Its only a game

[ZunaidH]

Relax folks - it is only a game and no national pride is at stake. For what I know, Bangladesh is the fastest growing cricket team in the world. In 10 years of test playing, no cricket team that got through the associates program (i.e. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe) had so much expectation and delivering at the same time. Here are some thoughts to ponder:

--In the 70s and 80s we used to compete with the likes of Papua NG, Bermuda, Kenya etc. I will re-iterate an anecdote. In 1988 as a teenager, I had the privilege of watching the full blown Pakistan team play in Dhaka. They pretty much shredded our bowling line up and Wasim Akram single-handedly up-rooted the batting line-up. The one question came to mind was - can we ever compete with teams like this in the international level. Couple of decades later, we are here and competing. Lets not forget Multan (we came close) and Northampton in 1999.


--Every cricket playing country that has ever had close competition with us has been shut-out comprehensively. They are miles behind us...in the 90s we used to compete with pre-Test-playing Zimbabwe and they are miles behind us today. And Zimbabwe enjoyed playing in the county circuit - at least their white players - for a good decade prior to getting to where they were in the 90s. My words of caution to any cricket nation ridiculing Bangladesh is, "watch out, you are next". Learn from history - if you are messing with Bangladesh, you will soon find yourself behind them.

--Countries like Ireland and Netherlan have all the blessing of being in Eurpoe and getting help from boards such as ECB. Yet, we all know they will never have the courage to even ask for test status. Because without ECB they are nobodies - really.


--We (i.e. BCB) have taken two very racist boards such as PCB and BCCI in the forms of mentors in the past 2 decades. We bring our own political baggage into the mix. What would have been a faster progress had these boards allowed more support in the form of teams from Bangladesh playing in their local leagues (5 days, 1 day games), we would have progressed further. Yet, these two boards are always interested in keeping Bangladesh as a "minnow" team that can be leveraged when they need the voting majority but never the voice when it comes to decesion making and priveleges, because in the back of their minds they know if Bangladesh consistently field a stronger team they will dominate and dictate priveleges.

-- Lastly, lets show some respect for people like Tamim, Shakib et. all. More for their parents. How many middle-class families in Bangladesh do I know would allow their sons to play professional cricket? For me the answer is "none"? Any parents or any young man that nurtures a dream of representing their countries and pursue professsional sport such as cricket in a country such as Bangladesh are only doing it for one reason: for the love of the game. Let's not forget the risks they have taken to get here. Not getting into the national team means a career not worth much financially. Let's face it, the Dhaka league is not the fountain of riches.

Under such terrible cirucmstances if we can get talents such as Shakib and Tamim beating the world's best consistently we should celebrate and wait huugrily for the next opportunity to knock. Because with a hungry team like Bangladesh success is right around the corner.

So those who are having difficulty understanding the value of chill-pill, relax, take a deep breath and start believing. Because the next generation of the players are counting on that. We need all the support we can. Cheers.

[Zunaid]

What the doctor ordered. All the self-flagellation and pity party was/is getting very annoying. Take two chill pills AMD don't call me in the morning

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[riankhan]

[Isnaad]

Every match will be 'a game'. So, leaving this matter out will make these 'dismal games' come more often. Do u want that? I dont.

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[darito90]

Excellent post and I agree with everything you've said. I've only watch Bangladesh play for the last 10 or so years and I've seen massive improvement. We have a player who would arguably walk into any team in the world.

Looking forward to the series against Australia, when the hype is lower, the expectations are more realistic and the Aussies are bruising from a loss to NZ or Pakistan in the WC Final

[tanvir_nus]

Good thread. One thing I want to point out is, if we are trying to pursuit respectable, moral victories we are never going to win consistently, yeah sure we will have our odd days of celebration. But EVERYONE (fans, coaches, players) need to understand that we can't go out anymore looking for these things anymore. We need to start thinking out of the box. The day we start thinking aggressively is the day we mark a new era of Bangladeshi cricket.

[Tigers_eye]

No; it is not. With what we have, a better management can produce a far better results. The Stars were aligned perfectly only to falter big time starting with the spoiling the kids in to brats, selection, pitch preparation, planning and then finally executing.

Good thing at least we can voice our thoughts here.

[Naimul_Hd]

Originally Posted by ZunaidH
Relax folks - it is only a game and no national pride is at stake.

What are you talking about ? Its WC. Our 11 represent us and the whole country. People now at least know the name of "Bangladesh" due to this Cricket and you are saying "no national pride at stake" ? Team is getting out 58, 78; the whole world is laughing at us and you find this only a game.

I disagree with this very first sentence. No need to read later paras. Sorry cant agree with your Top Post !

[Shubho]

I know it's just a game. But I still have the worst World Cup hangover ever! Aspirin isn't helping. In fact, the older I get, the harder it seems to recover from these post-goohara porajois.

[sar2005]

Good post! If you compare with 70s, 80s - yes, we are a well progressed team. But I think the frustration is around the comparison between 2007 vs 2011. How much have we improved from those days of Dev Whatmore. We were winning a game or two here and there at that time. And now also we win like that. The difference is that we have more match winners in the side now compared to those days.

But Yes, I know, our team will win again and we will go wild again inshallah. All we need is some chill pills for the moment.

[simon]

For a nation like us it's more than just a game.

[amar11432]

don't agree with ZunaidH, This is our last chance to make an impact in the WC. the next WC isnt returning to the subcontinental for a long time. Plus these are professional cricketers getting massive support from a wide ray of coaches let not treat them as some adolescent boys, they should know better. They are not making ANY improvements at all. Something is fundamentally wrong!

[Akib]

Great post.

