Next target: Mastering the short version

[Kabir]

With Bangladesh storming their way into the Super 8s stage of World Cup 2007, we have paved our path into the world of Big Boys' League. Surely we have done it with the right talents that suit the matches played with fifty overs in hand. But what happens when we have to play under nature's rule? What happens if the limited over match turns out to be even shorter than expected? May be our first match in the Super 8s against Australia may help us analyze the situation.

Rain has dominatd the day match with a wet outfield, which caused a frustrating five hour delay in the match, resulting in the match being played with twenty-two overs for each side. Soon, the game plan with all the bells and whistels about plans for batsmen to settle down in the wicket, bowlers to take advantage of the wicket's condition, and rules to be observed during the match has changed. What used to be a 10 over quota on each bowler, turned out to be a 5 over quota for maximum 2 bowlers, and 4 overs quota for the other 3 bowlers. Rules for powerplay changed to 9 overs. The strategies of the batsmen for settling down in the wicket changed to a much shorter tactic that needed to improvise on the playing conditions for making sure that the runs keep adding to the scoreboard.

The question I would like to ponder here is, do you really think that our players have the right skills and experiences for handling such a situation? I certainly do not think so. We need to look at it from different perspectives, to understand where our players lack the consistency and imagination. I would like to approach it from two aspects. First, it is the sense of urgency that needs to be questioned. And second, it is the amount of control on the bat and the ball that needs to be given a major focus. Let us take a look at it.

Sense of urgency

The sense of urgency relates to the need among all the players to judge the situation effectively, and play according to the situation. This is certainly a key issue in our team that may be seen even in the full 50-over format of the limited over game. Our top order often fails to deliver. And when in the panic mode, our middle order wobbles. In the 50-over format, this may be the danger sign. The players have enough time to stick to the idea of saving the wickets for later use, rather than throwing them away in trying to score a few more runs.

Compare that with the way we have played the match against Australia. Before going to the field, we were all well aware of the over reduction. It did not happen some time during the match, and so uncertainty cannot be given a benefit of the doubt. However, even after knowing about the over reduction well in advance, our top order remained fragile, while our middle order played absolutely in a 50-over format fashion. The sense of urgency did not work in our middle order batsmen. Thanks to Mashrafee Mortaza for his quick 25 run innings from 17 balls at a scoring rate of 147.05. Compare that with Habibul Bashar's 24 runs from 43 balls at a scoring rate of 55.81, and Saqibul Hasan's 25 from 36 balls at a scoring rate of 69.44.

Looking at the above situation, it only seems to me that when Habibul Bashar and Saqibul Hasan were playing in the middle, they were more concerned with keeping wickets in hand than trying to accelerate for a good score even by risking the wickets. Why would losing wickets in this match be acceptable? It is simply because of the fact that even if we scored 20 to 30 extra runs at the expense of losing 3 more wickets, there would not have been any potential shortage of batsmen towards the end. Remember that we also had Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, and Tapash to bat. All three of them have been effective with the bat in a few occasions. And they certainly would not have had a scoring rate that is less than that of Bashar and Saqib.

Amount of control

Personally, I was impressed with Tamim Iqbal's ability to connect the bat with the ball at the begining of the innigs. However, he could not find the gaps, make use of the field restrictions, and ultimately gave away his wicket out of frustration. When Bashar and Saqib were playing in the middle, they have tried to score some quick runs without any success. Mistiming the shot, bad placement, slow outfield, and lack of aggression in the batsmen are the causes of this. These certainly made the difference, and one after the other our batsmen failed to show any control over their shots. However, two batsmen that are worth cheering for in this case areAftab Ahmed and Mashrafee Mortaza. Almost certainly Aftab has played controlled shots, but was caught with a good catch by Nathan Bracken. And Mashrafee's 25 from 17 balls does not leave me with much to say.

In the field, our bowlers and fielders made a superb effort in controlling the extras. There were no extras given, meaning that the field placement was top notch. However, I truly believe our bowling needed to be a bit more aggressive. In a Twenty20 style match, bowling figures of 3 overs for 21 runs is not unheard of. Razzak also had a superb bowling figure of 15 runs from 3 overs. But it only seemed like that Mashrafee was having his day out there, with only 20 runs given from 4 overs. That is a superb bowling figure for a Twenty20 match.

