Bangladesh cricket shows potentials
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Ahmed Khaled Rashid
THE crushing series victories of the Bangladesh cricket team in West Indies and Zimbabwe is being celebrated far and wide across the country. The cricketers are expected to get a hero's welcome. Plaudits have been pouring in from different quarters. Even the Prime Minister of the country was quick to congratulate the victors. This has been indeed an unprecedented successful run for the team, which is more used to consistent losses with occasional flashes in the pan. Notwithstanding the quality of the opponents, nothing can take the luster away the performance of the team. However, given the Bangladesh experience, it is easy to fall into the trap of complacency. We must take care not to cross the limit in singing the praises, just as we are overly scornful of the team while they are not doing so well.
West Indies fielded extremely weakened teams in both tests and one day internationals (ODIs) due to the disputes between the West Indies Cricket Board and the players association over remuneration matters. The new players looked very ordinary compared to the class of Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul or Taylor. Coupled with that most of the pitches in West Indies were spinner-friendly which played right into the hands of Bangladeshis. The West Indies cricket has been on the slide for the last few years -- a dearth of quality players together with management problems are not helping the situation. Even the full strength team has been very inconsistent. The team suffered miserable defeats in the tour of England prior to Bangladesh series. Zimbabwe cricket has been struggling with political and financial problems. The team has not recovered from the loss of a string of quality players (Streak, Flower brothers, Campbell, Johnson) a few years back and has been struggling to perform at the highest level with a bunch of relatively inexperienced players.
Both West Indies and Zimbabwe, in their current state, represented 'ideal' opponents for rampant Bangladeshis.
During the Zimbabwe trip, Bangladesh celebrated its 50th ODI victory. However, after the euphoria dies down, we must ask ourselves some tough questions. In total, Bangladesh has won 51 matches out of the 256 ODIs played.
The most compelling statistic is that Bangladesh has won only 8 matches against these seven opponents in 121 matches played (6.6% success rate!). Most of the ODI wins have come against Zimbabwe, Kenya and ICC associate member countries.
No doubt Bangladesh has played extremely well to secure wins against West Indies and Zimbabwe. The series were hard-fought and Bangladeshi players can take a lot of positives from the tours. The highlight was undoubtedly the captaincy and all round performance of Sakib Al Hassan. Good and solid opening batting partnerships (a rarity for Bangladesh) reduced the pressure on middle order. Improved fielding could be observed, specially catching, but still more room for improvement. Running between the wickets was better. Bangladeshi spinners were brilliant, taking advantage of favourable conditions and opponents' clear weakness against slow bowling. Wicket keeper Mushfiqur did an admirable job both with gloves and bat. The middle and lower middle order contributed significantly with the bat which demonstrated the all-round capabilities of the team. Team spirit seemed to be high - admirable camaraderie could be seen among the young guns. Overall we could see a string of good individual performances that helped the team to achieve the desired results. The concerns for Bangladesh were the clear lack of depth in pace bowling department (specially exposed after Mashrafee injury) and overdependence on spin. The weakness against genuine fast/ short bowling even in dead pitches was apparent. Overall, there were more positives than negatives in the tour.
These exceptional victories have given Bangladesh the momentum to go forward with the confidence and the winning flow into the next challenges. It will be important that we do not overdo the eulogy, keeping our foot firmly on the ground. We must continue with the same set of players, retaining captaincy with Sakib until Mashrafee is fully fit. In the long run, we must ensure that fast bouncier pitches are made at domestic level (it has been suggested over and over again by many but worth repeating), improve the overall pitch and ground facilities, improve facilities in divisional and district levels. The young 'Team Bangladesh' surely has the potential to do much much more. Let's not bask in glory for too long, let's endeavour to constantly improve like true professionals.
