First eleven for the 1st test

[Pundit]

Ditto to Rafiq. Yours is a more practical approach with emphasis on building upon cumulative trends. That's the way it should be without getting weepy eyed at the thought of Akrams, Nannus...EVERYTIME.

I still hope that a younger player justifies his inclusion enough to fill in that 6th spot. If not, we'll only be taking ourselves back and stuck with, you know whom. No, not Durjoy, but the Akrams, Bulbuls etc who only turn up as Goliaths in the domestic circuits.

[samircreep]

Here's my eleven:

1. Hannan

2.Rokon (Why he opens, I'll never know.But after his good showing in this spot in recent matches,I don't think the selectors will push him down the order).

3.Golla (He has to be in the team, amazing "stickability" plus he's easily one of our best fielders).
4. Sumon
5. Sanwar
6. Kapali
7. Pilot
8.Rafique
9.Sumit
10.Monju
11.Talha
12. Ash

We should definitely play two "front-line" spinners at least.Face it, barring from Talha, our spinners are still better than our medium quicks and we need to play according to our strengths.

As for Ash, please let us not play him in no.8, it will only shatter his already low batting confidence.I really would want him to be in the first eleven but who can we leave out?

The first eleven for the second test can only be named after the first test although I would be reluctant to make any major changes unless someone flops really badly.

[Runtings]

Heres my team for the first test-

1. Hannah
2. Golla
3. Rokon
4. Sumon
5. Sanwar
6. Kapali
7. Pilot
8. Khaled Mahmud/ Ash
9. Taposh
10. Talha
11. Monju

[rafiq]

khaled mahmud is an interesting option, but i think they better pick a part time spinner than a slow medium pacer when they already have 3 pacers. so ashraful would get my nod if it was khaled mahmud vs ashraful.

on openers, i don't see what the big deal is having javed omar open with hannan, rokon at 3 and bashar at 4. each of those spots is ideal for those batsman. omar is slow and steady, rokon can add some punch at one down and has lately been responsible, and bashar would rather not come in too early.

[Sham]

If Golla, Hannan and Rokon are all in the team, I would definitely drop Rokon to 3. I don't know why BCB decided to make an opener out of Rokon, he would have done better as a batsman lower down but our selectors are a special bunch of people.

[Mahmood]

The made Rokon opener coz he sucked at 5/6 and Mainu gave him the last option to either make it as Opener or bye bye.

I like Runtings 11. Sujon plays hard, always looking to trick the opponents. He earns his wickets. As for Rafiq, that poor guy never got himself back after the throwing corrections. Leave him out.

[bd_cricket]

Frankly speaking I didn't find any players
(besides the Nat'l team) did anything
outstanding to come back. Ashraful did something
in bowling - but I don't want to count that much.

I would say, keep the same team (played in SA)

For test:

Hannan
Golla
Rokon
Sumon
Sanwar
Kapali
Pilot
Rafiq
Taposh
Talha
Monju


And put Ash Sujon, Seejan, Moni for replacement as needed for the second test and ODI.

[Orpheus]

I am surprised no one put Tushar Imran!! It's crap if you say he is not test type, he is ODI type. All BD batsmen are ODI type, that's why they get all out within 200. If Shahariar, Mahmud and Bashar gets a chance in test, I say Tushar Imran should be given a chance too. Why doesn't he perform good in test? any explanation? One possibility might be the pressure to stay longer, thus not making natural shots. Well, in that case, just tell the dude, play your natural game - don't worry! Might even try deceiving him into thinking this is the ODI, not test - (that would be funny).

