Kriterion_BD wrote:Unbelievable news! Taskin reported for chucking. I am enraged. No way to prove it of course, but my personal belief is that this is in response to the viral image of Taskin holding MS Dhoni's severed head. The timing and circumstance is extremely coincidental.
"Suspect action" is the right term for this, and I don't mean Taskin's bowling.
Was really hoping we'd get to about 70 odd. I think this is the lowest total in the past 20 years.
This was so bad I don't even think you can call it a collapse 😂
Bowlers being crap as usual, but while I'm pleased to see Nurul behind the stumps, he dropped a regulation catch. He's gonna have to take a blinder to make up flr that. But he does seem to have stopped a lot of byes and leg byes tha Mushfiq and Das would missed due to their shorter reaches.
Also surprised to see Jayed moved the ball prodigously both ways. Not surprised to see him trundling in at 125 clicks though. Did beat the bat more than any of our other so called seamers. He might have a role in the side moving forward as I can't remember the last time we had a bowler who actually swung a cricket ball.
Good thing I'll be driving tomorrow too. By the time I can tune in, the Windies should have declared and our batsmen should be lining up for some more pain.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Honestly, I'm shocked. But that itself is probably ill-placed because after 15 years of following Bangladesh cricket, only a very naive person would be shocked by anything. You name it, and its not out of reach.
But this is probably something that was bound to happen given the relative short sightedness of the cricketing powers that be. This pitch was not unplayable (but not as flat as the South African wickets on which we also crumbled last year). Nor was it a 400 run wicket. We ended up doing both for obvious reasons namely we can't bat and we have no pace attack.
Now the real question is why can't we bat and why don't we have any pacers. Asides from the fact that Bangladesh is not a very good cricketing nation - which there is nothing you can do about - you are what you are; there are systemic failures all over the system. I've mentioned them before on this forum and probably on this very thread. Without getting into too much detail, focusing too much on T20 cricket and practically ignoring the longer version has led to this point. The BPL is now the be all and end all for Bangladesh. The A team is virtually non-existant. One series vs a Sri Lanka or West Indies every 2 years is nothing when the Indian A team plays several series against A teams from England, South Africa, and Australia every season.
The main problem is there has been absolutely no planning whatsoever. Why was the current BD-SL A team tour scheduled concurrently with this series? Had it been a month earlier (weather is still s**t) we'd have some idea of which fast bowlers might do well on tour instead of picking useless guys like Rubel and Rabbi and limited has-beens like Shafiul. Mosaddek could have gotten into enough form to force his way into the XI (scored 135 in his only innings in current A team series) instead of a limited batter like Mahmudullah.
As for the Windies, they are a much improved side as proven by their wins in England and vs PAK in the UAE. But they are still inconsistent and they'd have been thrashed by a team like Australia in these exact conditions. Still, the WI finally have a bunch of talented Test cricketers who actually want to play rather than a bunch of T20 divas, and that can only be a good thing.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
I would like to think even Zimbabwe could have put up a better effort against the Windies.
My All-time Zimbabwe XI
Neil Johnson, Brendan Taylor, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower (w), David Houghton, Sean Williams, Heath Streak (c), Andy Blignaut, Paul Strang, Eddo Brandes, Blessing Muzarabani
This Sabina Park wicket is quite similar to a typical subcontinent track. No grass, turning quite a bit even on day 1. I predict this will become a minefield by days 4 and 5 if we get that far.
There are very few excuses if Bangladesh don't bat well here. 350-400 at least, more if the Windies rack up well in excess of 500. Granted we got 2 of the most friendly surfaces in SA and failed miserably with the bat in 3 out of 4 innings. And the Antigua surface was anything but unplayable. Merely a very good sporting wicket.
Apart from the continued presence of Mahmudullah - who as the newly appointed vice captain will probably be hard to dislodge - this is Bangladesh's best batting lineup at 1-8. There is no dearth of experience either so these guys need to step up as its been a while since they've shown some fight.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Bangladesh has regressed badly over the past couple of years. We were never competitive overseas, but we used to put up some resistence. However, I think this batting lineup is about as strong as it can be. We just need to drop Mahmudullah for good and its pretty much our best top 8 at the moment.
Bowling wise Jayed did better than I had expected he would. But he's ideally a 3rd seamer and not the spearhead of an attack. The spinners bowled fairly well for the most part, but you have to remember the Windies don't play spin well at all.