The writer can be reached at e-mail: ahmedkrashid@yahoo.com
THE crushing series victories of the Bangladesh cricket team in West Indies and Zimbabwe is being celebrated far and wide across the country. The cricketers are expected to get a hero's welcome. Plaudits have been pouring in from different quarters. Even the Prime Minister of the country was quick to congratulate the victors. This has been indeed an unprecedented successful run for the team, which is more used to consistent losses with occasional flashes in the pan. Notwithstanding the quality of the opponents, nothing can take the luster away the performance of the team. However, given the Bangladesh experience, it is easy to fall into the trap of complacency. We must take care not to cross the limit in singing the praises, just as we are overly scornful of the team while they are not doing so well.
West Indies fielded extremely weakened teams in both tests and one day internationals (ODIs) due to the disputes between the West Indies Cricket Board and the players association over remuneration matters. The new players looked very ordinary compared to the class of Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul or Taylor. Coupled with that most of the pitches in West Indies were spinner-friendly which played right into the hands of Bangladeshis. The West Indies cricket has been on the slide for the last few years -- a dearth of quality players together with management problems are not helping the situation. Even the full strength team has been very inconsistent. The team suffered miserable defeats in the tour of England prior to Bangladesh series. Zimbabwe cricket has been struggling with political and financial problems. The team has not recovered from the loss of a string of quality players (Streak, Flower brothers, Campbell, Johnson) a few years back and has been struggling to perform at the highest level with a bunch of relatively inexperienced players.
| Breakdown of Bangladesh ODI victories | ||
| Team | Wins | |
| Zimbabwe | 21 | |
| Kenya | 8 | |
| Scotland | 3 | |
| Ireland | 3 | |
| Bermuda | 2 | |
| Other Associates | 3 | (Canada 1, Hong Kong 1, UAE 1) |
| West Indies | 3 | |
| Others | 8 | (Australia 1, India 2, New Zealand 1, Pakistan 1, South Africa 1, Sri Lanka 2, England 0) |
| Total | 51 | |
During the Zimbabwe trip, Bangladesh celebrated its 50th ODI victory. However, after the euphoria dies down, we must ask ourselves some tough questions. In total, Bangladesh has won 51 matches out of the 256 ODIs played.
The most compelling statistic is that Bangladesh has won only 8 matches against these seven opponents in 121 matches played (6.6% success rate!). Most of the ODI wins have come against Zimbabwe, Kenya and ICC associate member countries.
No doubt Bangladesh has played extremely well to secure wins against West Indies and Zimbabwe. The series were hard-fought and Bangladeshi players can take a lot of positives from the tours. The highlight was undoubtedly the captaincy and all round performance of Sakib Al Hassan. Good and solid opening batting partnerships (a rarity for Bangladesh) reduced the pressure on middle order. Improved fielding could be observed, specially catching, but still more room for improvement. Running between the wickets was better. Bangladeshi spinners were brilliant, taking advantage of favourable conditions and opponents' clear weakness against slow bowling. Wicket keeper Mushfiqur did an admirable job both with gloves and bat. The middle and lower middle order contributed significantly with the bat which demonstrated the all-round capabilities of the team. Team spirit seemed to be high - admirable camaraderie could be seen among the young guns. Overall we could see a string of good individual performances that helped the team to achieve the desired results. The concerns for Bangladesh were the clear lack of depth in pace bowling department (specially exposed after Mashrafee injury) and overdependence on spin. The weakness against genuine fast/ short bowling even in dead pitches was apparent. Overall, there were more positives than negatives in the tour.
These exceptional victories have given Bangladesh the momentum to go forward with the confidence and the winning flow into the next challenges. It will be important that we do not overdo the eulogy, keeping our foot firmly on the ground. We must continue with the same set of players, retaining captaincy with Sakib until Mashrafee is fully fit. In the long run, we must ensure that fast bouncier pitches are made at domestic level (it has been suggested over and over again by many but worth repeating), improve the overall pitch and ground facilities, improve facilities in divisional and district levels. The young 'Team Bangladesh' surely has the potential to do much much more. Let's not bask in glory for too long, let's endeavour to constantly improve like true professionals.
The writer can be reached at e-mail: ahmedkrashid@yahoo.com