[str8_drive]

Zunaid , Buddy I doubt that you would be writing that had Bangla won. It's perfectly fine that fans are bitter and distraught; frankly they have every right to be. Don't care what the circumstances are there is no excuse for Bangla being bowled twice for under 100 AT HOME.

[comegetsom]

Since people are freaking out here's a table copy pasted from wiki to put things into perspective:
Test team Date of first Test Match
Australia 15 March 1877
England and Wales 15 March 1877
South Africa 12 March 1889
West Indies 23 June 1928
New Zealand 10 January 1930
India 25 June 1932
Pakistan 16 October 1952
Sri Lanka 17 February 1982
Zimbabwe 18 October 1992
Bangladesh 10 November 2000

We have only been playing test cricket for 11 years.

[oporajeyo_bangla]

Who seriously thought BD would win against SA? They are a much better team. Sometimes us Bengalis have unrealistic expectations. That creates pressure on these 20 year olds. A team like India exited from the first round in the last WC, and so did Pakistan. These things happen in a game. It's just a game.

We've shown we can beat good teams on our day. But we still have a long way to go. We need to be realistic and not emotional.

[comegetsom]

^ I think it's more about the way we lost and not that we lost.

[Spitfire_x86]

Cricket isn't a world cup centric game, no matter how hard we pretend to make it. I'd take steady regular success over short lived WC glory anytime. We qualified for the 2nd round in the previous WC, but how much meaningful it was in the long run?

Despite having only 2 world class players, and without the team functioning at it's best we almost made the 2nd round. When at least half of the team will be made of Shakib/Tamim class players, qualifying for 2nd round will automatically become a non-event.

[amar11432]

Originally Posted by oporajeyo_bangla
Who seriously thought BD would win against SA? They are a much better team. Sometimes us Bengalis have unrealistic expectations. That creates pressure on these 20 year olds. A team like India exited from the first round in the last WC, and so did Pakistan. These things happen in a game. It's just a game.

We've shown we can beat good teams on our day. But we still have a long way to go. We need to be realistic and not emotional.

Didnt expect to get folded under 80 TWICE in our own Backyard. At least put on a damn fight front of home crowd for God's sake.

[1212]

I love how everyone is saying that we had unreal expectations to beat South Africa. We just wanted a decent respectable performance but instead we embrrassed ourselves in front of the whole world. Like we always do. We will keep using the same excuses, "this is a young team" "this is a young team" for as long as we play cricket. Being paid to play cricket, you have a job to at least play with some decency. Bangladesh cricket is just a treadmill that keeps on going.

[Avik]

thank you for ur wonderful post. we shud all take a chill pill.

[PoNaSha]

Originally Posted by comegetsom
Since people are freaking out here's a table copy pasted from wiki to put things into perspective:
Test team Date of first Test Match
Australia 15 March 1877
England and Wales 15 March 1877
South Africa 12 March 1889
West Indies 23 June 1928
New Zealand 10 January 1930
India 25 June 1932
Pakistan 16 October 1952
Sri Lanka 17 February 1982
Zimbabwe 18 October 1992
Bangladesh 10 November 2000

We have only been playing test cricket for 11 years.

You do have a point illustrating the 'least' number of years that BD has been playing test cricket. I would be the devil's advocate and point out that plenty of things in cricket have changed over the past 20-30 years to make chronological assessment misleading. For one 'test' cricket or even first-class cricket is (sadly) no longer the standard used to measure team strengths or successes. ODI cricket imho while attractive to watch cannot be used to build a strong team. You would need the pure form of the game to do so.

In that sense BD is definitely at a disadvantage since they do not play enough tests with the top teams (not Zim/WI) compared to what the other subcontinental teams played through 30-40 years of their formative years. Teams from Ind and Pak did not win many tests in their early years either, but it did two things...at their domestic level it created some form of structure for players to come through. (Sadly Pak has been losing this for quite some time and look at how they are perceived as a result). And often times it also helped separate the men from the boys.

Also, the game is unique in that it is a team sport that relies to a great extent on individual brilliance (much more than other team sports). There is an element of chance of spotting those 2-3 geniuses that could raise the level of the team overall. Billions in money, and infrastructure, and practice only help so much. Hopefully they will help the next batch of world class performers emerge.

[bangabindu]

is disappointin to see da views and attitudes here. in cricket there are surprising victories and great disappointments and you need to undertand. you can't take it, then get a life...go play kabaddi or somethin.
Everytime you lose you make a fuss, stone busses, blame people, ask for blood
what you need to do is regroup and go forward.
bangladeshi atitude is otherwise. not willing to learn. think big. one victory talk big and lose 50 matches.
worst of all your cricketers dont make use of the coaches..they dont work hard but blame the coaches.
so no wonder you guys are on the same spot hardly better dan nedeerlands or ireland in spite of being test playing country for more than 10 years.

[Nocturnal]

"Cricket is a PROCESS, not an EVENT or two" ---- > Sohel_NR

[stuge]

Originally Posted by comegetsom
Since people are freaking out here's a table copy pasted from wiki to put things into perspective:
Test team Date of first Test Match
Australia 15 March 1877
England and Wales 15 March 1877
South Africa 12 March 1889
West Indies 23 June 1928
New Zealand 10 January 1930
India 25 June 1932
Pakistan 16 October 1952
Sri Lanka 17 February 1982
Zimbabwe 18 October 1992
Bangladesh 10 November 2000

We have only been playing test cricket for 11 years.

Well ,this has nothing to with the performance in ODI

Apart from India ,I was supporting BD .Was quite sad ,the way they batted against West Indies and South Africa .No excuses . They played as if they were in a hurry to catch train or flight .Really poor effort

It was their home advantage ,yet they batted poorly .I thought WI was one off ,but then they did the similar thing against SA