Despite the shambolic performances, I doubt Steve Rhodes is thinking of making too many wholesale changes.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Congrats to Kriterion... Bangladesh's first ever innings victory and it has come against the Windies as they seal the series 2-0. Fantastic stuff but at the same time it is heart breaking to see a team having such a great legacy losing in such embarassing fashion to Bangladesh.
T20 has killed WI cricket more than any other country.
The big three are really emphasising their importance aren't they. All three of Hasan, Mushy and Tamim scoring half centuries, with nothing else to report. The Tiger's batting really needs to improve dramatically
Not sure if it's always been this way but it seems lately batting 2nd in Bangladesh is vital in ODI's due to the dew factor, has it always been such an advantage ?
Its not surprising that there is such incompetent umpiring in BD. Almost every domestic season has comtroversies with players expressing dissent and getting in trouble.
That being said, DRS should be available for use in any situation to dispute umpires calls and or the 3rd umpire should be able correct wrong decisions even if players are unaware.
The other factor is all 3 formats should employ neutral umpires. Thank god Tests do. Umpire errors should not be allowed to ruin matches. Thankfully, the Windies managed to overcome it in this series.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Looking at the recent Test series here are my marks out of 10
Tamim Iqbal - 8.5/10 Disappointing ODI series but he killed it in the Tests with 278 runs @69.5 with a century and two more fifty plus scores. He really took apart the Kiwi bowling striking at over 80!!! Disappointing his heroics weren't rewarded.
Shadman Islam - 5.5/10 Four innings four starts no fifty plus scores shows he's a player with promise but also really should have go on for a couple of big scores considering the pitches were fairly placid (even the Green Monster). Looks to be a player for the future, but the same has been said for many a Bangladeshi opener.
Mominul Haque - 1/10 No arguments granted here Mominul was utterly hopeless on this tour, I like Mominul but the truth is he can only score on flat tracks at home, even on these docile pitches he was caught out and his weakness against the short ball is one he can't seem to overcome. Maybe he needs to move down the order away from home?
Mohammed Mithun - 2.5/10 One decent score of 47 but apart from that single figures, not sure if he's a Test player and probably not in the side if Shakib is fit anyways. The constant failures of Mominul and Mithun are what really killed the Bangladeshi batting, Numbers 3 & 4 should be where the premier batsman score the big runs.
Souyma Sarker - 6.5/10 Hard to judge Sarker because his 149 was top shelf but the rest of his outings were poor, the story of his career so far, dashes of utter brilliance surrounded by a string of failures. If he can ever become consistent he might be the best Bangladeshi batsman in the side, as mentioned by Kriterion he needs to learn to hit the ball on the ground more, took a couple of wickets as well.
Mahmudullah - 7.5/10 Good series by the stand in captain scoring a ton and a fifty although both were in the 2nd innings after the result was pretty much done. Probably should have batted @4 to save Mithun but he's spent the majority of his career down @ 6 or 7. Took one wicket in the only over he bowled, he's a better bowler than people think and if he's going to bat 6 or 7 he should bowl more IMO.
Liton Das - 2.5/10 Two starts but a poor series all round for Das who really has disappointed me in recent times, looks a good player but can't make the scores. Back to the domestic competition or even some A tours IMO so he can work his game out, still a player for the future but you can't keep carrying these guys.
Mehidy Hasan - 1.5/10 Bowled a lot of overs in the 1st Test before being rightfully dropped, his accurate spinners might work at home on a dusty Mirpur pitch but he's proven to be ineffective in foreign conditions. Granted bowling off-spin in NZ is about as appealing as a holiday in Baghdad, but he needs to be at least keeping one end tight if he can't take wickets. 50 overs @5 an over really isn't anywhere close to being good enough, did nothing with the bat either.
Taijul Islam - 5/10 Bowled fairly well to be fair and took a couple of wickets after replacing Mehidy for the 2nd Test, probably a bit expensive but looking at the series as a whole the majority of the bowlers went for over 4 an over. Definitely a better bowler than Mehidy IMO especially overseas, the fact Shakib bowls SLA as well and Mehidy is a better batsman will probably mean he will continue to have limited chances.
