Tigers Ready for English Test

[Shish Ahmed]

Source: The Independent

MCC gets huge respond in ticket sale



There are no chances for the visiting Bangladeshi national cricketers to waste time concentrating only on their main counterparts because before meeting with the mighty English cricketers later on this month, their ability test begins tomorrow.

The Tigers, who were now at England in their maiden Test series, will start their mission with a three day against British Universities Squad.

No doubt the focuses will be on the Tests series but the member of Test babies can't ignore the importance of the practice matches as to many peoples the strength of both sides were almost equal.

On the other hand the tour matches will also open the opportunity for the tourists to adjust with the condition in the early summer as well as amend their mistakes before the final action.

They will play three practice matches before the first Test at Lord's and the three matches will give them the opportunity especially the batsmen to learn how to handle the moving balls.

To counter with their oppositions in the tour, Bangladesh were well equipped with five medium pacers. The visitors efforts to push their counterparts depends much on Mashrafee Bin Mortaza, country's quickest bowler Shahadat Hossain Razib, experienced Tapash Baishya, Talha Jubair and Anwar Hossain Monir. If the pacers can able to learn quickly how to exploit the conditions in the moving wickets, Bangladesh can finish the tour with heads high.

The cricketers had their gym work on Sunday at the hotel gymnasium at London and will leave for Cambridge for their first practice match at Fenners against the Universities squad on Monday, according to a message received here.

BSS adds: Much enthusiasm have been noticed in England on the Bangladesh's first ever test tour of England, the English newspaper The Independent said in a reports today. Although it has been utterly overshadowed by the Ashes (74 days and counting), the Bangladeshis will play two Tests against England, at Lord's and Chester- le-Street.

According to report by The Independent, despite the imbalance in strength between the two teams, ticket sales for the Tests are surging ahead. The result is that ticket sales on the first three days at Lord's are 13,500, 16,500 and 15,000. With a capacity of 29,000, the ground at least will not look too sparsely populated. The fact that only 3,000 people pre-ordered tickets for the Sunday demonstrates that most expect England to romp to a quick victory.

An MCC spokesman said: "We have targeted our efforts at the Bangladeshi communities in London, recognising both that this is the country's first Test match here and that they may not be familiar with how to get tickets."

Lord's will also have its now- traditional quota of schoolchildren. MCC have handed out 5,000 complimentary tickets to schools on each of the first three days. The Second Test at Chester-le-Street is going reasonably well, with 6,500 tickets were sold for each of the first two days.

The third day so far is extremely sluggish. However the total capacity is 8,000 here.

Before the Bangladesh team left Dhaka, coach Dav Whatmore talked up their chances and said they would make it hard for England. He has just signed a two-year extension to his contract but remains interested in the vacant post of coach of India. Bangladesh have played 36 tests in all, had to wait until their 35th for a win, against a denuded Zimbabwe, and have lost all but five of the remainder.

In their defence, it should be said that others new to Test cricket also had to wait. New Zealand, for instance, required 45 matches.

But the prosecution would say that the Kiwis managed to eke out plenty of draws. Most of the Bangladesh squad of 16 will never have seen anything like English pitches in May and June, and England can be expected to swat them aside, The Independent said in their report.

They have taken an immense risk with their squad by naming three uncapped players while retaining Habibul Bashar Sumon as captain. They have some adept cricketers: Habibul, who can play strokes, and Mohammad Rafique is their most accomplished spinner and leading Test wicket-taker with 67.

Rafique took 10 wickets in the two-match series against England two winters ago, and last year scored a belligerent century against West Indies in St Lucia.

Aftab Ahmed got sick who can be replace for him now ? It's a big worry , it looks like a flue according to the news .

[Sam]

It will be fair to predict the final team after the practice matches. Moreover, till 26th we have enough time for Aftab to recover from his illness to full strength, insha'Allah.

[Flipper]

BBC

Bangladesh unworried by weather




Whatmore faces the media, flanked by skipper Habibul Bashar
Bangladesh begin their first ever Test tour of England on Tuesday with a message from coach Dav Whatmore to not worry about the poor weather.
Rain greeted the Tigers on their arrival in Cambridge for a four-day match against British Universities.

"We worked very hard in Bangladesh before we came. We're not talking much about the difference in temperature," Whatmore told BBC Sport.

"We're keen to be part of the first couple of months of an English summer."

Bangladesh, who begin the first Test at Lord's on 26 May, are playing their first series since beating Zimbabwe at home in January.

It saw their first ever Test match victory and the first time they have won a one-day series, and Whatmore was upbeat despite Zimbabwe's current lowly status.

"We're very keen to show progress after a history-making month," he continued.

"It was [against] Zimbabwe but the pressure was harder than we've had in the past.

"The first Test we won very well, the second we were really under pressure and had to bat for 150 overs to save the Test, which we did very well - that's almost better than a victory."

The average age of the 16-man squad is only 22 yet some of the party have turned in eye-catching displays against both England and Australia within the past two years.

Whatmore is keen to make the point that gradual progress, rather than eye-catching score lines, are most important for his players.

"There's definitely a difference in mindset - a more positive one - but there are always little dips and troughs," he added.

"We're very keen to show the public that we are progressing and pushing the opposition more and more in each series we play.

"The boys are pretty buoyed up for this. We'd like to think we can show real signs of progression."

After this match, Whatmore's side have three-day games against Sussex and Northants to prepare for back-to-back Tests at Lord's and Chester-le-Street.

Bangladesh squad: Habibul Bashar (Capt), Khaled Mashud (Wkt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Ashraful, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Nafees Iqbal, Aftab Ahmad Chowdhury, Shahriar Nafees Ahmed, Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque Jr, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tapash Baishya, Anwar Hossain, Talha Jubair, Shahdat Hossain.

Edited on, May 9, 2005, 5:14 PM GMT, by Flipper.

[TheWatcher]

Winning not everything - Dav
09/05/2005 18:17 - (SA)

Cambridge, England - Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, speaking here on Monday, ahead of the tourists' opening match against British Universities at Fenner's, said: "Success or otherwise is certainly not measured in the scoreline.

"It is measured in other areas; there will be objectives both for individuals and the team as well.

"Essentially we want to show progress and push the opposition as hard as we can," Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup, added.

"Playing on the fifth day of Test matches is very much an objective.

"Being the underdogs is a reality, it is a huge challenge but along the way we have already managed to have some good times. That is probably the best tonic you can get as a coach with a developing team."

"That is probably the best tonic you can get as a coach with a developing team."

"It is always nice to play against an opposition you have played before to judge yourselves," said Whatmore.

"These conditions are totally different but at the same time our team is just realising the opposition is the same as us, with two arms and two legs.

"We have three or four who in time will be stars, the difference between the two teams now is that other teams have stars, most teams we play against have big match winners and we are in the process of creating those."

Source

Edited on, May 9, 2005, 5:37 PM GMT, by TheWatcher.

[sham1980]

Is channel four in ENglish TV showing first test I know SKY TV showing second test ??

[sham1980]

looks like shadat will play and enamul

[Musfique]

yes channel 4 is showing the Lords test match........which will include the two faced ....Mark Nicholas as the host/commentator........this guy says one thing on tv......but changes tone..in the papers.