Do we have a chance to improve on this?

[LateCut]

Except for Hannan Sarkar, Mushfiquer Rahman and Alok Kapali, everybody from 2003 test are in the party. I think the team that will play the first test will include these eight. Who will be the other three? Can they improve on the result? Where will the improvements come from.

But then it was by no means a bad showing (at least in the bowling side). We need our batting side to score atleast 100 more runs per inning. The new look English batting side is a much improved bunch from their 2003 counterpart. Consequently, the bowlers may find repeating their success of bowling out the side under 300 runs a lot harder! Go ask the South Africans and they will tell you.




http://www.icc-cricket.com/db/ARCHIV...25OCT2003.html


England in Bangladesh, 2003-04, 1st Test
Bangladesh v England
Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka
21,22,23,24,25 October 2003 (5-day match)

Result: England won by 7 wickets
Series: England leads the 2-Test series 1-0

Toss: Bangladesh
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and EAR de Silva (SL)
TV Umpire: AFM Akhtaruddin
Match Referee: Wasim Raja (Pak)
Test Debuts: Enamul Haque jnr (Bdesh); GJ Batty, R Clarke (Eng).
Man of the Match: SJ Harmison

Close of Play:
Day 1: Bangladesh 24/2 (Hannan Sarkar 18*, Rajin Saleh 0*; 15 overs)
Day 2: Bangladesh 203, England 111/0
(Trescothick 77*, Vaughan 30*; 31 overs)
Day 3: England 295, Bangladesh 12/1
(Hannan Sarkar 4*, Habibul Bashar 0*; 3.4 overs)
Day 4: Bangladesh 245/6 (Mushfiqur Rahman 43*, Khaled Mahmud 17*; 98 overs)

Bangladesh 1st innings R M B 4 6
Hannan Sarkar b Hoggard 20 99 76 1 0
Javed Omar c Clarke b Harmison 3 38 27 0 0
Habibul Bashar c Trescothick b Harmison 2 16 10 0 0
Rajin Saleh c Read b Harmison 11 47 30 1 0
Alok Kapali b Batty 28 36 32 4 0
Mushfiqur Rahman lbw b Hoggard 34 174 125 2 0
+Khaled Mashud lbw b Clarke 51 188 129 4 0
*Khaled Mahmud lbw b Hoggard 4 7 3 1 0
Mohammad Rafique b Harmison 32 60 47 1 3
Mashrafe Mortaza b Harmison 11 28 22 0 1
Enamul Haque jnr not out 0 6 4 0 0
Extras (b 2, lb 3, nb 2) 7
Total (all out, 83.5 overs, 355 mins) 203

FoW: 1-12 (Javed Omar, 9.2 ov), 2-24 (Habibul Bashar, 13.3 ov),
3-38 (Hannan Sarkar, 22.6 ov), 4-40 (Rajin Saleh, 23.5 ov),
5-72 (Alok Kapali, 30.3 ov), 6-132 (Mushfiqur Rahman, 65.6 ov),
7-148 (Khaled Mahmud, 67.3 ov), 8-182 (Khaled Mashud, 76.4 ov),
9-198 (Mohammad Rafique, 81.6 ov), 10-203 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 83.5 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Hoggard 23 6 55 3 (1nb)
Harmison 21.5 9 35 5 (1nb)
Clarke 6 1 18 1
Batty 21 6 43 1
Giles 12 1 47 0

England 1st innings R M B 4 6
ME Trescothick c Khaled Mahmud b Enamul Haque jnr 113 249 194 16 3
*MP Vaughan b Mohammad Rafique 48 177 125 7 0
MA Butcher lbw b Mushfiqur Rahman 0 5 3 0 0
N Hussain c Khaled Mashud b Mushfiqur Rahman 0 7 7 0 0
GP Thorpe c Rajin Saleh b Mashrafe Mortaza 64 232 171 7 1
R Clarke b Mohammad Rafique 14 98 93 0 0
+CMW Read c Khaled Mashud b Enamul Haque jnr 1 6 9 0 0
GJ Batty c Khaled Mashud b Mashrafe Mortaza 19 62 52 2 0
AF Giles c sub (Aftab Ahmed) b Mohammad Rafique 19 55 35 2 0
SJ Harmison lbw b Mashrafe Mortaza 0 2 3 0 0
MJ Hoggard not out 6 42 36 1 0
Extras (lb 4, w 2, nb 5) 11
Total (all out, 120.3 overs, 473 mins) 295

FoW: 1-137 (Vaughan, 43.6 ov), 2-140 (Butcher, 44.5 ov),
3-140 (Hussain, 46.6 ov), 4-175 (Trescothick, 59.6 ov),
5-224 (Clarke, 90.1 ov), 6-225 (Read, 91.5 ov),
7-266 (Batty, 107.3 ov), 8-267 (Thorpe, 109.3 ov),
9-267 (Harmison, 109.6 ov), 10-295 (Giles, 120.3 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Mashrafe Mortaza 23 6 41 3 (4nb, 1w)
Mushfiqur Rahman 17 6 55 2
Khaled Mahmud 17 7 45 0 (1w)
Mohammad Rafique 35.3 9 84 3
Enamul Haque jnr 23 8 53 2
Rajin Saleh 2 0 9 0 (1nb)
Alok Kapali 3 1 4 0

