The cost of Sujon

[Mahmood]

Bangladesh had South Africa on the mat early on, but the absence of another frontline slow bowler to back up Mohammad Rafique - who bowled beautifully to finish with 4 for 59 - cost them dear as South Africa recovered from the worrisome total of 63 for 4 to finish the first day of the second Test at 264 for 6.

---- CricInfo

We could and should have used Sanwar/Moni knowing the spin pitch and SA's weakness to it.

[Edited on 1-5-2003 by Rajputro]

[nasifkhan]

yes its true.........

sujon is basically doing nothing for the team in tests....... he cant take wckts nor cant score runs......... it would be better if we drop him and take moni or sanwar.....surely that would have added strength to our team.........

i think sujon should be the captain of the one day side........ and sumon could lead the test side.

[Ockey]

Well, there were a couple of good things about Sujon in this game. His bowling figures were good and his bowler rotations was better than the last game. Let's hope he takes the new ball when he should and pray he keeps his head for the next four days.

For those who saw the actual game, could you comment on the field placement and the BD fielding.

Frankly, I don't understand why Sanwar or Moni couldn't replace Akram. They can be used as frontline bowlers and they can score the same number of runs on average.


[Edited on 1-5-2003 by Ockey]

[Pundit]

Ockey, your asserion is with the benefit of hindsight.

Have you thought what Adams can do (I hope I am wrong) if Rafique can do this ?

Just because we've had another good session, we are beginning to think that we could have won the game.

Do all Bengalis, whether on or off the field think alike ?

[Mahmood]

That comment was from a non bengali cricinfo reporter.

They implied if BD had another slow bowler, they could have continued the pressure. Having Sujon costed us the 4th bowler.

What does a bangaly got anything to do with this?

[Piranha]

I thin the situation is opposite. Sujon's accurate bowling early on created enhough pressur for the spinners to take wickets. Of course we lacked another good spinner, beut dileep did not mean that we should have taken another spinner and droped a bastmen or something. He is just saying that if Alok Kapali had been at the same level as rafique, SA would have been in trouble.

I think we picked an ok side. I am happy to give sujon more chances if he can keep up decent bowling chnages, and he puts some pressure on the batsmen. he needs to get some runs though.

He'd better take the new ball immediately tommorow morning.

For once, Well done Bangladesh! I am very hapy to see this scorecard.

[Mahmood]

I dont know man. I would be happier if Sanwar was there for Sujon. His off spin has been effective against SA.

[Sham]

In such conditions, new balls just come on to the bat quicker and make it easier for the batsmen to score some runs. On a turning pitch, we have an old ball with a spinner bowling beautifully, and everyone wants the new ball. Firstly, Masri is half injured, and even if he wasn't, he hasn't been very effective. Sujon can bowl a few maidens but he is not a wicket taker. So Tapash is the only new ball bowler we have. Shouldnt we rather give Rafique a go with the old ball in the morning? I know I would. The new ball is not a magic object, and usually in the sub-continent, helps the batsmen much more than the bowlers.

Also, I think Sanwar or Moni in place of Sujon would have been a good idea. Sujon's maidens helped, there is no doubt about it. But we can't pick a Test bowler because he can bowl some maidens. With another frontline bowler in place of Sujon, we really would have done a little better today, especially in the periods with SA were dominating with the bat and our three frontline bowlers were all exhausted. However, Sujon is the captain so what can you do?

[rafiq]

asking for a spinner instead of sujon ignores the fact that he is the captain for the series and was not going to be dropped. although we don't know that akram won't score a glorious double century, in hindsight I agree his slot could have been given to a spinner. sanwar would have had the edge over moni because sanwar is officially a batsman, although moni is the "frontline spinner" between the two.

ideally, moni should have replaced sujon. less ideally, sanwar would have replaced akram. but in reality none of these happened, or can be allowed to happen, so we have what we have.

i can't remember the last time we played moni and rafique together and i think there were some reasons given re: bowling styles. but it sure would have been nice to have them have a go once. like our 4-pacer team before the world cup. the bd selectors like a balanced bowling attack, regardless of whether the wicket justified being a little bolder or not.