From these figures, it looks like only a few of our bowlers have been able to deliver appropriately for the match. No, I do not mean to say that they lack any abilities. However, they do have the inability to bowl tight, and restrict runs. Compare the 10 overs by Mashrafee, Razzak, and Rafique that gave away 56 runs with the remaining 3.5 overs bowled by Tapash, Aftab, and Saqib that gave away 55 runs!

With Twenty20 World Cup 2007 knocking on the door, I truly hope that the Tigers focus on these two areas for greater success. Yes, experience in this format of the match is an important issue. If our Tigers have to play better game in the days coming ahead, they must master the short version of the game. That will help us in both the full 50-over format of the match, as well as the matches that are at the mercy of nature.

[shane2k]

You have hit the nail on the head. Even in the game with Bermuda BD did show a considerable amount of confusion when it came to chasing the run. They seemed not sure with the approach, should they be hitting from the first over or take it slow, for how long should they take it slow in a 20over match, these were the questions that seemed unanswered in their play. We sure do have the ability but need a plan.

Yes, the bowlers also need to find the plan of bowling. Example, depending on a batsman deliver 3 lofty balls where first 2 of the same speed and length but the third one of less speed making the batsman lose time. Such kind of variation and flavor needs to become more present in our bowlers. They are all young and have faith this will grow but urgency is now.

[Miraz]

Very good one Kabir. I might disagree to some points but you have put sufficient logic behind your thoughts.

A front page material.

[Kabir]

Thanks shane2k and Miraz bhai. Your inputs are always welcome.

Miraz bhai: these ideas are highly subjective, so disagreements are taken as logical.

[Yasin]

Keep up the good work. Intresting article except for the title. Mastering the shorter version. Well we havent mastered ODIs and Tests so far, but I guess it will be easier to master 20/Twenty. Young blood, no fear, handy all rounders and Bangladesh may go a long way in 20/twenty. Best of luck Bangladesh.

[Kabir]

Thanks Yasin bro.

I think a few of my thoughts have been misinterpreted by the readers. And that is normal. But what I was trying to get to is that, when you compare our experience in Tests and ODIs, our mindset is much stronger than the Twenty20. I have tried to prove that sufficiently.

One more thing that's important, as I've pointed out, is play with the rhythm of the moment...even in Tests you may have to speed up your scoring rate if it's the final day, and you've got 20 overs to score 120 runs. I took Twenty20 as an example. May be I'll edit my work a little bit and clarify thoughts on it.

[tiger_club]

Don’t forget, there is a different technique use for the Twenty20 match than ODI and test.. for example AUS use light bat and practice with the little rubber bouncy ball.. which is very hard to hit but gives you lot of confidence.. when you play Twenty20 then it is all about accuracy and timing of the ball.. you need to be quick and also you need to hit the ball in the safe direction.. what we do? we often hit the bad balls and hope that it lands safe.. also we are way to slow to hit the ball..

Where we can improve? foot work must, using different bating technique and we need to be quick.. not just to hit the ball also use it for defense.. you never know when your middle stamp will be targeted.. AUS, NZ and SA uses very similar strategy for the ODI match and that’s why they are very competitive and can easily score over 300. We are no where near them. That means we really need to pull off our weight and work extra hard to gain that confidence back.. there will be always weakness to batsman or bowler no matter how good you are.. we need to find that quickly before the opposition find ours..

One advice to our team "Please use your brain not strength"

Good luck and all the best for the rest of the super 8 matches..

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by tiger_club
for example AUS use light bat and practice with the little rubber bouncy ball.. which is very hard to hit but gives you lot of confidence.. when you play Twenty20 then it is all about accuracy and timing of the ball..

That's actually something new...never knew that. Quite interesting I must say. I think they're getting their results with those big scores already.

[Spitfire_x86]

20-20 should be the lowest priority. If there was an way to pull out from the 20-20 WC, I would suggest doing that.

We don't want another distraction when we are yet to win a test match against a decent opposition.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by Spitfire_x86
20-20 should be the lowest priority. If there was an way to pull out from the 20-20 WC, I would suggest doing that.

We don't want another distraction when we are yet to win a test match against a decent opposition.