[James90]

Yeah I was wondering that too. I just forgot about him while naming my side which seems a little strange. He'll be there.......at least for the One Dayers

[rafiq]

not having seen some of these younger players play, we sometimes pass judgement based on statistics and performance alone, not some deep understanding of their technique and other pros/cons.

but it's easy as to why tushar is not on the test team - because he sucks worse than the others! at least he did in the last tour and you play whoever sucks less....

he could be on the one day team, however

[Sham]

I had argued for Tushar Imran as a batsman but everyone decided that he was rubbish after only two Tests so I decided to shut my trap. I am sorry to blast the people on this board, especially some of the senior members, but we do tend to go solely on numbers. We always see how much someone has scored and never how they have scored them. Like I said, I was so bloody excited about Ashraful till I went to BNS and watched him bat against Pakistan. Honestly, that kid had no business playing Test cricket. You know how when you give a three year old his first bat and chuck him a few balls, he plonks is front foot out and has a massive off to leg swipe, thats what Ashraful reminded me off. Yet he is the most popular player on this board.

Unfortunately, since we don't get to watch too much cricket, we have nothing better to judge on but numbers. Even if Tushar Imran had got a few snorters that would have gotten anybody in the world out, we wouldnt know. He didn't score so he is out. On the other hand, Hannan gets three lifes on his way to 65 but he is now a certainty. I said this before, had he been caught at 5, we would be blasting him in the same way we blasted Tushar and Rafiqul Islam.

Apparently Rokon was asked to either open or leave the team because he sucked at no.6. Has anybody heard anything more ridiculous? Its like telling Rafiq, you are bowling crap so turn into a fast bowler or leave. Unfortunately, non openers will never understand what opening is all about, so for them, subjecting a natural stroke player like Rokon to opening seems a harmless vice. I was reading the wisden player profile on Rokon this morning, and incidentally enough, this is what it said:

"At his best he is a wonderful timer of the ball, especially through the on side. At his worst, he lets his bottom hand dominate his strokes, and he reaches for the ball with flat-footed uncertainty. His cause has not been helped by the Bangladeshi selectors, who insist on playing him as an opener."

I rest my case.

[Pundit]

Hey, you know what, I just discovered that this period between Test Series is quite boring. But seeing Sham back to his old form of passionate debate, can we re-open the Lara/Tendulkar debate. Actually with Lara being more dormant nowadays, how about, Hayden or Tendulkar debate on who is the "new" Bradman ?

No, just kiddin'

Sham, you make one very very strong point, which I've also over-emphasized in the past, only to be hung on the cross -You don't see TV, you be a little careful in passing judgement.

[Sham]

The Lara/Tendulkar debate! Haha. No man, I happily concede that to my good friend Arnab. I woke up one day, wondered whether I would rather have Tendulkar or Lara bat for my life, decided Tendulkar, so went to Statsguru, compared his average against every country to Lara's, found that they were better in each and every case, decided to make the argument, and there started that whole debate. Like I said, I don't even like Tendulkar that much, atleast Arnab is a big Lara fan so he deserves to have it.

As for passionate debate, you can count on it. The best thing about this board is that we can express ourselves and know that at the end of the day, people won't take things personally. That is rare for us Bangus, we tend to take everything personally. Thats what makes this board so refreshing.

[Zobair]

[samircreep]

Good post by Sham.

To all those who for some bizarre reason think that Rokon sucks at 5-6, I would urge them to watch the 3rd one day vs. WI when they last toured BD.Rokon came in when we were 90-4 and stroked a brilliant 65 in 60 deliveries.For someone who cheered his every stroke that day, it hurts me like anything to see this elegant player have to graft his way as an opener and not play his natural game.Sheer elegance, this lad.

As for judging players by their potential and not numbers, I agree that we should pick players more on potential than on short term performance at this stage of our international cricket.I have seen Tushar bat on almost every occasion in international matches that he's played on, and this kid looks good but more importantly, looks a cool customer.Yes, he did lose form in SA.But he should definitely play in the one dayers.

