'Almost everyone lacked determination' - DailyStar

[aosaif]

'Almost everyone lacked determination'
Al Musabbir Sadi from Colombo

A frustrated Habibul Bashar was coming to terms with the realisation at the end of the Test series against Sri Lanka that his team was no longer the fighting unit that had impressed during the summer's trip to England.

"It was totally frustrating. We have had poor series before but I am upset about this one particularly because from the beginning, including the one-day series, there was not much evidence that we had tried hard or we were really up to something," Bashar said after his side lost the second Test on Thursday.

"Every player wants to perform but we never really showed the effort. There was a lack of determination from almost everyone.

"It was a bad series but now, the important thing is to prepare ourselves for the next series. We have four months of domestic cricket in between and we have to do a lot of hard work in all areas."

Bashar admitted that after the highs of England, Sri Lanka was a dampener in every sense.

"We have to think about a comeback now. There won't be any national camps in the coming months but I want every individual to work on their skill and the mental part during the domestic season. Every one would be set a goal and a plan and I hope they follow that for their own sake.

"Sri Lanka are a tough opponent and when Murali bowls, every team gets cautious. But I think we really panicked against him.

Bashar was also self-critical.

"A series like this is really hard for a captain because it's not only my performance I have to look after but everything else too. It really makes things harder but I can accept that. That's not an excuse, that's never been an excuse for me. As the captain you have to take everything. That's the job and I admit that I am a failure in this tour as a captain.

"I should have scored more runs, especially in this Test because the wicket was fantastic."

He also felt that the players gave away too many wickets.

"I would again say there was a lack of determination. We mentally accepted that Murali is a great bowler and he is difficult to play. But it is not justifiable at this level to panic against big names. We did not actually play the deliveries according to merit."

When asked whether players who were guaranteed places in the side were indifferent about their performance, Bashar stressed that no one was indispensable.

"It's difficult to say whether that had happened. We prefer to give a player more confidence by telling him that he would play for a certain time. Otherwise, most of us take unnecessary pressure to retain his place. Anyway, after two or three bad series, it is hard to survive for any player and the boys realise that.

"Actually, I wanted to see them work hard which unfortunately never happened."

He also said that most of the things that had happened on the tour had a negative feel about them.

"Things happened that should not have happened . But as a team, we are fine. The team spirit is there and there are no problems among players. We only need some good performances," he said referring to the altercation between coach Dav Whatmore and Mohammad Rafique ahead of the Test matches.

Bashar's counterpart Marvan Atapattu meanwhile had the luxury of reflecting on a satisfying home win.

"We wanted to approach these games very seriously and prepare for the next couple of months. After the end of the second Test match, I am very happy with the way things have gone. Basically everyone has contributed.

"If we have everybody fit in terms of fast bowlers we can do greater

things. Unfortunately many guys are injured and we are thrilled that Dilhara has come back after injury.

Atapattu also had kind words for the Bangladeshis.

"Every other country has gone through this. It takes time to get better. I have seen Sri Lanka going through such spells where we played two and half days and three day Test matches.

"I want to say that they have definitely improved from what they were when they came here last time."

(c) The Daily Star

[aosaif]

Honeslty, I almost felt like crying after reading all this. Things are so uncertain for this team now. Maybe the coming domestic season will help them regroup. I want to see the batsmen play long innings and score big centuries. I mean BIG, over 150.

[cricket_pagol]

I am happy that the team is getting some time to regroup.

It was very sad reading this article... I felt really sorry for Bashar.

[CricTiger]

Originally posted by aosaif
I want to see the batsmen play long innings and score big centuries. I mean BIG, over 150.

I also want to say, we do not like to hear could have ,should have,would have kind of excuse anymore.

No commitments,not this ,not that enough is enough from BD team.

We want to see these in actions.Unless utill our BD players show us good scores 100/200 runs on a continual basis there are no cures for them.



So Talk less, work hard ...BASHAR and co

[BD Tigers]

3/4 months of no BD series..GREAT..BCB shud make all the pitches in BANGLADESH BOWLER friendly. We really need the batsmen to be tested in the domestic league.

[m35helal]

Great.... CricTiger ....I agree with you. We are fed up with the eloquence of Bashar. Before justify anyone's performannce in the team, he should justify his own performance first.....this guy is not logical.....merely better than other batsmen that we have...

BCB should have two sets of batsmen...one set is for ODIs and the other is for the TEST matches...

[CricTiger]

Before each and every series we hear

1) Practice was good
2) Players feeling more confident than before
3) Conditions are OK
4) We will put a Good Fight

After the series

1) No Commitments
2) Players were not showing their Confident
3) Conditions were tough
4) We learn a lot from this and do better next time

For God sake, please stop talking like these

Put them in real perspective and perform

[aosaif]

actually i feel most sorry for bashar. He's acting the way he should in his position. HIs team is down, but he's still showing that he believes his team can win. Yet, clearly he's frustrated.

Just to add -- Usually the bulk of the runs should be scored by players other than the captain. Thats the case with any test side.

[Baundule]

I have no soft feeling for Bashar. International cricket is no fun. If you can perform, it's ok; otherwise don't show any excuse.

I am really bored with the 'Gyangorvo' statement of Bashar. This can be the statement of a pathetic fool who always tells he is going to give a good fight, he learnt a lesson from the current series and so on....ironically it's happening all the time. Shame on him, shame on the BD team, including players, managers, coaches and whoever.

Don't consider my post as too harsh. There are fields to be emotional; as a man I have all the respect for Bashar, he seems to be very polite and honest; but profession is a profession.

Edited on, September 23, 2005, 7:38 AM GMT, by Baundule.