Whatmore and Mahmud's assessments of the Pakistan Tour

capslock · #1 September 22, 2003, 12:28 PM

From Cricket365.com:

Quote:

Mahmud Not Disheartened 22/09/03
Pakistan Sees Improvement

Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud believes that his team have made progress, despite a clean sweep defeat to Pakistan in both the Test and ODI series.

"Definitely the outcome of the Test and one-day series is not encouraging," Mahmud admitted.

"But with the overall improvement shown on the tour, I am convinced cricket will go up in Bangladesh."

Bangladesh were hardly ever in with a shout in the ODI series, losing the matches by 137 runs, 74 runs, 42 runs, five wickets and 58 runs respectively.

In the Test series they were far more competitive, putting Pakistan under pressure in the second Test in Peshawar and almost winning in the third in Multan. The latter they lost only by one wicket.

"We tried our level best on the tour," Mahmud assured AFP.

"We came close to a win at Multan, but I am satisfied that the goals set before the tour were nearly achieved."

Bangladesh suffered greatly at the start of their Test career and many observers called for their full member status to be rescinded. However, countries such as India and New Zealand had to toil many years before earning their first win and the International Cricket Council has made no move to demote Bangladesh.

"The calls for our Test status to be taken back were unjustified," Mahmud argued.

"If you look back at our tour of Australia the improvement graph has gone up.

"I hope that players cash in on the experiences earned in Australia and Pakistan in our home series against England."

The England tour of Bangladesh begins on Tuesday 21 October with a Test in Dhaka. England play two Tests and three ODIs.

Whatmore Has Mixed Emotions 22/09/03
Coach Partly Pleased With Pak Tour

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore admitted disappointment with regard to the results of his team's tour to Pakistan, but insisted that individual players had made progress.

"I am satisfied the way team played in the Test series, but disappointed at not winning a one-day game," Whatmore explained.

Bangladesh competed well in the three-match Test series and on a few occasions looked like they might earn their first Test win.

However, the ODI series was far more one-sided. Pakistan claimed the series 5-0 and were only once under reasonable pressure.

"The objective is to keep on improving," Whatmore continued. "After this tour I know who can play in the longer run and I will sit down and work on that."

Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar and Hannan Sarkar all did credit to their reputations as batsmen. Alok Kapali and Rajin Saleh in particular showed good potential as allrounders, while Mohammad Rafique bowled well throughout the tour.

These achievements were recognised by Pakistan's coach Javed Miandad.

"Bangladesh was not the team we were expecting, they did not allow us to win easily," he told AFP.

"The way they have played here I think they will create a lot of problems for England."

The England series will be important for Whatmore, as the pressure on him would be greatly relieved by a win in front of his home supporters.

Since Whatmore has taken over, he has taken his team to Australia and now Pakistan. In that time Bangladesh have lost five Tests and six ODIs.

**Mahmood** · #2 September 22, 2003, 12:55 PM

Only thing I can say is, even if Bangladesh dont manage a win against England, thats ok, as long as the individual performence keep improving.

We do need to beat Zimbabue.

paco · #3 September 22, 2003, 03:20 PM

England is going to be a much tougher test than Pakistan.

**Mahmood** · #4 September 22, 2003, 03:33 PM

Yes but, this time we got Dav. He should be able to steer the grounds committee to finally build a wicket with "home advantage".

capslock · #5 September 22, 2003, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rajputro
Yes but, this time we got Dav. He should be able to steer the grounds committee to finally build a wicket with "home advantage".

Bah, all we have to do convince some English players to have some roadside 'Fuchka'....

**Tehsin** · #6 September 22, 2003, 03:58 PM

Home advantage ? I only see spin working for us but then again - how is that going to help our bats ? Our wickets are always batting friendly and in fact, they are so batting friendly that even our Rokon, Pilot and Durjoy can score hundreds in them (which means england will shoot for 500+ if we don't do not keep line and length).

I have a feeling that Sumon will like the English bowling in particular and in the one dayers, because of the standard of the pitch, you can expect some flurry from the likes of Masri and Rafique.

**Mahmood** · #7 September 22, 2003, 04:11 PM

Forget the old batting team. This is a new team with a different attitude. We will do much better in batting this time.

I am thinking about the last test in Dhaka, the one SA were all out under 300, Rafiq took 6 wickets. That might be the type of pitch we should preapre for.

**Tehsin** · #8 September 22, 2003, 04:34 PM

We did get SA for 300, I must be getting old not to remember that.

Also, the batting is showing more spirit now with Rajin (Pak tour) and Hannan (Pak and Aus tour). We could use one more middle order. One month may not be enough to find that guy. Think what we could have done if we had two Sumon's in the test matches or two Rajin's in the ODIs ?

Rafique needs back up in the home series. Does Sumit has a shot ? The guy can score a few runs as well. How about Enamul Junior or Manjurul Islam Rana ? Think about a two prong attack that can rattle England.

(I dare not get my hopes up again)

fab · #9 September 22, 2003, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by capslock
From Cricket365.com:

"The objective is to keep on improving," Whatmore continued. "After this tour I know who can play in the longer run and I will sit down and work on that."

Excellent! Does that mean there won't be anymore "experimenting" in the England series?

reinausagi · #10 September 22, 2003, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Yes but, this time we got Dav. He should be able to steer the grounds committee to finally build a wicket with "home advantage".

Rajputra bhai:

What are you suggesting? Suprise the English team with a green wicket and set MMTT loose? Or, prepare one that will crumble on the fourth day so Rafique, Enamul and improved Kapali/Ash trio can have a go at the tourists?

**Mahmood** · #11 September 22, 2003, 07:13 PM

2nd one. Everyone knows the weekness of England against spin.

And face it, our bowling is stronger in spin than pace.

Kana-Baba · #12 September 22, 2003, 07:56 PM

Bob Woolmer recommended taking home advantage and preparing spinning pitch.

rafiq · #13 September 22, 2003, 08:01 PM

definitely second one, I second that. our performance in multan and the 2nd test came on similar wickets, as did the one against SA at home to some extent. And MMTT is not really that fearsome. Is the second M there Manju or Mashrafee?

The team has enough spinners plus Sanwar should he make it back into the middle order. However, if such a pitch were made, a second front line spinner like Fahim Muntasir would be intriguing. I don't know if Moni Jr is ready, is he? I think they will go with just Rafique and use Rajon/Alok more extensively (with Ash/Sanwar if they make the team).

capslock · #14 September 23, 2003, 08:54 AM

I am all for spinning pitches but the fact remains that when we tour outside of the subcontinent, we will face lively wickets with lots of pace. So while we may put off the inevitable, the only way to really get our teams to Test standards would be a lot of green wickets.