bangladesh vs bermuda-ur verdict

[mhj007]

bangladesh beat bermuda by 8 wickets while 75 balls was still to be bowled.bd played the match without mashrafe and shahadat.it was an official odi.aftab,sakib played reasonably good...while nafees made his 4th odi century.but tamim failed,tapash was also not upto the mark.it is a very good start for us in the carribean tour..but again,it underlines the ques. about the need to play against this associates..wat is ur verdict on this match??
Junior

[Dhakablues]

My verdict: I am not impressed by the win. One more time we had a chance to demonstrate our all round superiority. It didnt happen. We didnt have the killer instinct to demolish Bermuda, the weakest team on the history of world cup. Then again, after knowking Bashar,, he probably didnt think of that point. He probably thought,, one game at a time, a win will do... A serious dissapointment is still Tamim. Hopefully, his flops shows will be expensed by this series and he flares up once against Srilanka/India. Other than that,,, not an impressive start as I personally thought it would be

[IanW]

Dhakablues,

The Tigers won with 13 overs to spare ... and I wouldnt go calling other teams 'the weakest team on the history of the World Cup'. They are cricketers who are playing for their country ... and Kenya once knocked over the West Indies for what, 53 ?

Me, I'm happy with the result as a warmup match. The bowlers appeared to do OK, Nafees, Aftab and Saquibal had some time in the middle ... so far so good.

Ian Whitchurch

[Dhakablues]

To add the qualifier, I will say Bermuda is probably the weakest team in this decade to appear in the world cup. The rationale is simple,,, their average age of players are over 30, their fitness level has been questionable throughout, they can barely win against even Nepal. Again,, this prejudicial truth is for Bermuda. I will never underestimate Kenya, Scottland, Ireland or even Canada. Albeit, they are playing for their country and has the passion. There was a time where Bangladesh was also amongst them. However, what makes Bermuda special is that they never took Cricket the same level as Bangladesh did. This is an assertion of their very own ex-captain. On my secret mission,,, as a Bangladeshi, I would like to see we bowl out a team in less than 100 runs. Winning by 8 wickets or 10 is a joy for the batters but for bowlers bowling out a team within 100 runs is a special joy. I want to experience that....

[IanW]

Dhakablues,

You'd get stroppy if someone said such things about Bangladesh.

Me, I'd be polite, and emphasise the 'playing for their country and with passion' ... because three very good balls and two crap ones can turn a certain victory into an embarressing loss. Better to say 'If we can beat Australia and India with disciplined batting, bowling and fielding, then just about anyone can beat us the same way'


Ian Whitchurch

[cricket_king]

Are people seriously saying that this wasnt a solid and comfortable win? I'm very much satisfied with the way our boys played today.......although i wouldve prefered us to bowl bermuda which was a let down. But nevertheless, the batting was solid, though i have to agree tamim can do much better. Otherwise a comfortable and quite satisfying win for bangladesh. You have to remember that we are not australia......we're not even in the elite eight. So stop expecting bangladesh to thrash any opposition. It's not time yet.

[BanglaCool]

As Ian said, I would also like to think of it as a warm up match. But this also underlines, we have still some way to go and take every game seriously and professionally. I don't believe our bowling should depend only on Mashrafe and Shahadat, and either Tapash or Rasel (although his economy was good) must pick wickets at regular intervals regardless of opponents and from now on opponents will only get more competitive.

[Rabz]

Looks like its just hard to please somebody..no matter what...
Few wins against Zims, Kenya and Scotland.. all of a sudden we think we are Australia.

I thought it was a good clinical win...
We played without our two strike bowlers. And all they could make is 208.. but i never liked Tapash anyways.. to me, he is one of the worst fast medium bowlers in the world ( who plays in national jersey)...

If we have restricted them to 150... some people would complain the lack of batting practise...

batting was good.. but would hv been much much better if Tamim made some impression... he needs to realise this opportunity he's been virtually handed by the board and make the most of it.. one more mistake..i bet you JO gonna be in the team...

