Test 1 - Day 1 - Match Analysis

[Sami]

Note: I know there is a complete match thread for the test matches and we have been following a strict 1 match 1 thread rule... but i cant help but notice that the match threads get completely flooded with Cricinfo Comms. And really good posts (not criticizing anyone's post) gets hidden and lost in that... It wud be a good idea to post your analysis and the take on the game and day's play on a separate thread.

Please refrain from quoting cricinfo commentry/wicket falls/50s/100s and so on unless you wud like to elaborate with your views.



Edited on, October 19, 2004, 9:00 AM GMT, by radicalsami.
Reason: typo

[Sami]

Ashraful played a really good innings... 67 under pressure... Eight 4's and Three 6's. That's 50 runs of just boundaries.

He played well no doubt but what bothers me is the manner he got out - by trying to hit a six over long-off... he did play a restrained innings scoring 67 off 189 balls... which shows he was contained and matured enough from when he first came in. But still not there yet! he has a long way to go to become a strong standing batsman. He has to learn to stop himself from the temptation of playing the big hits specially when 4 wickets are down for really low scores.

Anyways a great innings. I was really hoping for a 100 this time. Well there's always the next innings.

[Ahmed_B]

ya.. the match thread becomes more like a 'chatroom'
no use trying to place analysis and comments in it, atleast while the match is on!

[Optimist]

Originally posted by radicalsami
Ashraful played a really good innings... 67 under pressure... Eight 4's and Three 6's. That's 50 runs of just boundaries.

All of the bangaldeshi players lack the ability to rotate strike by taking singles, not only Ash. I wish Minhazul Abedin could teach them how to take singles!!!!!!

[Optimist]

Rajin answered his critics to some extent. He has also shown why he is not ready for the one day game. He is a player who can hang in there. We need such players for test matches.

Bangladesher khela reported that Alok Kapali's out was a bad decision. Could someone confirm that?

Pilot and Manjural should just try to hang in there. Runs will come............even if that comes in trickles.

[Fazal]

Here is my comments after 1st day:

Hannan: Like most of the fans, I was very disappointed with Hannan. I hoped, due to his recent performance, he would at least try to survive first few overs before trying any half hearted shot.
Basically now he have JUST ONE MORE shot to revive his carrier. Otherwise it will be very hard for the selectors to justify his inclusion.

Javed: I was not expecting BIG score from him in this match. However I was at-least expecting him to stay in the wicket for 70-100 balls, score at-least 30+ runs. With the fragile nature of our bating order, it is extremely important that Javed stays in the wicket and stabilize the BD innings at the beginning.

Nafis: I was kind of disappointed in him. He is like Ashraful in his earlier stage. Lots of talent but restless. He will score as long as he is in the wicket. But the problem is how long he will stay in the wicket? As per commentary, Nafis was never comfortable in this innings. I still have high expectation on him. However he need to realize that unless he takes advantage of his opportunities and play the way he is supposed to play in a test match, he will never be a regular member of the team and will be discarded soon by one of his u-19 teammates. However he looks like a fighter. Lest see how he performs in the second innings.

Rajin: Nothing spectacular. Scores 25-40 runs. But always plays well when the team is in trouble. For test, and specially for BD team in current status/stage, he is essential in the middle order to stabilize the innings when we have collapse like 5/3 (that happened in 1st innings). However if Bangladesh goes to the next stage (i.e. when they will play consistently for win), he needs to play better for his survival so that these 40s becomes 70s-80s or even some 100s.

Ashraful: He has proven again why people tag him the "most talented batsman in Bangladesh". Even though I was not happy the way he was out, trying to hit another 6 just after Rajin was out, I still see so many positive in his innings. Due the BD batting order collapse in the early stage, he reduced his aggression and was instrumental in stabilizing the inning from 5/3 to 100+/3.

As always the BD wickets fall in pairs. After 5/3 we were 120/4. Instead of playing more cautiously, we loose Arsharful's wicket on 124. That’s kill all the ve+ momentum that BD had. I think its mental thing (separation anxiety??) and is fixable and we should address that asap.

Alok Kapali: Again Alok need to realize that it's a gift from heaven that he was selected again for this game. Alok need to realize that the selectors are in lot of pressure trying to justify his inclusion. If he cannot save their face with some decent performance, he may not get another break before he can really justify his case with some very good performance in the local competition. And with the current situation in local league, it will be even harder.

