ZIM tour of BD 2014: buildup thread

Apparently the BCB has agreed to head coach, Chandika's suggestion to use the SG ball for the test series as it will supposedly assist the spinners. Only country to use SG balls is India (no surprise). May have an interesting effect since neither BD nor ZIM bowlers are used to this ball. Apparently, the SG ball doesn't offer the early swing that Kookaburra has.

We've also decided to bench our best seamer, Robiul, who was player of series in our last series in ZIM. Ridiculous move even if his form hasn't been of great especially when Rubel - who has the worst bowling average in Test history has made the squad and Al Amin has a good chance of being banned. In my opinion this is the XI that will be selected for the Mirpur Test on Saturday:

Tamim

Shamsur

Marshall

Mominul

Shakib

Mushfiq

Mahmudullah Riyad

Hom

Taijul

Shafiul

Al Amin

Hopefully Al Amin is benched until his action is cleared, even if it means Rubel playing. That lineup bats down to #8, and even Shafiul has a Test fifty to his name.

That Soumya Sarkar looks a very exciting prospect. Is he close to selection any time soon?

You should be feeling confident Kriterion, we are really going to have to have a standout effort from Hami or Taylor that the others support for us to challenge you guys.

@Jemisi - Yeah, I'm feeling confident - then again I felt the same in our last 2 trips to ZIM as well. I'd imagine most BD fans are feeling confident, but not bullish. They are probably expecting a win, even a TigerWash, but only because we're at home, not because we're a better side. One must bear in mind we were throttled in the 2 games we lost to ZIM (130 and 335 runs) and merely won comfortably in the other (143 runs). Thus we need to win convincingly in all 3 Tests (and the ODIs at least 4-1) to even start thinking we're better. Scraping by on 100 run wins or 3-4 wickets in the Tests won't do (unless the games are very low scoring, which is doubtful given our flat tracks).

We should be all the more confident given that we are pretty much at full strength. Sure Gazi is out, and Al Amin might be left out before he gets banned...but neither of them are that much better than the guys behind on the depth chart. Taskin too isn't yet fit or strong enough for Tests, and despite his limitless talent, he still has a bit to learn (I'd still throw him in if he was fit).

Zimbabwe are missing Utseya and Williams, and possibly Nyumbu. In my opinion, Williams is the lucky break for us. Class batsman and seems to have improved his bowling, and I'm not saying he's a genuine all rounder yet, but if he becomes one, thats worthy more than his weight in gold. To be fair, I don't think anyone in the BD camp would have worried about Utseya or Nyumbu. We're pretty good at handling spinners on our own tracks. I think it gives a good chance for Mushangwe to impress, and I think Wellington will be the biggest threat. We have a serious problem facing left arm spin (so don't feel too bad, guys, lol). Wellington took a ton of wickets for very few runs in the A series a couple weeks ago.

But overall, I think we're pretty confident going in. I started a poll on BC about prediciting Test series results - btw, you folks ought to join - and I didn't even bother to put an option for us losing the series. Call me cocky! I went with TigerWash, win, or draw.

@Crimson Avenger - yeah I'm big on Soumya. He's probably close to the limited overs side, but hasn't really done anything to warrant a Test call up. I do feel he's a very talented opener, and that is a position we lack resources in quite badly. I first noticed him during the 2012 Under-19 Asia Cup when he smacked a double century against Bahrain or Qatar as we posted 350+ before bowling them out for 36 with our left arm seamer, Abu Haider, taking video game figures of 9-16 (he could taken all 10, but the last man did not bat). Sadly that was not a youth ODI, otherwise we'd have broken batting and bowling records in the same game, lol.

I was feeling pretty confident a few weeks back but now with the banning of Utseya and the exclusion of Willy plus Nyumbu's injury I haven't got much faith ....

I was confident we could damage with this lineup

Hami

Raza

BRMT

Ervine

Willy

Waller / Regis

Chigs

Mutumbami

Utseya

Chatara

Nyumbu

3 spinners plus Waller, Chatara and Chigs to take the new ball, Batting down to No.9 and a solid top order. But now the whole dimension of the team has changed we have to sacrifice a batsman to play an extra spinner because Willy is out, we don't have a single spinner's wicket in our trio of Mushangwe, Wellington and Kamungozi, Chigs and Richie have to both one spot higher ( Unless Waller is played as the allrounder :cry: :cry: ), long tail plus now either Vusi or Chari have to come in at the top and Hami & BRMT drop down a spot to lengthen the batting. I feel the higher Hami & BRMT bat the better as the best time to bat will be against the new ball not when it's old and turning .....

Vusi

Raza

Hami

BRMT

Ervine

Chigs / Waller

Mutumbami

Wellington

Mushangwe

Chatara

Kamungozi / Panyangara

We dearly need to bat first in all 3 tests, BRMT is usually pretty good with winning the toss .....

Its unfortunate that players get banned and injured, but I guess a part of the game. I expect a few of our players to get injured during the tour at some point, espcially the lazy players who don't train the way they are supposed. Williams is the big miss, you have to sub 2 players to replace him and thats just not possible. Is he a bit over rated with the ball in the longer version tho?

He is rated highly relative to our options, not to a genuine international standard.

How confident will BD be in preparing decks, Kriterion? Will they go for turners confidently? Or will they prepare roads to ensure they don't lose any games, shooting for a 1-0 series result?

I noticed Jubair hossain was picked for the test squad .....

Yeah I'm hella stoked about Jubair. Its been a long time since we've debuted a teenager in Tests. He sounded very confident, cocky in fact, in an interview published in the leading English daily yesterday. No one has seen him play but he is our very very first leg spinner since we got test status!

Jemisi, the BCB seem to be trying to take full advantage of home field, so I wouldn't be surprised to see turners. Tho a flat wicket wouldn't surprise me either. But the inclusion of a novice kid like Jubair indicates very clearly what we intend to do. BCB are desperate to pass you so we don't have to play Ireland in the Test challenge! You guys are scheduled to tour for another 3 tests in 2016 again.