I have read the article by Lara and I guess he is ruing his bravado now. But I have a bad feeling that he might just sneak in and save his skin (captaincy).
If we look at the history of Sabina Park, this has been a heaven for good swing bowlers. Look at the first 3 tests against Englang..Harmison in the 1st test, Harmison and Jones in the 2nd test, Harmison, Jones, Hoggard, Flintoff in the 3rd test - were the chief destroyers of the WI batting lineup. These are all tall good paced natural swing bowlers. So Sabina Park proved to be a good hunting place for them (and possibly becoz this WI team is not as formidable as before). And this is where we might lag behind. Apart from Mashrafee (who will be greatly missed here), we dont have natural swing bowlers (I am not taking anything away from Mushfiq, Tapash and Tareq). So if the Tigers want to emulate their performance at Sabina Park, the bowlers must bowl at a tight length with considerable pace, the ball must constantly whizz past the batsman's chest level and THEY MUST hold on to the catches. Rana is a good choice, but I am still concerned about Hannan and that he will once again gut the team by getting out cheaply. It can't be easy for him, he must have tremendous pressure on him to perform, he maybe the only player in the team without any significant contribution in the series so far. So I would have prefered to see another face in the team in his place without those cobwebs, but it appears that the selectors have stuck with Hannan for this match.
My advice - Move Hannan from the cordon area and place him anywhere but slip, cover, point and gully. For our batsmen, they must..I repeat must refrain from the urge to Hook and Pull. Bashar must stop hitting those balls in the air, he has been lucky so far, but his luck might change and we dont want the team to lose the most successful batsman due to this foolhardy attitude. Its difficult to restrain the natural tendency, but he must do it for the team. Golla must refrain for moving his feet too much and playing across the line as he tends to do, and must vow to stick around until tea session of the first innings, not throw away his wicket as he does in his 20s or 30s. Ashraful is good, but I wonder how this dimunitive guy's gonna handle balls whizzing past his throat all the time and not hook or pull them..(its not flat and placid like Sri Lankan pitch)! As for Rana, my advice is not to try too hard to prove his worth. If necessary, take 5 overs to just settle down without scoring any runs, and to curb his natural ODI style instinct. It would be worth watching how patient he is! No advice for Rajin, Pilot, Rafique, Tapash and Tareq. They are doing fine, and doing more than they are asked to DO! But for Mushfiq, I would suggest to rethink his batting strategy. He is in the team as an all-rounder. So he must properly utilize the seventh slot he has been allocated in the batting lineup, and not waste it. He is the last one who shields the tail from the bowlers (although we cant call Rafique as taill.can we?), and he better do it right.
Finally - Omari Banks is back. He got 4 wickets against BD in a practice match in St.Vincent earlier. So it would be worth seeing how our batsmen fair against him. I dont know - but I have a sinking feeling in my stomach...!!!
BTW..can anyone tell me how someone becomes ODI cricketer, test cricketer etc., how mant posts you need to write before you are elevated to a senior position?
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