Masud: So far so good. I don't care how slow he scores, he need to stay in the wicket. I always thought he is very good batsman, even better than some of our specialist batsman. I don't doubt his skills, but sometimes doubt his commitment. I think he can do better than what the record shows. Hope he plays a Captain’s innings.


Rana: Footwork or no footwork, he is fighter. And a bit lucky too. Already so far, Rana is the 3rd highest scorer in BD innings. He should be given more chance. They need to work on his batting, so that batting is more polished and he is more selective in his shot selection. He can be one of our genuine all rounder and automatic selection for the team in the future. Lets see how he prove his case in this game.

I am eagerly waiting for the day two....

Edited on, October 19, 2004, 3:05 PM GMT, by Fazal.

[oracle]

Good call Radicalsami. We need to analyse the game properly.

Here are my observations:

1) I had a funny feeling that Franklin would strike. Why? He is not the most prodigious bowler in their line up and still manages to get 2 crucial wickets of openers.

2) The good news is that their 2nd spinner, Wiseman, did not get the turn and the support that he was meant to give Vettori. If he continues this wicket drought and the BD batsmen are more comfortable with him then it means that their second spin option will be neutralized (HOPE)

3) Oram was the dangerman and that was expected prior to the match.

4) Even if the collapse was so disastrous I feel the batsmen went into a shell too quickly. Still cannot take advantage of loose balls, which undoubtedly passed by our batsmen. Much too careful. Instead shots were still offered for balls that didn’t deserve them.

5) Ashraful has a lot of cannon in those arms as suspected and all talk of his physical inadequacies is nonsense. Really happy to see this young man slowly emerging to fulfill his potential. I mean he is in the initial stages of getting a grip on his mental strengths and with a few more matches he could routinely accomplish the sixties and 50's scores which are so vital for the team.

6) Bashar was needed today to add that extra dimension of adventurism that was lacking. Think if Bashar could have played his natural game. We would have wrested the psychological initiative from the Kiwis

[fwullah]

Ummm, how many of you did watch the match or at least the outs on TV?

If nobody has among those who wrote the posts above, then here's my 2 cents:

1. Hannan - i thought he'd be determined enough to not to give his wicket away - what happened to that? either way, I expect a big knock from him in the 2nd innings.

2. What happened to Javed's determination? He usually blocks the balls well. But for some reason he did not expect THAT BALL to be a yorker or of a full length! Disappointing!

3. Nafees actually got out off a good ball, but I think we can give him benefit of the doubt since its his first match, not to mention the fact that he did not look like an opening batsman - a proper opening batsman that is, with good technique - completely lacking from his game

4. Rajin - well he played the only risky shot of the day - on the ball that he went out; other than that, he was just playing the perfect test cricket that a batsman can play under that situation

5. Ashraful actually played a few risky shots and was dropped very early; well there's no more praise than him but to say that he along with Rajin Saleh took the challenge of 'taking the responsibility on their shoulders when the best batsman of the country Habibul Bashar is out through injury'. However, on this track, he had all the opportunity to score his 2nd test hundred today, but he didn't because of his own rush of blood - at least he can't blame anything other than himself for not getting a hundred today - NOTHING on the pitch, NOTHING on the bowling, except his own enemy of himself

6. Alok Kapali - what the hell is he doing in the team? Just fill in the gap of a specialist no. 6 batsman? The shot that he tried to play - it was a very bad one - to play a sweep shot, doesn't matter if it was a good or a bad decision

[Zobair]

I think the team think-tank decided an "all-out survival" approach was the ideal way to get the team on the right track. I have to agree with them.

Couple of things going into the series:

1. The top order has been horribly out of form.
2. Team morale has been pretty low.
3. There is also a lot of external pressure on the players to perform
4. The NZ team thrives on metronomic effeciency and discipline, rather than flair and devastating aggression.

Our team seems to have chosen (I speculate) the following (refreshingly so) strategy:

1. Forget about risky strokes early in the innings (Ash didn't pull any of the short balls that came his until he had faced a 100 balls or so!).
2. Bid your time and just stay at the wicket, runs will come eventually once you get set in and as the kiwis will slowly but surely start to get tired.
3. Forget about the rr no matter how pathetic it may seem to some. Play a ball on its merit. Err on the side of caution. Given our paucity of batsmen in form we cannot afford the luxury of losing a wicket to an aggressive shot.
4. Focus on partnerships.
5. Bat for time, a very crucial aspect of a test-match if one wants to hang on to a draw.


