Bangladesh v England - 1st Test - Day 2 - Oct 22, 03

[Hasib]

Actully Rafique should be replaced by him... he is way too expansive.

[Hasib]

And Trescotic gets his 50 from 81 balls including a wooping 9 4s... 74/0

[Hasib]

Haque on... starts with a four... I'm outta here

[Hasib]

81/0... why do I even bother... this time, I'm really outta here...

[Nasif]

Pathetic display, we should have played our A team as our national team. I actually enjoyed A team's performance.

[Zobair]

really!

WE fought back bravely after a top-order collapse...remeber! the english have a very good top-rder...one can't expect them to collapse like they did in a practise match...this is test cricket...we are playing a team is ranked high in the test cricket rankings..way higher than Pakistan!

[Edited on 22-10-2003 by pompous]

[oracle]

Trescothick is up there. In fact, the Somerset opener, with 219 and 69 against South Africa in September; who has scores of 90 and 96 so far on this tour; is capable of Haydenesque innings. I just forsee trouble tomorrow.

[Upal]

You never know...the English could very well collapse tomorrow. It is important for us to get their captain out early and work on Trescothick. I was disappointed that we didn't get at least a couple of wickets.

However, to make 200 runs from that situation was really great. Mushfiq Babu is proving his detractors wrong and Pilot finally got it together for a well deserving test match 50. Rafiq's sixes raised our score past 200 and made it somewhat respectable.

[paco]

I went to bed with the score at 72-5, and I wasn't hoping for anything more than 100, but Pilot came good, and 203 is at least face saving.

We need wickets however, and to be anywhere near competitive, must restrict England near 300, which seems unlikely at this point.

THe forecast says thunderstorms and showers for the next two days, is that correct ?

[rafiq]

mushfiq did fine with his bat and deserves credit. now let him take 2-3 wickets to claim his allrounder's slot.

bangladesh occasionally select a bowling attack that won't get the job done. Hadn't seen it since Whatmore got the job, but here we are again.

[Ehsan]

Don't loose the spirit guys, Inshallah we will get back to the back; the lower order did well with the bat.

"Baar Baar ha bolo yaar ha; apni jeet ho unki har houn. Baar baar ha bolo yaar ha apni jeet ho unki har houn, koi humse jeet na pawe chale chalo, chale chalo. Meet jawe jo takrawe, chale chalo. Toout gai jo ongli uththi, paachon oonlgi ho bangayi muththi. Koi kitna bhi bharkawe, chale chalo...Chale Chalo. Dharti hila denge, saabko dikhadenge, Hum jaagpe chayenge aab ye batayenge humlogo ka daarja kya..o..oo..o." - Lagaan

[paco]

what does that mean ?

[Arnab]

How was Pilot's innings?

[billah]

Exactly as I suspected, we did fall for the English trap with Enamul.

[Sham]

Well, its too early to make any judgements on Enamul.

Anyway, I am happy with Mushfiq's performance, even if he doesn't take wickets. I am one of his biggest doubters on this board, but he scored 34 and featured in a good partnership with Mashud. I look at it this way, if they had taken Aftab, and Aftab had played this innings, I think we would all have been pretty pleased with the effort, given that he came into bat at 40 for 4!

But our bowling is looking pretty ordinary. Trescothick is in great form, and he was expected to score a heap of runs anyway. But Vaughan was under pressure and somehow we let him off the hook last night. There was a period when he was really struggling, scored 1 run off his first 30 odd balls, and then we just let off the pressure.

Anyway, a couple of quick wickets in the first session today will make things look a lot better. If we can get the openers out before lunch, the spinners can get into the middle order.

[billah]

With a total collapse of the top order, BD did exceedingly well. All except the skipper performed well. We didn't think we could reach 150 at one point. The two psychological landmarks: reaching 200 runs and playing til tea. The extras: half century by Pilot, inspiring innings by Mushfiq and four 6s in the last few overs. Good stuff.

[bhobishshot]

I am very pleased with Mahmud's performance. If he continues the trend in his batting and doesn't do anything extra ordinary with the ball, my prediction will come true. He will be replaced with Musfiq before the Zim tour. Keep up the good work Sujan.

[Zobair]

you crack me up!

Pilot's innings was excellent, perfectly suited for the occasion. Mushfy justified his inclusion at the number 6 batting position. I doubt aftab could have done too much better under the circumstances. He didn't take any wickets, but his bowling wasn't insanely carted around or anything. He definitely looks a better "allrounder" than el capitan. Kapali promised so much but left us hanging high and dry. He probably got carried away. Don't ask me why I think that!
And rafique bhai! what an innings! He actually tried to build an innings. He hit those insane sixes but wisely blocked the good ones. From what I can remember of his batting, he doesn't have much footwork and is particularly indecisive on the backfoot. So that makes him particularly vulnerable to good length ball when bowlers decide to come around the wicket.
Enamul jnr. ! hmmm....it wouldn't be wise to make up our minds about him just yet. He bowled only 3 overs and the first overs in test cricket was just a bit too nerve-racking for him. I fully expect him to have spent most of the night sleepless trying to come up with a better plan. He is definitely going to put a much better performance today.

[Edited on 23-10-2003 by pompous]

[Sham]

Kapali didn't get carried away. He made a major error in judgement. I think what he wanted to do was to have a look at Batty before committing to any shots. Someone has to tell him that having a look at a spinner is not like have a look at a seamer. You can't leave an off-spinner outside the off-stump, the ball is going to
spin back! I'm pretty sure Kapali is feeling pretty daft at the moment for letting that ball go. Anyway, hope he learns his lesson.

[tnb]

Something must have been wrong there.
How come he does not know that an off spinner's ball will spin back! Did he think that being ordinary Batty even cannot turn the ball ? Unbelievable.

Sujon agian got out trying to flick an off stamp line ball. What does he think of himself, Azharuddin? He got out trying to play this kind of shot umteenth times. This is one of the reasons to try youngsters. They will learn from the mistakes. I am sure that Kapali will never leave an off spinning ball again. If it were Sujon, he would have done it again in the second innings ("I though it will be a Dosra this time").

Lets see how we fight back today. Tight fielding and good line and length may turn the match toward a draw.

[Edited on 23-10-2003 by tnb]