Nafees..well...what can you tell about him??
Probably world's second best minnow basher...( after Vaas)...
impressive century to start the tour..and hopefully few more to follow...

Aftab..im sick and tired of his batting...
pathetic..simply pathetic...

Sakib...very matured approach..stayed there till the end... cool customer..

hopefully next match we get to bat first and most importantly..our Ash gets a taste of the pitch...

Canada...here we come...

Overall, perfect start of the campaign...

[baisab]

Originally Posted by cricket_king
Are people seriously saying that this wasnt a solid and comfortable win? I'm very much satisfied with the way our boys played today.......although i wouldve prefered us to bowl bermuda which was a let down. But nevertheless, the batting was solid, though i have to agree tamim can do much better. Otherwise a comfortable and quite satisfying win for bangladesh. You have to remember that we are not australia......we're not even in the elite eight. So stop expecting bangladesh to thrash any opposition. It's not time yet.

I have to say i agree with you and what Ian has said, it was a comfortable win, and we didnt have to use the "best" squad to achieve it. I am rather suprised by Dhakablues comments, all these years what we wanted as a nation was for other nations to respect us and take us seriously. and now that we are respected we some of us seemed to have forgotten how to respects those lesser than us.

[hoodlum]

bangladesh got a good start winning by a good margin of 8wkts and all the batsman scored runs except tamim.im really disappointed bcoz i was expecting alot from tamim and i hope he will come up with a good innings.we really need his services coz he is very talented and he has got tremendous hit in his hand.when tamim and aftab will be scoring runs together,we can expect atleast 320+ runs in a match against any opponents in the world.i strongly believe that.im just hoping that day comes in the match against india & srilanka.

[Rabz]

Welcome to BC Hoodlum.
Enjoy your stay.

[Ahmed_B]

my opinion: ব্যাপার টা মোটেও ভাল হল না! আশরাফুল আবার বলবে যে টপ-অর্ডার ভাল করেছে বলে সে প্রাক্টীস ম্যাচ এ খেলতে পারেনি। সুতরাং, গ্রূপ ম্যাচ এ রান না করলে সেটা তার দোষ না! সব দোষ হল টপ-অর্ডার এর!! আর গত এক বছরে ব্যাটীং না করে বাশার-এর গায়ে এত চর্বী জমেছে যে ওই ব্যাটা এখন খেলতে গেলেই তার পার্টনার কে রান-আউট করে পাভীলিয়ন এ পাঠায়!

এসব চিন্তা করে হলেও নাফীস/আফতাব/সাকীব এর উচিত ছিল খারাপ খেলা!!

[Tigers_eye]

excellent Ahmed_B. Actually to the "T".

I have two issues: fielding and bowling. Listening to the commentary almost the entire match it wasn't pleasent to hear 83/5 of 30 overs to 205/7 in 50 overs. Had this been a 3 day match, they could have easily make 250. Time and again we let go the opportunity that we had. It boils down to Bashar's aggressiveness and field settings. If we were 83/5 against any team (be it Zim) we would be all out by 166 (double of 83) or less for sure. Last 20 overs giving 6.1 against Bermuda is a concern when they didn't have that many wickets. There were couple of lucky shots but still that is the game of cricket.

Fielding wasn't up to the par. On paper we don't have the batting lineup anyway close to India or SL. Bowling wise we may be at par with our full squad. So we must compensate in fielding and running between the wickets. Bashar is terrible at both. Rafiq, I would prefer him to sit out right after his 10 overs of bowling is over. Nobab Mash needs to be more alert while fielding, Rasel needs to practice catching more. As a team, I think they need to work more on the fielding/fitness if they want to beat India and SL. Yesterday, misfielding had given Bermuda the few unwanted 4's and 2's.