This test so far is similar to the tests played in the 80s. This is the pace test cricket used to be played at until the Aussies came along and changed the face of test cricket. Ther has been many an English score reading 145-150 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in those days.

[Tokai]

how about team wize performance?

a 165/6 is a bad and low score. but, from 5/3 to 165/6 and not out in the entire day is good. i'd give the team performance an B+, if they can hang on to the crease for another session. given the current form and choice of batsman. batsman wize:

hannan: i was many, and too many fans here wants to ban hannan. i'm pretty sure they do not mean ban as a "ban" but out of the squad for a good long time. and to me, i'd not recall him until he scores equal number of centuries in domestic cricket. many of the fans reply was if we don't play him who will play. wake up guys, anyone can score a duck, for crying aloud. anyone jadu, modhu, sodhu can do his job. TAKE ANYONE not hannan. and of course, he should bat after tareq in the second innings.

omar: bad performance today but still deserve his postition.

nafis: need a bit more chance and a few session with asharaful to learn how to stay calm. he is another asharaful and having the same problem asharaful had at the early stage. asharaful's century backed him up to stay in the team, and nafis might not be that lucky. but if selectors give him 25% of the chances they gave to hannan or 10% chance of alok, he'll prove himself.

asharaful: the lone fighter. save the country from another humiliation. i see him playing for decades for bangladesh. he is our tendulkar. i'll forgive him for playing the risky shot he was out with. he still have time to learn how to keep the risk under a reasonable threshold.

rajin: proved, there is still no replacement for him in test. all he need to do, is learn how to take those fighting scores past 50s and then keep increasing. still in his early 20s, he'll be able to do that as well.

alok: his early performance was fluke. this is his real ability. sometimes, it happens to many batsman that they play well above their ability (like hannan in australia). and alok's early performance was the same. replace them with anyone else. team will do better.

rana-pilot: the next session will determine what to say about them.

[rafiq]

I agree that the strategy here seems to be to grind and bore the Kiwis into submission, or at least a draw. A score of 300 in 180 overs is not out of the question at this point...yawn. But some of my takeaways were:

- the partnership between Rajin and Ashraful was as important as any played so far by 2 Bangladeshis. That much is obvious - they almost broke the 4th wicket record established in the WI earlier this year. What I liked is the way they came out of their shell to attack and increase the run rate once they got out of the immediate danger of 5/3. They both knew their roles and played them to perfection. Of course they got out and to bad shots but that happens.

- Nafees Iqbal: is he a naturally aggressive player like Bashar. If so should he just play his natural game instead of facing 30 balls to open his scoring - something I notice in the last few innings he has played including warmups. Maybe he is trying to hard to adapt his game to the test arena, he should just be himself. It may mean some cheap dismissals, but it can also work to pile up some runs.

- Is the pitch really as slow as Ashraful said in an interview (BBC page)? What happens if NZ blasts 350 in a day?

- I think going into the 2nd day with 4 wicket in hand is a morale booster for the team. Remember their past scores against NZ are 104, 135, 135 and 205. However, at the rate they are scoring they have to be worried about how to increase the run rate without scoring wickets.

- Bunch of people (incl. Ashraful) have said 250 is a reasonable score. That sounds like a good target. We need one a couple more 50s to get there.

Edited on, October 19, 2004, 4:39 PM GMT, by rafiq.

[Sami]

I will wait for the end of the test to hit out on Hannan and Kapali... I am still secretly hoping that they will play a good innings... Another similar performance from them in the 2nd innings will definitely create 2 empty spots in the test sides.

Rajin as always played out his 40-ish run innings.

I agree with Fazal that the coach needs to be given a lot of concentration on Rana's batting. he is a young and If we can make him a good batsman he will be one of the most valuable players in the team. He has already proved that he has talent. Just needs proper guiding

But I am kind of diappointed in Ashraful. maybe its my "Beshi paile beshi chai" attitude but ash was playing really well and a 100+ innings was right there on the cards . Good on the NZ side i think though. They made the runs so hard to get - the batsmen comes into pressure automatically and for a batsman with Ash's rep it was just a matter of time before he wud do something silly.

P.S. Its great to see so many interesting comments from everybody. Keep em coming.