Sham, don't discard Ash. Have you seen his century and his 70 plus knock in SL?It's unfortunate that he didn't play well when you saw him bat but take my word for it, this guy has all the shots.His recent string of failiures can easily be attributed to the amazing hype that our press and selectors seem to mimic from our Indian counterparts on bestowing to any player that shows the remotest of potential and class.Also, he was "demoted" to the Under 19 team just after he made his first international century, something which has definitely affected his confidence.Someone needs to take this kid aside and feed him some chicken soup for the soul. Like Blignaut and so many others, it would be great if he took a hiatus from international cricket and did some some soul searching for a little bit.But god knows what our selectors will do in his absence.

[Sham]

Yes, you are right. I have absolutely no intentions of discarding Ash. As a matter of fact, when some suggested that he bat at 8, I argued that that is a bad idea. If he is in the team, he should be playing as a frontline batsman. As for his potential, I have no doubts. I saw his 70 against SL. More importantly, in the Second Test against Zimbabwe in Chittagong, he played out about 150 minutes for 10 runs in the second innings. So obviously he can do it, he has shown that he can. He just has to be more patient with his shot shot selection. Like I said, he needs to tighten his game.

As for selecting him for the WI series, all I am saying is, since he has not been in the team, the way to get in should be by scoring lots of runs. He still has a match to play against the seniors, if he does well, I have no problem with having him in the side. There is no better place to score runs than at Abahani, he just needs to put his head down and play a substantial innings. If he doesn't score and we still take him, what message does that send to the guys who have scored, like Ehsanul? We need to apply the same standards to everyone.

[samircreep]

True, but as Pilot also echoed, the criterion for selcting the national team should include past performances in the international arena; scoring tons of domestic runs is not going to get you anywhere if you can't score much at the international stage. A certain gentleman called Graeme Hick should know all about this.

Keeping that in mind, I think no other young Bangladeshi batsman has shown the level of promise that Ash has shown in international cricket.On that regard, Ash should have never been left out of the team in the first place.

But things are not that simple.I think Ash has been dealt a blow to his confidence.If that is really the case, Mohsin should take him aside and tell him to concentrate on domestic cricket a bit, get his form back, and the no. 5 spot is his.Till then, we might be wise to play Bulbul in that spot.

[Sham]

Samir, (guessing thats your name) if you have any plans of being in attendance for the Challenge Trophy Finals, would you please give us a brief match report at the end of each day? Unfortunately, the cliched newspaper reports say very little as you know.

[samircreep]

Yep, that is my name, good guess

I would love to give you guys as much info as possible when i go to the games. I probably won't be able to watch every minute of the action, but will keep you posted of what I see.

Hope Ash gets some runs.As far as I'm concerned, he's ahead of Nannu and Akram.Bulbul is his only competitor.

[rafiq]

I wonder then if it was ashraful who somehow caused bulbul's cap to fall on the bails in the last match?

[Pundit]

Bulbul making it to the Test team isn't too bad in my opinion, but we all definitely agree that he has no future in the shorter version ??

Still, my wish is that either Ash or Tushar outbats him into the TEST team.

[Sham]

As far as I am concerned, Bulbul's one day career is over. As for the Test team, he must be considered. After all, he does have the highest scored made by a BD batsman and it wasn't that long ago either although it has been all downhill from there. It looks to me like Hannan, Rokon, Sumon, Sanwar and most probably Golla can consider themselves certainties for the first Test Match. Which means Ashraful, Ehsanul, Tushar, Rafiqul, Bulbul and Akram realistically at this point are vying for that last batting place.

[Edited on 13-11-2002 by Sham]

[Sham]

Of course the selectors could just choose to play Kapali at 6, which would mean that none of the guys I named in the previous post have a chance.

[handle]

Here's my team, with the batting order ..

1. Kapali
2. Kapali
3. Kapali
4. Kapali
5. Kapali
6. Pilot
7. Kapali
8. Kapali
9. Kapali
10. Masri
11. Masri

Based on past record, we're looking at a score of 240+ every innings

[Sham]

I'd take out one of the Kapali's and put in a more potent bowler. Otherwise we would have to depend on the two Masri's to take all the wickets. Maybe a third Masri?