasn’t noticed the recent form of Bangladesh with the latest item on the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test as “Murali gives Sri Lanka the edge in spin battle“. Bangladesh has found it difficult to survive 50 overs, let alone manage to post a respectable score. There is no “edge”. Sri Lanka is the overwhelming favorite to win both Tests by a huge margin.

It is incredible that the number of Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Tests are exactly the same as number of India-England Tests, even though the latter has been even-matched in the last few series. If there were 3 Tests in the India-England series, we could have seen a much harder fought 2nd Test. The cricket administrators do not seem to get this at all.