Edited on, October 19, 2004, 5:34 PM GMT, by radicalsami.

[betaar]

Someone already mentioned that BD batsmen went into a shell little to early. I beg to differ with the term “too early”. Given the current situation, I think BD batsmen should go into a shell from the very first ball. If and when situation gets better in an inning then they should play aggressively. This approach is the reminiscent of what BD team of late and early 90’s followed. Though BD didn’t play test matches back in the days, it did work as we never used to get all out. To me that is the best approach for current BD team at the infancy of the test status.

The bottom line for tomorrow is, BD batsmen need to stay in their shell as long as possible and not worry about runs. In test matches runs are not always the main ingredient for success, one has to make sure a good number of sessions are played. So we need to stretch our batting till tea tomorrow if possible, if not then lunch at least.

We also need to have Khaled Mashud not only stay there and score runs, but also have the other batsmen stay with him. Both Pilot and Rafiq are capable of big scores provided they get the support form the tail-enders. If we can demoralize the Kiwis then who knows what can happen.

[BD Tigers]

First I'd like congratulate Ash and Rajin for their brave fight. They saved us. 3 wks in first 7 overs and then another 3 wks in 83 overs tell you something about our Bdshi's grit and determination - doesn't it.

Everybody is really pissed with Hannan. So am I. But I still think he can be a good opener. It was not a fluke in Australia (somebody suggested). You have to be very good to score 2 half centuries in Australia in 2 tests. What I think he needs is, not open the strike. Just have Javed face the 1st ball & over. Yea he still needs to face the ball but at least there will be run or 1st over gone. I think he has 1st over phobia like people has heights/water phobia.

Nasif - another Ash. But should we let him play as 1st down? He's a good opening batsman in ODI, but Test is totally different ball game. I think he could be great at no. 6 position where he can play freely like Ash is doing now. I know we don’t have Bashar in this game but I still think he should not go so early. He forget all his footwork skills because he was playing his first test and was there in the middle when not even the 1st over is finished. If it were me, I'd have forget my name at that time let alone footwork. So my suggestion would be have Rajin go 1st down, Ash 2nd, Nasif - 3rd in 2nd innings. When Bashar gets back, everybody will go down one down later.

Alok - I don’t want to say much. I hope Pilot have him bowl as much as possible when we are fielding because I think he can bowl well to justify his inclusion.

Future - 2nd day
If Pilot and Rana could some how survive the 1st 30-40 mins (10 overs), they should easily be there till lunch. Remember Pilot is not good facing 1st ball either on the next day. Nway, what we shud do is stay there as late as possible tomorrow. 2 things will be accomplished for sure. 1st - our score will be a good one to defend and 2nd - the Kiwis will be very tired in this heat and humidity bowling and fielding for 2 days in a row. If this can be done - I am sure we can get a draw in this test.

And of course I hope all our tiger fans remember our team in their prayers.

[feisal]

i think Dhakar mathe 250 can NEVER be a reasonable score, pitch slow thaka should be an advantage to our batsman..overall, it is a bad performance. It is looking better as we have to think of that 5/3, but winning the toss in the friendliests of the wickets and then finding oneself in 5 for 3, who is to blame???

there is one big acheivement though, that is to loose only 6 wickets. What can be the worst now? By the end of thrid day, NZ will have a lead of 200.. and then we will have that impossible task of saving the test match....

is it possible to get into 275 and restrict their lead to 80/100???? Will depeds on Rafique and Rana.. and may be Ashraful.

[Sami]

well its very possible for both the batsmen in the crease to get half centuries. All they need to do is stick in there... and runs will come... we shud atleast try to play past lunch tomorrow. Otherwise our 2nd innings will be just spent trying to save the match.... i agree with feisal...

[Beamer]

If Pilot can manage a fifty, which he is capable of, we can score another 100-120 runs. That will not only take our total around 275 but also will make the kiwis toil longer on the field. However, the first 10 overs tomorrow morning will be crucial in terms of wkts. They will be raring to go and Rana and Pilot have to weather the storm. Runs could be put away at the back burner. Just stay put and inevitably runs will come later in the session. We must stretch the innings well beyond lunch session.

[rassel]

You should say first couple of overs should be crucial instead of 10 overs. As we all know, our boys are incapable of adding runs from the previous days. Just like the practice match; we are probably going add few more runs and that’s it.