[Thunder]

Winning by 8 wickets is always great.. its good to see Nafees utilized his chance against the minnows. Although everyone expected Barmuda should be thrashed against BD but i am not surprised at all.

We're now in a position of losing once in every 7/8 matches against a weaker zimbabwe team. I think the same thing goes with us against the giants of world cricket. If there is any series of continuous 7/8 games against the top cricketing nations, we may win once for sure!

[Kuddus]

A satisfying win in the end. But I thought we could book Bermuda below 200 for sure, as I am writing this Bermuda is 144/6 in 44 overs against Canada. Looks like Canada will be able to book them below 200!! If these Canadian bowlers can get some swing going, our top order might be in a spot of bother come Tuesday's game.

Nice of Sakib to be a team player and let Nafees get his hundred. Aftab was entertaining while he lasted, but again every single shot in the air which is a cause for concern. I believe takes much less effort timing the ball properly into the gap but I don't see Aftab changing style anytime soon. However his quickfire cameos seems to be increasing in runs scored from 20s-30s-40s nowadays. And more importantly we need to get that Ash kid some time in the middle.

Lastly, do we play the strongest 11 against Canada for the revenge? Or experiment with the lineup? I say we play the strongest 11 and show them last time was a fluke.

Looks like the selectors will play Tamim as long as it takes for him to get a 30+ score then put him in the starting line-up for the WC. I don't care about JO but I think Rajin should at least get one match out of the remaining three.

Oh and Bermuda just finishes scoring 206/8. Identicial score! (by one run). So minus Mashrafee and Shahadat our bowling line-up is as strong as Canada's! loll

[roaring tigerz]

I feel we got what we wanted from this game. A nice outing for the players and a comprehensive win to boot.
I share a couple of the concerns voiced in some of the other posts. The first of course, is our bowling penetration. Tapash going at 5 an over is quite simply, unacceptable. If Mashrafee and/or Shahadat breaks down, our threadbare fast bowling resources would be dreadfully exposed.
I am really really hoping that Tamim gets some runs in the next three warm ups. He would desperately need a good performance to justify his inclusion in the team.
I would also like to see Ashraful bat before Sakib against Canada. He has hardly had a decent hit in the last few games. An inform Ashraful would be invaluable to our world cup aspirations.

[BangladeshCricket]

I just don't get why our pacers bowled so bad, is it because of a new ground!!
Tapash will get hit all the ground if he does this against Ind/lanka, he is hard working but what on earth he was doing yesterday. All of a sudden our spin attack is getting fragile. Aftab's quick cameo gives us good runs but we need somebody to stay in the crease for much longer. 83/5 but we could not book them below 200, as somebody mentioned earlier if we were them, we would have bundled out in 166. But why Bashar could not use his bowlers properly? May be our bowlers lost their ability to take wickets in crucial time.
Overall, I am not worried as I knew that before that BD improved but we are not there yet to compete with Ind/lanka.

[AsifTheManRahman]

i was worried four years ago, when bangladesh faced canada in the world cup. i wasn't convinced we'd be able to beat them - that's how bad we sucked. my fears turned out to be true.

not so much this time. i'm sure we'll beat them tomorrow.

[hoodlum]

everyone out there can follow live radio commentry of every matches played at antigua in this tri series.here is the link: http://www.surfmusic.de/country/antigua.html enjoy !!!

[Rubu]

My Verdict: we still have that huge problem with opening since... since I can remember. since for ever, since Bangladesh cricket was born...

I just wonder how long it will go. Meanwhile, we will try to use all mean we can to make it less visible in this WC. I don't know how much we'll succeed. I don't like opening with Tamim, as it seems to me, he is no where near being ready. Rajin seems to be the only viable option to me. I hope Tamim proves me wrong in rest of the practice matches and cement his position. We don't wanna see JO anywhere near the field even as the 12th man.

2nd verdict: our bowling was not up to expectation: if we are to give hard time to indians and sri lankans we need to be much better than that.