Abu Jayed - 6/10 Maybe a bit generous considering he only took 3 wickets, but he was the best Bangladeshi bowler and his fielders really let him down. Still has plenty to learn and needs to find a way to be effective or at least economical when the ball stops moving, but he's the best Test seamer they have IMO despite his lack of pace.
Ebadat Hossain - 2/10 Showed promise and had some decent pace but one wicket for the series and going for four and half an over it's hard to give him much more than a two. Definitely one for the future and would benefit from playing more games overseas in conditions that suit him.
Mustafizur Rahman - 1/10 Disappointing tour in all for the Fizz especially considering they only played him the one Test, isn't he suppose to be the leader of the attack?? I think he's very much overrated as a Test bowler and I think it would be in his best interest to retire from Tests and concentrate on limited overs stuff, considering he seems to miss every 2nd Test anyways.
Khaled Ahmed - 1/10 Wicket-less than dropped it's hard to give him more than a 1 but IMO despite the fact he's gone two Tests without getting a wicket he's still got more potential than the majority of seam bowlers in the Country. Much like Abu and Ebadat he would benefit from bowling more often in conditions that suit him.
All in all not too much to write home about apart from Tamim, Mahmudullah and Souyma's one innings, but considering they were missing Shakib & Mushy and they couldn't take a catch it's hard to expect them to do much better. Their recent journeys away from the Sub-continent (in Tests) has shown they are making little to no improvement with the ball, especially seam bowling. Maybe it's because they continue to bring in guys throw them in the deep end then discard them? or maybe it's just a fact that Bangladesh will never produce quality seam bowlers?
I think it's the former rather than the latter, so many guys come in look good but don't get wickets and then they're gone!!! For guys like Ebadat & Khaled like the guys who toured last time in Kamrul & Roy, they've probably never seen pitches like this let alone bowled on them. If Baangladesh are serious about improving in overseas Tests (which I don't think they care about) they really need to be sending these guys on more A tours or even better still arrange Test series in Ireland & Zimbabwe to at least give these guys a chance to find their feet.
Against the likes of Williamson, Taylor and co. these guys have no chance, they're getting belted for 4 or 5 an over and they're not learning anything, at least against the Irish or Zimbos they won't be blown off the park, once they find their feet and start to even possibly get the better off their opposition in such conditions they'll be better served to invade NZ and other such places.
Obviously Ireland and Zimbabwe would struggle to fund more than 1 home Test against Bangladesh, but if the BCB are serious about improving they should be able to work out a way to make a 3 Test series possible in partnership with the host, I'm sure Rabbithole or who ever the local broadcaster in Bangladesh would happily televise the series considering the time zone it should make for prime time viewing back home.
Tamim did fantastic. Shadman is the most solid opener we've had since Tamim. Mominul just needs more time to acclimate and adjust his technique...those leaves are fine at home, but he gets out to terrible balls overseas. Should be very easy to fix. Mithun, Soumya, Liton simply don't belong at this level, 2 of them will be replaced by Mushy and Shakib. Riyad did very well, hope he's turning a corner like he did in ODIs in 2015. Miraz and Taijul both struggled, but Miraz is only 21. The 6'2" Nayeem may have been the better off spin option in these conditions. Jayed bowled well, good swing, accurate early on, improved his pace a bit. Ebadat also showed promise with his aggression, but wasn't as quick I was expecting him to be. Khaled really has just one role he can fill and thats to be the guy who just plugs away a line and length all day and forces batsman into making errors. Fizz is most likely only suited to bowling in ODIs or Tests in conditions where the ball reverses.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
The BCB really doesn't bother much about away Tests. I'm totally surprised this tour wasn't curtailed to 2 Tests (which is what NZ plays mostly these days) given its a world cup year. I'm thankful they didn't, but in the end it was a 2 Test series after all (thanks to Mr Neo-Hitler shenanigans in Christchurch).
How they develop the fast bowlers will dictate how they do in future obviously. The BCB doesn't seem to believe in A team tours anymore either, and really only seem to be focused on the BPL and Dhaka Premier Division league. Hopefully, the Test league will create some impetus. It was the threat of missing out altogether that forced the BCB to start making pitches that BD could win or draw on at home. Since they can't exert the same control on overseas pitches, they will actually have to do the hard work of developing players properly. And that costs money, which they have enough of. Hopefully, they get what needs to be done done.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.