Bangladesh 2nd innings R M B 4 6
Hannan Sarkar c Trescothick b Hoggard 59 205 149 7 0
Rajin Saleh c Read b Harmison 8 13 6 1 0
Habibul Bashar c Trescothick b Batty 58 153 120 9 0
Alok Kapali c Butcher b Harmison 12 20 15 1 0
Mushfiqur Rahman not out 46 256 170 6 0
+Khaled Mashud c Hussain b Giles 7 50 41 1 0
Javed Omar lbw b Hoggard 27 92 76 2 0
*Khaled Mahmud lbw b Harmison 18 74 52 2 0
Mohammad Rafique c Read b Harmison 1 16 9 0 0
Mashrafe Mortaza c Trescothick b Hoggard 1 5 4 0 0
Enamul Haque jnr lbw b Hoggard 0 2 3 0 0
Extras (lb 10, nb 3, pen 5) 18
Total (all out, 107 overs, 445 mins) 255

FoW: 1-12 (Rajin Saleh, 3.2 ov), 2-120 (Habibul Bashar, 40.3 ov),
3-140 (Alok Kapali, 45.4 ov), 4-148 (Hannan Sarkar, 49.2 ov),
5-176 (Khaled Mashud, 61.5 ov), 6-219 (Javed Omar, 86.3 ov),
7-248 (Khaled Mahmud, 101.6 ov), 8-254 (Mohammad Rafique, 105.4 ov),
9-255 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 106.3 ov), 10-255 (Enamul Haque jnr, 106.6 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Hoggard 27 11 48 4
Harmison 25 8 44 4 (3nb)
Batty 20 2 65 1
Giles 20 4 52 1
Clarke 15 6 31 0

England 2nd innings (target: 164 runs) R M B 4 6
ME Trescothick st Khaled Mashud b Mohammad Rafique 32 61 34 4 0
*MP Vaughan not out 81 166 115 12 0
MA Butcher lbw b Mohammad Rafique 8 25 20 1 0
N Hussain lbw b Mashrafe Mortaza 17 41 37 2 0
GP Thorpe not out 18 36 34 3 0
Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 1, nb 5) 8
Total (3 wickets, 39.2 overs, 166 mins) 164

DNB: R Clarke, +CMW Read, GJ Batty, AF Giles, SJ Harmison,
MJ Hoggard.

FoW: 1-64 (Trescothick, 12.3 ov), 2-86 (Butcher, 18.4 ov),
3-128 (Hussain, 30.2 ov).

Bowling O M R W
Mashrafe Mortaza 11 2 46 1 (4nb, 1w)
Mushfiqur Rahman 3 1 16 0 (1nb)
Khaled Mahmud 3 1 14 0
Mohammad Rafique 13.2 0 57 2
Enamul Haque jnr 7 0 27 0
Rajin Saleh 2 0 2 0

[Sham]

A very important difference that you did not mention is where that match was played and where the upcoming series will be played. Our biggest problem on this tour will be the playing conditions in England. Although it is easy to say that we need to score a 100 extra runs than we did 2 years ago, in reality, we will struggle to actually match the scores from two years ago, unless our batting clicks from top to bottom! Now how hopeful are you of that?

[Shehwar]

Yeah....the English Conditions are the key words....But then again..when u come to think of it....In that series Mushfiqur was our star(!) performer with the bat and ball; who cant even get into the side now....We certainly have grown in confidence and the batsmen shud be aiming to show their real strength this time around.....

[LateCut]

You are right about the english conditions. But a few member of the chosen squad had some exposure to it as a part of U-19 team. Additionally, the A-team had a similar experience in Zimbabwe's bouncy and seemer friendly wicket. Our senior team had Australian experience as wel. In all, I do not think (perhaps hope) that the batting will be better that the nightmare scenario some of us are anticipating.

[AsifTheManRahman]

honestly, i'm scared. i understand that we do have some guys from the ex-U19 side touring England, but the quality of opponent also has to be taken into account. as for the australia and zimbabwe experiences, well, england is different from those conditions. not only will the ball bounce but it will move around and do all kinds of crazy stuff. imo, we will fail badly in the test series and then suffer a couple of huge defeats in the natwest series, unless our batsmen really do stuff that they haven't till now.

[Sham]

I agree. I said this a while back, if we play as well as we did against Zimbabwe, we will get thrashed. No doubt about it. For us to really do as well as we all hope to do, our boys will have to raise their game to a new level. Especially our batsmen. They will have to show the kind of application that they have never done before! If they can really do that, then we might have a thing or two to celebrate come June!