Test cricket: Make It or Break It

[al Furqaan]

13 Tests in 13 months.

The next year is going to be the toughest and most important in Bangladesh cricket's 16 year Test history. All matches against top 7 sides. 9 games away. This next year will make and/or break careers.

At the risk of going beyond the scope of the forum, this thread is going to be one for analytics. Particularly, my own brand of analytics. If it just ends up becoming a monologue (too many of the BC old heads have retired), I'll quit and repost elsewhere.

Less than 28 hours to go before the extravaganza begins.

[aklemalp]

So, is this in essence a timeline?

[Eshen]

Over next one year or so, our team management should try to develop a core of 20 Test cricketers.

Openers: Tamim, Imrul, Soumya, SN/Mazid

One-down: Momin, Shanto

Middle order: Riyad, Mushfiq, Sabbir, Nasir/Mosaddek

All rounders: Shakib, MIraz

Spinners: Taijul/Saqlain/Suhrawadi, Jubair

Keeper: Liton/Nurul

Pacers: Fizz, Taskin, Shahid, two from Abu Jayed/Kamrul/Subashis/Ebadat/Abul/Shafiul

This way we can have a well developed, well skilled group of players to choose from, as opposed to having to make some random choices before start of each series.

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by aklemalp
So, is this in essence a timeline?

Yeah kind of. I'm still not sure exactly what will go here, but I'll figure it out as I go along.

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by Eshen
Over next one year or so, our team management should try to develop a core of 20 Test cricketers.

Openers: Tamim, Imrul, Soumya, SN/Mazid

One-down: Momin, Shanto

Middle order: Riyad, Mushfiq, Sabbir, Nasir/Mosaddek

All rounders: Shakib, MIraz

Spinners: Taijul/Saqlain/Suhrawadi, Jubair

Keeper: Liton/Nurul

Pacers: Fizz, Taskin, Shahid, two from Abu Jayed/Kamrul/Subashis/Ebadat/Abul/Shafiul

This way we can have a well developed, well skilled group of players to choose from, as opposed to having to make some random choices before start of each series.

This would be a nominal collection...I will be shooting for a more quantitative essay based on an ratio interval that can be used to make [hopefully] the most accurate qualitative assessments of our players.

[aklemalp]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
Yeah kind of. I'm still not sure exactly what will go here, but I'll figure it out as I go along.

Good concept. I like it's unpredictability

[rezwansyed]

Good thinking opening a long term constructive thread. I'll follow this all the way.

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by rezwansyed
Good thinking opening a long term constructive thread. I'll follow this all the way.

Excellent. We'll see how many followers we can get along the way.

[Rinathq]

if we bowl first, The analysis is gonna get going hard tmrw

[Rifat]

Good thread in context. We can use this thread to monitor the progress of debutants, old horses and see if there is an upward trend or a downward trend in Bangladesh Cricket.

I expect the following things in the span of next 12 months:

1. Bangladesh winning at least one test somewhere against one of non-zimbabwe team.
2. Mushy getting sacked as captain
3. Playing in sporting wickets, I expect at least one Fast Bowler to step up and make new records. it could be Taskin or anyone else
4. couple of innings defeat here and there...

If you do further analysis, statistical research will point to more tests being lost on the 5th day in the last 8 years or so as opposed to 2000-2007 era. This implies Bangladesh came very very close to the finish line many a times but couldn't quite finish the job(I expect that to change).

Let me see:

NZ Test 2008
Sri Lanka Test 2009 (almost chased down a record total)
West Indies Test 2012 1st One


pre-2008 era:

All three tests in Pakistan 2003(Multan one is a notable one)
1st Test against England 2003
Fatuallah Test Australia

[Rifat]

Abu Jayed Chowdhury is not far from a debut... due to the volume of cricket played, good time to build up reserve strength, which means Anamul, Litton better start practicing.

[al Furqaan]

Relative Batting Average

This is the batting average of each player compared to the average for the other 21 players, excluding him.
What it demonstrates: the value of each individual batsman to the team in that particular match.

An approximate reference value can be obtained by dividing Steven Smith's batting average this decade (58.55) by the overall aggregate Test average of 33.95 since Jan 2010.

Smith (reference) RBA = 1.72

So far here are our RBAs:

Sabbir - 3.28
Tamim - 1.73
Mushfiq - 1.73
Imrul - 1.24
Riyad - 1.06
Shakib - 1.06
Mominull - 0.50
Miraz - 0.04


Singles Strike Rate

The SSR is more relevant in ODIs and T20Is as it measures the ability of batsman to score by running between the wickets. It is the runs scored less boundaries divided by the balls faced less boundaries hit.
Scoreboard pressure may not be as obvious in Tests, but it is still an essential art in batting. It is directly related to fitness of a batsman and the ease he has at the crease.
What it demonstrates: overall batsmanship and ability to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Riyad - 43.43
Sabbir - 37.30
Shakib - 34.38
Tamim - 28.78
Imrul - 27.45
Mushfiq - 26.56
Mominul - 23.91
Miraz - 15.38

As a reference we can use Kane Williamson's stats this decade, which reveals a SSR of 28.83.

Rahul Dravid had a career SSR of just 22.13.

Bowling analytics to follow soon.

[imtiaz82]

BCB has not done justice to the test status given to us 16 years back. The decision was a bit premature but with good planning we could have easily been in much better shape now, instead we have batsmen who have no temperament to build long innings, pace bowlers who are not fit to bowl more than 10 overs and spinners who just fade away due to lack of opportunity.

With a population of 160 million and growing economy, BCB has both the talent and money needed to build a world class team. I would have expected the following to happen from 2000- 2010, the first 10 years:

1) Completely revamp the domestic first class cricket structure, with adequate longer version games spread across a prolonged season

2) Create spinning and sporting track by division for domestic competition. Example: Chittagong can have rank turners, Dhaka fast bouncy tracks and Sylhet a batting paradise. Playing in different condition, would not only prepare the batsmen but would also encourage spinners and pacers.

3) Create cricket facilities outside of stadiums. Having some Maidans like Mumbai in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna.. would really encourage youngsters. Also, we need proper indoor gyms and practice ground in all 6 divisional headquarters; this would keep the players fit and allow them to practice during the long rainy season.

4) Create a State of the Art cricketing institute that would have all the modern technology to analyze bowling action, field placement to opponent's weakness. The place should also have sports psychologist, fitness trainerss to physiotherapist to help not just the National team but also A team, Under-19 and other promising players.


Many of us complain that our performance at Test cricket sucks because we don't get enough opportunity. But I feel the real reason is lack of cricketing infrastructure, South Africa was banned from international cricket for a long time, but they were world beaters as soon as they re-entered in 1992. They didn't need to loose 40-50 test matches to get better.

I don't think the cricketing body in Bangladesh has enough knowledge to plan something extensive that completely revamps the sports in the country. Maybe we should just get a specialized cricket executive/ CEO from Australia or South Africa to plan and execute the whole thing. We have the sponsorship funding and talent to be in Top 3 in all formats of the game.