And this format takes away all the hard work a batsman puts on rectifying technical flaws. Khali ura dhura bat chalano ar ki.

By the way, nice article. front page material.

[Nafis_BD]

great article Kabir bhai I agree with all the points and I think that BCB should arrange more 20/20 cricket matches for BD!!!

[tiger_club]

Originally Posted by Kabir
That's actually something new...never knew that. Quite interesting I must say. I think they're getting their results with those big scores already.

Another secret to Aus batting success is the baseball technique.. they have baseball coach who taught them how to make homeruns (6) it terms of urgency

You probably noticed it already by looking at Hayden and Gill, how they hold the bat to attack the bowlers..

Now days it is all about technology than physical strength.. Aus team knows their winning formula and we are still looking to find the recipe..

[tiger_club]

One more secret – Aus cricketer loves playing computer generated video game. Specially PS2 cricket e.g. Ricky Ponting cricket, Cricket 2007 and etc

Why do they play? When you play chess vs. the computer – how does the computer knows where to make the next move? Playing video games gives them more confidence and help them to rectify their weakness. strange but somewhat true..

[Miraz]

It's now in the front page ..

BanglaCricket Articles

Next step: mastering the short version
Imran Kabir
With Bangladesh storming their way into the Super 8s stage of World Cup 2007, we have paved our path into the world of Cricket Elites. We achieved our world cup goal with the help young talents who are somehow inexperienced with different circumstances. Our young brigade proved their potential in 50 over matches. But what happens when we have to play under nature's rule? What happens if the limited over match turns out to be even shorter than expected? May be our Super 8s opener against Australia may help us analyze the situation.
Read article »

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Spitfire_x86
20-20 should be the lowest priority. If there was an way to pull out from the 20-20 WC, I would suggest doing that.

We don't want another distraction when we are yet to win a test match against a decent opposition.

You actually took the wrong meaning of it...and I think the writing creates a bit of ambiguity about what style of cricket I'm referring to. I'm talking about ODIs, Tests, and Twenty20...all of these. All I'm saying is, the team needs to learn how to play depending on the situation. Their styles should change according to the needs. And this doesn't change when we have a shorter number of overs left for the team, which the team can use effectively to secure a possible win. So the shorter version is referring to a "situation within the game, where a short length of the game can be used effectively for securing a win". I'm not only talking about Twenty20.

BTW...this is important for Tests as well. Compare how Bashar played in the Australia match...taking singles for the most part. Is that realistic? Would that have been realistic if we had 20 overs of play left in a Test match, with 100 to win?

[tiger_club]

How we can gain momentum and speed requires to face the top teams?

Kung fu is the solution. By learning Kung fu we can master the foot works and also hand movements.. It sounds stupid but I am confident that it will work. It will also help you to gain adequate mental and physical strength requires facing the toughest team.

I think apart from swimming, running and gym, we should consider learning this martial art. When we hold the bat, we need to remember that bowler is not our enemy, it’s the ball. We need to target the ball as soon it hits the pitch and be prepared to hit the ball where you desire..

What do you guys reckon?

[Yasin]

Originally Posted by tiger_club
How we can gain momentum and speed requires to face the top teams?

Kung fu is the solution. By learning Kung fu we can master the foot works and also hand movements.. It sounds stupid but I am confident that it will work. It will also help you to gain adequate mental and physical strength requires facing the toughest team.

I think apart from swimming, running and gym, we should consider learning this martial art. When we hold the bat, we need to remember that bowler is not our enemy, it’s the ball. We need to target the ball as soon it hits the pitch and be prepared to hit the ball where you desire..

What do you guys reckon?

I agree completely. And its not only Kund Fu. Variety is the spice of life. They should try to do different things. Play table tennis...deym it improved my timing... play basket ball to increase your speed....football to increase your stamina...in other words do different things during training....it wont be boring and you will always be learning and also benefitting from what they are doing.

[tiger_club]

here is one more secret.. Aussie and kiwi players love playing golf.. but why? may be to get familiar with the speed or to get the accuracy right? I am not so sure.. they seem to enjoy this sport quite well..

[Kabir]

Golf is typically played to give your body a balance under very different conditions. If you've played golf, you'll know how important that balance is.

However, I do feel that playing golf in Australia is more for fun than anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if it's something they practice with though.