Count against Bangladesh

[amar11432]

Benj Moorehead: Count against Bangladesh

January 22nd, 2010 by Benj Moorehead in England, International, Test cricket

Played 62, won 3, drawn 6, lost 53 (32 by an innings). Bangladesh’s Test record since their debut in 2000. Damning numbers. And no matter how deep your statistical research, there is almost nothing to suggest that England will be challenged when they play two Tests in Bangladesh starting on March 12.

Looking at the team that battled well against India, there is a prevailing sense of vulnerability. The average age of the team is a shade under 22 – even Mohammad Ashraful is still 25 (the oldest) despite his 51 Tests. Excluding Ashraful, the team have played just 112 Tests between them.

The seven top-order batsmen have an aggregate of eight hundreds (five belonging to Ashraful) and not one has an average above 30. Despite his centuries, Ashraful, supposedly the star batsmen, averages 22.92. The team as a whole fail to use home advantage. In 29 home Tests on flat pitches, Bangladesh have been dismissed for less than 200 27 times (which works out to every other innings), passing 400 on four occasions.

The bowling is harder to measure, given a lack of Test matches played by those currently in favour. Shakib Al Hasan is the great Bangladeshi hope, his left-arm spin producing 55 wickets at 27.83 to date. Shakib is standing in as captain for the other trump card, fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, who should return from injury for England’s visit.

Bowling is definitely Bangladesh’s stronger suit: in 2008 New Zealand were dismissed for 170 at Chittagong and a couple of months later South Africa made 171 at Mirpur. And this week, formidable India were bowled out for 243 in the first-innings.

But Test cricket demands sustained excellence, and until now Bangladesh’s triumphs have been anecdotal (yes, there was a 2-0 series victory in the Caribbean last year, but this was against a West Indies b-team). The India Test was a prime example. Bowled them out cheaply in the first innings but conceded over 400 second time around. Similarly the batting. Failure in the first-innings followed by a tenacious – yet futile – fightback second time around.

England, too, are struggling to master the art of sustained excellence. But to see this upcoming contest as anything close to even would be ridiculous. To beat England, Bangladesh will have to defy an army of damning statistics. It wouldn’t be far off a miracle.

Benj Moorehead is editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer

http://wisdencricketer.com/blogs/blo...#comment-11741

[amar11432]

We gotta crush England.

[Shobhon]

A good read. A Eye opener indeed.
Played 62, won 3, drawn 6, lost 53 (32 by an innings).

[Jaybaba]

I think England will be surprised. The first test is the best chance to win against visiting sides. Not if the visitor is a sub-continent team. But for England, with the conditions in play, we have a good chance in the first test.

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by Shobhon
A good read. A Eye opener indeed.
Played 62, won 3, drawn 6, lost 53 (32 by an innings).

I hope it opened your eye. Must be hurting after keeping it closed for such a long time!!!

[CTazim]

Originally Posted by amar11432
We gotta crush England.

It's time for us to just "Shut up! and work [deliver]". Period.

Lobbying["revolution"] can get us test status["liberation"], but maintaing it and going to the next leve requires a totally different mindset.

I am sorry our "strategic thinking" is abysmally flawed.

[Beamer]

Factually the guy is correct. Bitter pill to swallow, but, one day our players will answer those. That day is not that far away!

[fais]

the better answer quickly because the longer it takes the more likely that we won't be playing tests

[Miraz]

British press started to rumble ahead of the Test series. I hope they write 100 such articles before the Test series and England come to Bangladesh to take the trophy waiting for them. It should be a walk in the park for them. No?

Bangladesh will serve England and British press a well earned surprise.

[Tokai]

I hope that is the attitude England keeps when they come here. They will be up for some nice surprise. I'm not saying we are going to win, but it is certainly not going to be a walk in the park for them. They have opted to keep some seniors out of the team and in sub continent spinning wickets they will have hard time facing some quality SLA's.

[chol_bd123]

We will win against the English
Ash will beat Lara's record
Sakib will get a five fer
Tamim will score a century

[bujhee kom]

Yeah, English cricket and their admins' big mouth talk with their bad dental hygine! I will send them some dentists and fix their teeth with bouncers afterward!

I am looking forward to you, bring it on! it's not too long that the English jokers are going to get their cranberry sauce a$$ whopped by Afghanisthan and Ireland! Go Ireland and Afghanistan!

And England, I will have you for breakfast, not an English breakfast, but Mughlai paratha, and I bet you will taste rotten, and then I will spit you back in our Bay of Bengal and maybe, maybe you r parts will float back again in the English channel ! Fruitcakes, what a joke! Adios, Punkos, have a sunny morning!