On a positive note: shahriar is as awesome as always. Aftab, only if he could hang in there for a bit more, he can be a killer. Even right now, he is a very important player at #3 as he can take the pressure to the bowler, and set his partners free. Shakib is also getting more and more mature.

Looking at the current lineup, can we get McInnes back as the next coach after the world cup, as Dav's contact expires then?

[hoodlum]

We should play our main XI tomorrow against canada and i want bangladesh to thrash them.all the players of our team should see this match as a 'revenge match'.we should prove that we are thousand times better than them and we have much more high quality players.i hope Mashrafe and Shahadat will play tomorrow and give canada a good taste of pure fast and aggresive bowling!! i wont mind if 2or 3 canadian batsmen gets injured of Shahadat's quick bouncers:p lol and also hoping fireworks from tamim and aftab.

[zakirc]

It was really a very comfortable victory considering the fact that we did not play our 2 front line bowlers. Had Shadat and Mash played, i really don't think they would have managed more than 150. Tapash was once a good bowler but for the past couple of years he has become rusty, at least in the international arena. And I really don't see Rasel as a strike bowler, I think his bowling is more effective as a containment tool rather than striking one. In the WC matches I would love to see Mash, Shahadat and Rasel as our 3 pacers.

[Dhakablues]

I dont think my message was clear. I dont think asking to trash an opponent is an insult o minnows. Rather its a challenge. obviously in this case Bemuda succeeded in batting out 50 overs. And you dont need to be Australia to be aspiring every ball to uproot the stumps or fool the batsman with your spin. Antigua or Australia,, the approach should be the same, to give your 110% and win. From 83/5 to 200/8 gives me the impression that we didnt push hard when we got them close. That was the point I was making... why did we let Bermuda go to score 200 when there were tail enders batting at 80s? Was it bowling or captaincy? We should anayz that. Gone are those days, that scoring 180 or restricing an opponent within 200 is an achievement.

How come few of you dont see the writing on the wall? Tapash is going to be trashed by India/Srilanka if he is giving 5.00 rpo to Bermuda, Rafique might not be as dangerous as we want him to be if Bermuda can play him easily, the feilding is not still up to the time of late 2005, Aftab/Tamim still throw his wicket before settling and having a goal to score big...etc. Its very easy to get into this self-congratulating mode and lose sight of the improvements needed. The self-fulfilling prophecy doesnt work too well when you have teams that are just too good, too passionate to let you go off-hook with these blemishes, if you will. Bottom line: Rejoice the victory, celebrate the comfortable win but do watch the video next day and think we couldve dont better first innings. And that was the point.

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
i was worried four years ago, when bangladesh faced canada in the world cup. i wasn't convinced we'd be able to beat them - that's how bad we sucked. my fears turned out to be true.

not so much this time. i'm sure we'll beat them tomorrow.

that was the first time that i really started following cricket. all i knew was that BD had beaten scotland and Pak the WC before, and were now a test nation. i expected us to thrash CAN simply because i didn't know how much we sucked.

i didn't know that you were kinda expecting an upset back then. if so, then u were a lot smarter than most fans.

[al Furqaan]

simply put without all that ajaira analysis:

bowling was sub-par regardless of how you try to justify it with "mash-rajib were out" or "it was our 2nd string pace attack". rasel did his job adequately but not well. 2 more wickets and it would be a great performance for him. still, i like him over tapash as he gave away half the runs. rasel's econ will be as important as taking a wicket or 2 against India and SL.

batting was decent. aftab i'm afraid will only get us 30-50 runs, but at least he will be consistant. the cat has 12 half tons so far in his career. the massive run scoring will have to be the joint responsibility of the 4 other batsman, SN, Ash, Bashar, and Saqib, with Mushy chipping in as well. so i think our batting is set, asides from the other opener. TI's no holds barred approach will work for now, and it might be better to have a hit or miss opener like TI who can score quickly, rather than another SN type player.