Anwar Hossain Monir

[Pundit]

Looks like we are growing a tradition of supplying ineffective medium pace bowlers.

[Mahmood]

Anwar has already proved his ineffectiveness. Why is he in this team!!!!

[Tehsin]

Beats me. He wasn't much effective in the league either. The criteria for selection is always odd.

I knowthat Anwar has played for the A team and the age group teams but there's a world of difference between those (he barely qualifies for the A team - Tapash and Talha are A team material).

[Tehsin]

I still don't get what they were upto but isn't it odd that the worst bowler got the most overs where the ones that got the wickets got less ? Also, Kapali bowled only 2 overs. Doesn't that show that they gave up even before they lost ?

I would have tried to get a couple morewickets before this was all over.

[CRIFAN]

I think BCB's goal is the wc'03. And I think they are using these test and odi series as practices. hOpe bangladesh do well in the world cup 2003. Hoo!

By the way, let me check,

I was

bd
bd_cricket2003
now CRIFAN

[Pundit]

CRIFAN - I very much agree witj you.

[opening_batsman]

I would like to say why everyone saying Anwar Hussain is no good. I watched the match live on Sky Sports Extra and thought that he did well considering it was his first match, infact he would've had 2 wickets if we had a second slip as twice catches from his bowling went through the slip area, he also bowled at a reasonable pace of 130 kph(81 mph) and was accurate. Tapash and Jubair started off really well, specially Tapash, he bowled fast 138 kph(86mph) and got the batsmen in trouble a few times. Jubair bowled well first but became wayward bowling short and wide, and also bowled a number of no balls. Bangladesh's bowling looks to have a good future.

[Pundit]

opening_batsman -

Thank you for the startling revalation ! At 138 Kmh you said ; the world "Fiery" almost comes to mind. Add 1-2 miles more to Tapash, and we have fast bowler.

I wonder then, why all the foreign press has been undermining our potential ? Duh, what were people really thinking, we have a national league for just 2 years, and they expected BD to compete shoulder to shouder.

Could someone please corroborate opening's data ?

[Shubho]

Opening_batsman is indeed correct. I watched the match live too. Although Tapash did not hit the 139 kph mark regularly, he did bowl at least a half dozen at that speed. The man indeed has pace. Talha managed to get up to about 135ish (that's kph). By the way, how old is the little tyke really? 16 my foot...22 more like. Must have failed his SSC at least 5 times. Anyway, he bowls well.

Anwar Hossain Monir...hmmm....who?...my point exactly! Where the hell did he come from? Hope he goes back straight where he came from.

Tapash and Talha...more of the same please, more of the same.

I can't wait 'til Mushfiq, Kowshik and Shanto are back in the fold. We'll rattle a couple of sides, that's for sure.

And how the hell do you slump from 150/6 to 151 all out? Our bowlers need to learn how to bat. Sorry, my mistake. They need to learn how to bowl. He he he.

[Tehsin]

86mph ? That sounds kinda fastish to me. If they were bowling at around that speed, they should have been able to do a little bit more than what they idd in the whole series. With 30 extras (bowled 25.4 overs), I thought they were a little off.
As for Monir, I am confused. I heard both sides and his performance suggests the later. I know it was his first match and he had to face South Africa of all teams so I am willing to give him a break but over the last two years, he hasn't really done much for the A team or in league matches.
Shubho, let's just say Talha is 16, going on 22. How does that make you feel ? Little tyke ? Khek.
The best thing about Talha nd Tapash is that they both can take wicket. Monir's two opportunities make me wonder why we did not have that second slip.
Also, a team should go into every match with a lot of preparation. Even the South Africans have probably sat down, looked at our previous tapes and planned a strategy. I wonder if our team (under the COACH) ever had those sessions. They can look at both their own wickets and those of the opponents so they know exactly how to bring 'em down.

[fwullah]

I also agree with opening_batsman - yes, Anwar Hossain Monir did bowl well. After all, he is our number 10 pace bowler and yet he showed so much in his bowling. Also he is not too wayward as Talha is at the end of his spell.

1) Monju
2) Mashrafe
3) Sharif
4) Tareq Aziz
5) Tapash
6) Talha
7) Mushfique Babu
8) Shanto
9) Alamgir Kabir
10) Anwar Hossain Munir.

I guess this is why our spinners do not do well in South Africa conditions - Anwar Hossain has never seemed to be bowling that well to take wickets in Bangladesh's turning tracks (I admit it that I have never seen him before until yesterday).

