Rana played in lower level English league and did well.

[pagol-chagol]

Rana should know about the English pitch better than any BD players since he played in a smaller league for a season and did pretty well too. Huge advantage for him in the selector's eyes.

Could we send some of our players to play in those leagues before we play the England Series? This series is too important for us to leave any stone unturned.

[offcutter]

Do you have Rana's stats in England?

[Sham]

No we can't, largely because the leagues don't start till late April and our tour begins in early May!

As for Rana, which league did he play for? The experience of the conditions should definitely help him, however, I have to say, some of the lower leagues here are pretty crap. Bunch of village cricketers.

Even the standard of county cricket is not all that high, compared to first class cricket in Australia. The reason being that there are just too many teams. There are 18 first class county teams in England. The amazing thing about it is, with so many teams, the cricket is still fairly competitive! However, just think of the numbers. If there are 35 players of Test standard in England (there probably aren't), then each county on average has about 2 players who are Test standard. However, if there are 35 players of Test standard in Australia, which has only 6 state sides, each side has on average about 6 players who of are Test standard. Hence, the quality of cricket is much much higher. This has been one of the weaknesses of county cricket and part of the reason England has never been able to keep up with Australia, except for winning the odd Ashes here and there.
This is also the reason that they take foreign players to bolster their teams!

Therefore, given that there are 18 counties and then the minor counties that don't play in the county championships, and each of these teams will have a staff of about 20 players for the full season, there are 360 cricketers signed up for the county championships in any given summer. So you can imagine that the players left over to play league cricket in England are of pretty low standard. Some leagues, like Surrey, are still half decent, but some of the others are absolute crap!

Edited on, February 17, 2005, 4:54 PM GMT, by Sham.

[planificador y crítico]

Originally posted by Sham
No we can't, largely because the leagues don't start till late April and our tour begins in early March!

Our tour starts in early May not March.

[Sham]

Yeah, that was a typo which has been corrected. The outcome remains the same. There isn't time to get players into the leagues for any decent run before our tour starts.

[mahbubH]

>>>> Rana played in lower level English league and did well.

Please post some scorecards or something of the matches Rana played in lower level English league. It would be nice if you know who were in his opponents.

[offcutter]

Originally posted by planificador y crítico

Our tour starts in early May not March.

If some of oue players catch the selectors' eyes in England then they get some offers. What do you think.

[pagol-chagol]

We had discussed this here a few months ago. I don't know where to find the scoreboard. Someone plz help.

SHAM - Thanks for the informative post.

[couger]

Originally posted by offcutter

If some of oue players catch the selectors' eyes in England then they get some offers. What do you think.

I am almost certain that some of BD players WILL catch the selectors eyes.

[billah]

Manjural played in England in July 2003, in the Surrey County Championship, 1st eleven, Division two. The club that recruited him was the Old Midwhitgiftians. He served them well by taking regular wickets and scoring useful runs. In one match he took 5-39 and was 37 not out. In another, he was the Man of the Match for a commanding performance of 6-39 and 15 not out. He took 3-44 in yet another. I think he only played 5-6 matches in that season.

More info on Rana's early career here, for the interested
http://www.banglacricket.com/html/ar...r=2003&item=95

[pagol-chagol]

Thanks Billah.

On top of the match practice he had a lot of net practice in English pitch. Huge plus.

How did he manage to go there? Was it personal initiative or league selected?

[billah]

Actually, the British Council has a programme under which they pick 2 outstanding athlets to send to England each year. It works with the English cricket clubs. They have a quota of foreign players they can fill using these cricketers. A goodwill kind of thing. I think Bangladesh also reciprocates under the program. Rana was showing a lot of promise in local league. I think he was being trained at BKSP already. He was selected under this provision.

[pagol-chagol]

What a wonderful program. Without that program Rana may not have bloomed and we probably would have lost the ODI series with Zim.

We should try to expand that program.

[mahbubH]

Having the experienc of playing English club cricket in 2003, Rana did not do anything special in the 2004 tour of England.

[AsifTheManRahman]

Originally posted by pagol-chagol
and we probably would have lost the ODI series with Zim.

you didn't think before you posted that did you?


imo, playing minor counties in England doesn't amount to much when it comes to judging how well someone will do in English conditions. We've had many others (e.g. Bulbul, Jahangir) playing in the minor counties, and look at their performances in international matches. if anything, our players should target the "major" counties, and i hope some of them get calls when they visit england this summer.

Edited on, February 17, 2005, 8:27 PM GMT, by AsifTheManRahman.

[billah]

I think, at that young age, playing in England along side Mark Butcher, must have influenced Rana in a very positive manner.

Secondly, Rana's performance has been affected more by the regular hacking he received. He's the most unlucky of his generation so far in that regard. For the most part, he makes very good use of the rare opportunities he is given. His records show that. He is consistent, tenacious and a very responsible player.

[mahbubH]

>> I think, at that young age, playing in England along side Mark Butcher, must have influenced Rana in a very positive manner.

Did Mark Butcher also play for the same club? I don't get it. Butcher usually do not get time to play for County Surrey ... how come he plays for a club?

[pagol-chagol]

Originally posted by sports_fan_bd
Having the experienc of playing English club cricket in 2003, Rana did not do anything special in the 2004 tour of England.

Wow! you remember that?

Just checket cricinfo. He went to Ireland and Scottland in 2004 where he batted in two 50 over games and 1 rain shortened 32 over game. He played in 1 slog, 1 important and 1 "game is over" situations. I don't want to judge anything on that. Also, he could have been off-form that week.

He didn't go to England in 2004.

[mahbubH]

>> He didn't go to England in 2004.

Was not He in the team for Champions trophy?

[Rubu]

rana should play, even if that means playing 12 men on a day beside the guy who runs with water and towel.

[cracky]

I am sure Rana will be one of the vital player in UK tour, if he is given the opportunity to play all the matches.

[couger]

Originally posted by AsifTheManRahman

you didn't think before you posted that did you?


imo, playing minor counties in England doesn't amount to much when it comes to judging how well someone will do in English conditions. We've had many others (e.g. Bulbul, Jahangir) playing in the minor counties, and look at their performances in international matches. if anything, our players should target the "major" counties, and i hope some of them get calls when they visit england this summer.

Edited on, February 17, 2005, 8:27 PM GMT, by AsifTheManRahman.

I too would advocate shooting for counties not local clubs. We've had this discussion in another thread. I think its, "The future of BD cricket lies in the counties".