[mij]

I agree with most of the comment made above, we should stay batting long as we can, with out worrying about run so much, no need to go for big shot, singles can make the difference..

Pls stay there... and get some result......

[feisal]

crease thaklei je run hoy that thing was almost disproved by us!!!! but at least the wicket is in tact. The ball is 10 over old.. so run should come and also there is agood chance that seamers will strike. Who watched the match on TV??? they could not have bowled THAT well.

i think, we have to be little more positive...

[tutul]

Hannan, Alok and so called other talent are in team, who have been playing disgust innings over and over, I don’t think have any fear of discard from the team. The time when BD won ICC trophy, we had many option in hand, we had many alternative in each and every batting or bowling order, and we had many players who has the capability to lead the team. How many times have we given chances to Akram, Bulbul, Nannu, Durjoy, Ope, and Biddiut when they had bad patch? It just started a big disaster since our cricket official turn their head from local league. Once we didn’t have field to play, now we don’t have tournament to play! BCB officials see the improvement of BD team but ICC officials don’t. Their skin is not as thick as ours.

Believe me my friends, if things keep going like that I doubt if Bangladesh will ever win any test/ODI match. (Well…of course if we play hundreds of matches maybe we will win or drawn one! And I bet if we make a team out of this BC forum members, we can achieve the same result). Maybe this time we will survive, but very soon ICC have to call for another meeting to take the test status or even ODI status away from Bangladesh. My dear friends! Lets get ready for that!

[al Furqaan]

i think that ash is really becoming our little maestro, our master blaster. after being dropped a year ago i wonder what his average is, he has played in 7 test innings (8 now) and has 3 scores of 98,81, and 67. he may have the highest average. he still has a little way to go. hopefully in a year he will be at the peak...i just hope nafis can do all of ashraful's growing in that same time span.

great innings by rajin!!! he needs to get some 70+ scores tho.

[betaar]

I think Hannan should switch places with Nafis. We all know Hannan is a regular openner, but since WI he's failing regularly. This should open up a chance for Nafees, also an openner but more aggressive, to play his natural role as an openner. If he does good then that will do two things for the team, one we may see a blazing start and more importantly Hannan will get some time see the ball prior to seeing the umpire's finger going up.

[Mon]

I think Rajin is having a confidence issue. The same thing was prevalent in Bashar during the Pakistan tour. He always used to get out in 60-70 runs and was never able to make a century. But at the end he did make a century. I think in time Rajin will come out of the unlucky hole. I don’t think he should be dropped for ODI’s. Alok should stay in the team as well. We need conservative players and should discourage quick stroke players. We are not in that stage yet. Probably in the year 2008 we will we will look for a hard hitter.
we should only select technically sound players. Luckily our selectors know that fact. (I think!)

[Zephaniah]

Hannan: His days are numbered, though we all agree his capability (!). He scored one too many ducks by now to over-rule his good showings in Australia more than a year ago. Can JO not face the first ball of the 2nd innings alternatively?

JO: erm, Chasing that ball out side off should be considered as blasphemy for him. He should get back to his religion - staying at crease no matter what.

Nafis: It was a good ball for the debutant , wasn't it? He shouldn't show any signs of nerves in the 2nd innings, he's already a test batsman now, so get on with it! Score runs! But another idea is hovering in my mind. If Bashar is fit to play in the 2nd test as well as Hannan ( hope he shuts up his critics in the 2nd innings), shall we try Nafees at no.6? I think that might turn out to be his best position in test matches.

Ash: Matured than before, but still plenty of scopes to mature further. Congratulation for the fine innings. But in future he should rather be thinking of setting examples ( big hundred?) than getting out in 60s.

Rajin: Good implementation of his role in the team. He needs little 'soul searching' about his tendency to get out in 40s. He has been scoring 30s and 40s consistantly, of late, in test cricket. His performance is good enough to ensure him a place in the test squad for next home series against India, but i do believe his ODI performance is two notch below his test performance.

Kapali: I hear, umpire's verdict was wrong? The ball didnt touch his bat, did it? I would like to see him bowl 15/20 overs per innings in this test, could be more than handful on 4th innings.

Team strategy: Just fine, no problem on that front. Hope they continue to frastrate NZlanders tomorrow.

Edited on, October 19, 2004, 10:31 PM GMT, by Zephaniah.
Reason: duh...