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by Miraz
British press started to rumble ahead of the Test series. I hope they write 100 such articles before the Test series and England come to Bangladesh to take the trophy waiting for them. It should be a walk in the park for them. No?
Bangladesh will serve England and British press a well earned surprise.

Reminds me of a quote of mine the BBC published prior to the Natwest tour. Yup, I am always the super optimist:

Next on the Bangladesh itinerary are games at Lord's and Chester-le-Street against England in early season conditions.
But the Tigers are now filled with fresh optimism, as displayed by their fans keeping in touch via the internet.

Said Zunaid: "I have no doubt that this win will be disparaged by the usual naysayers. Let them be.

"We have more important fish to fry. And we hope to gorge on some English fish and chips this summer."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cric...al/4161565.stm

This time the English may choke on some ilish bones.

[Tigers_eye]

The problem is if we "win" anything, it would be looked at they failed. Not that we did good. That is the media twist. That is why the stats against us are not counted. English media is the best at that.

[Ashraf-FTP]

Originally Posted by amar11432
We gotta crush England.

Yah.. Like i said in another thread, keep dreaming..

Like seriously..

We are the ones that are gonna get crushed.. Like not to discourage the team, but we should really think about the present.. We have to let the youngsters grow up and get matured and learn much more about cricket.. We give the too much exposure too early.. And they cant handle it, and end up failing..

[godzilla]

http://wisdencricketer.com/blogs/blo...omment-page-1/


"January 22nd, 2010 by Benj Moorehead in England, International, Test cricket
Played 62, won 3, drawn 6, lost 53 (32 by an innings). Bangladesh’s Test record since their debut in 2000. Damning numbers. And no matter how deep your statistical research, there is almost nothing to suggest that England will be challenged when they play two Tests in Bangladesh starting on March 12.

Looking at the team that battled well against India, there is a prevailing sense of vulnerability. The average age of the team is a shade under 22 – even Mohammad Ashraful is still 25 (the oldest) despite his 51 Tests. Excluding Ashraful, the team have played just 112 Tests between them.


The seven top-order batsmen have an aggregate of eight hundreds (five belonging to Ashraful) and not one has an average above 30. Despite his centuries, Ashraful, supposedly the star batsmen, averages 22.92. The team as a whole fail to use home advantage. In 29 home Tests on flat pitches, Bangladesh have been dismissed for less than 200 27 times (which works out to every other innings), passing 400 on four occasions.

The bowling is harder to measure, given a lack of Test matches played by those currently in favour. Shakib Al Hasan is the great Bangladeshi hope, his left-arm spin producing 55 wickets at 27.83 to date. Shakib is standing in as captain for the other trump card, fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, who should return from injury for England’s visit.

Bowling is definitely Bangladesh’s stronger suit: in 2008 New Zealand were dismissed for 170 at Chittagong and a couple of months later South Africa made 171 at Mirpur. And this week, formidable India were bowled out for 243 in the first-innings.

But Test cricket demands sustained excellence, and until now Bangladesh’s triumphs have been anecdotal (yes, there was a 2-0 series victory in the Caribbean last year, but this was against a West Indies b-team). The India Test was a prime example. Bowled them out cheaply in the first innings but conceded over 400 second time around. Similarly the batting. Failure in the first-innings followed by a tenacious – yet futile – fightback second time around.

England, too, are struggling to master the art of sustained excellence. But to see this upcoming contest as anything close to even would be ridiculous. To beat England, Bangladesh will have to defy an army of damning statistics. It wouldn’t be far off a miracle.

Benj Moorehead is editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer"

.................................................. .................................................

when i read this, i got a mixed feeling out of it. I am not sure if he is trying to bash us or just saying we did ok :S...
I am not sure where Eng stands at test arena now but looking at their last game with india, they looked preety messed up as a team! Another thing i honestly do not understand is why do they keep saying that we are not improving? Certainly we are as a team slowly. I mean it took India 20 years just to mark a win in the book and we did that within 10 years :S ... if cricket wants to evolve and add more countries for test cricket then this kind of bashing and negative comments needs to go! KINDA ANNOYING ALWAYS!

[Shaan]

don't worry, after end of their tour of BD in February they will learn the lesson, they will see how far BD developed..just we have to wait for the correct time.

[Neel Here]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
The problem is if we "win" anything, it would be looked at they failed. Not that we did good. That is the media twist. That is why the stats against us are not counted. English media is the best at that.

for that to happen you need to win regularly. one loss can be excused as 'accident' but not if it happens twice or more. it happens more than once, they will run out of excuses.

as a matter of fact I consider england's win against both SA and Aus to be flukes.

[Tiger Manc]

This will bring some of the overly optimistic people back to reality.

[wiseshah]

I want captain cook to say some bad word like shehwack. Wud be interesting.

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