Anyway, Anwar seem to be bowling at good length spot - CONSISTENTLY. I mean - how better can you expect from a number 10 pace bowler?

I also believe that Anwar Hossain and Rafiqul Islam was given a chance yesterday to rest Monju (and if this is true - then I can bet that Monju is nowhere near his 23s - he is may be more like in his 28s somewhere) and to see exactly how good is Rafiqul Islam.

Either way, it was just a practice for our players (as well as to show some improvement) before the test matches.

[handle]

I would really scratch off Shanto and Mushfiq Babu. Mushfiq is a gentle medium pacer at best - and Shanto's days are long gone.

[handle]

Even Jason Gillespie, who is considered fast medium bowls around 135 regularly.

We need more bowlers like Masri, Talha and Tapash (if the rumors about him bowling at 138 is true), not like Sujon or Mushfiq.

On a related note, Manju seems to be a very popular bowler, despite the fact that he has taken only 17 wickets in 23-24 matches, has an average of almost 50 and a economy of nearly 5 !!

[opening_batsman]

Just like to clarify a few points.

Pollock was bowling the same pace as Anwar.
Tapash on average bowled 135kph, and the odd one at 138kph, this is similar to Donalds pace. Ntini was by far the fastest at 140+ kph.
Out of all the Bangladesh bowlers Anwar had the best line and length, so it's not all about speed, accuracy is important too. Anwar's figures didn't look as good as at least 8 runs were given away through the slip area. Angus Fraser in the sky sports studio said that the bowling wasn't a problem and that it is always hard for bowlers when you defend a low score. I think if Bangladesh bowled first they would've got more wickets. Why does Bangladesh bat first when they win the toss? It's best for Bangladesh to chase then post a score against world class sides like South Africa.

[Mahmood]

I believe his popularity came from his test performence, not ODI.

[Pundit]

Yes Handle, you are correct about Manju, but its probably because he is quite respected by the board members here as he has always been considered as a "fighter." He seems to be Mashud's equivalent in bowling.

But Manju seems to be on borrowed time, somewhat like Ashraful. Ever since that bowling effort against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, he really hasn't had that much luck. But unlike Ashraful, his "borrowed" time has been extended because of his economical runs (per over). We have seen him many a times coming back with likes such as 0/38, 0/45 etc of his full quota in ODIs.

I think folks will begin having a more serious look at him when the Talha, Taposh's gain more experience, and Masri is back. His ODI career might be a little longer because of his restraining abilities during the opening spell.

But he has failed miserably in SA. I guess that means one thing definitely -

Its only the super fasts that succeed in SA. Anybody know Warne, Saqlain, or Muttiah's record their ???

[handle]

Reading the posts and the match reports, sounds like we could've prevented some runs and gotten some wickets had pilot put on a second slip. Any comments from people who watched the games ?

[Pundit]

When was the 2nd slip removed - during the early part of the game, or during the middle stages (15th-40th over) ? Us TV-less folks need to find out that at first.

I guess since most of us here don't get to watch the games, we are left with too many unanswered/unnecessary questions.

[rafiq]

I'm curious if that is a personal preference list or if it is based on some kind of speed analysis. in addition to the previous comments about horrendous bowlers like shanto and mushfiq (quite possibly the worst bangladesh bowler in a Test so far), I think sharif and tareq aziz need to first prove themselves when they return from injury. sharif wasn't exactly deadly (or "fiery") in the past, why would he replace tapash or even a wayward talha on south african pitches. those two have had some success, have a tour under their belt and should be kept for the world cup.

a thousand changes is not going to make this a better team. to some extent they need to play as a unit. (similarly I dn't think we should waste time on rafiqul islam in this series if he is not going to be on the world cup team)

[Runtings]

We should continue to look at Anwar, esp in test matches (thus have a longer spell) to see if he improves.

We need to continue to see as we dont know how Masri, Sharrif and Tareq Aziz wil be like after injuries.

Our bigger problem is batting, as we cant get near 200 runs, and dont have replacement batters, unlike bowling!!!

[fwullah]

I am thinking of Shanto and Mushfique Babu in the side because although Shanto has less speed now, he is as experienced as Monju now and Mushfique is a future Sujon, for now.

And as so far that we have seen, we can't play spinners in the one day matches on bouncy and non-turning wickets like we would have liked to.