[Pundit]

Raj - not quite sure what you mean by cricinfo reports? I was responding to Ockey's last paragraph, and that should be obvious !

[sheshprohor]

I think BD team still needs a firm commitments from its batsman. Due to the lack of confidence in our batting side we still are shy to apply the technique of '4 bowlers'. 265/6 is not a bad achievement, specially after the thrushing bat-lightening of SA in the 1st test match. All we need to capture a couple of early wickets in the second day. SA will most probably aim for 400 and If we can restrict their runs, they will have to bat at least 70 overs; which will be near the tea break after the lunch.
We then have to focus on to drag the play on to the 4th day. If BD can bat upto the 4th day their score should reach 300.

I think there is a good chance of a 5-day playing; even a test draw. we just need 3 players to play at least 30 overs each.

Good luck !!

Prohor

[fwullah]

In another circumstances, I would agree with sheshprohor completely. Only in this case, I would have to say that scoring 300 in the 2 innings (that is, 150 + 150) - would be an ideal scenario after what our bowlers showed.

But my fears are that we might score around 100 in one innings and then we will score around 180 to 200 in another innings in the way of a fightback.

[Ockey]

Pundit, I really don't know what gave you the impression that I was under an illusion that "we could have won the game". I am a ardent fan of BD cricket and have been for some time. I, along with many on this board, are very well aware of the limitations of the BD team. Experience has taught me to expect the worst.

I am also aware of Adams' demolition act in the last test and his ball turining capability. In fact I'll go as far as saying he is going to wreck havoc on the BD team once more.

Perhaps I was not clear in my last most so let me break them down and list out the points again:

- Sujon has not under-performed as bowler in the second test.
- Sujon made better captaining decisions in the second test (or so it seems from the reports)
- I hope Sujon continues to play and captain well for rest of the match
- I did not get a chance to watch the game and was wondering if BD's fielding had improved from the last game. I read Selim missed a chance to dismiss a wicket once more; I was wondering if the others had performed better
- Sanwar or Moni should have replaced Akram. Akram has never used his experience to make his mark with the bat in tests and so his place in the team is not warrented.

I am not being facetious about what I had said; I just can't figure out how you could draw your conclusions from the points I made above. In future, with all due respect, do not assume any methaphorical or figurative meaning to my messages. Although, I have been blessed to be able to attain a good education, I am certainly not as erudite as you.

And dude, what's with this:
"Do all Bengalis, whether on or off the field think alike ?"

If that is a question then my answer would be: "no all Bengalis don't think alike."

If that is a retorical question, and forgive me if I am wrong, I would say: "I am as frustrated as you are with the mentality of some of the players but to think that the I along with all the "Bengalis" suffer from the same complacency is surely sweeping statement without any basis."

[Ockey]

Sham you are quite right- an old ball given the condition of the pitch should turn. But when BD spin bowlers can't get a wicket with a ball that is 30 overs past due, one starts to wonder if it would be wise to get a new ball and try the pace bowlers for a change.

[Ockey]

We got to get Pilot back into the team. If I was Masud, I would have done much worse things to the players during the WC than what has been alleged. His ability as a Test batsman, if not a wicket keeper, cannot possibly be questioned. BCB has to find a better way of punishing players who are in form and arguably the most committed but don't want to be their puppet.

And Akram has to go. Replacing Akram with Pilot and Sujon with a spin bowler (Sumit, Sanwar, Moni)and keeping the current line up will, I belive, give us the best Test team we can have from the current pool of players.

Sujon's experience can still be used in the One Day version of the game. The problem is having a two captain policy might not work well with BD as it has with other test playing nations, given the current mental state of the players and the number of times each player has been dropped. The only player I can see leading a test team is Basher and he has only begun to regain his form after being recently dropped. So we might be stuck with Sujon for a while.