2010 vs. 2009 vs. 2008 : The Siddons Era

[Raynman]

(can somebody instruct me on how to create the poll ? )

Lately there is so much flying around about if 2010 is a step in the right direction for BD or if its been a dismal failure. Here are the facts to review and decide if we are:

(A) In line with expectations and heading in the right direction
(B) One step fwd (individual) and 2 setps back (as a team)
(C) The more things change, the more they stay the same
(D) Don't believe in opinions, either support the team blindly with your mouth shut or stop following cricket altogether
(E) I'm done, I'm over Bangladesh cricket....until the next match which I'll still watch/follow with the hope that we can still win

Test

2008 (0-1-7) : 2 one sided losses to NZ in NZ (9w & inn + 137 runs). A 161 run opening stand by Tamim & Junaid in the first test. A home series with SA showed a close 1st Test where BD secured a 1st innings lead only to lose by 5 wickets. The 2nd test was a blowout (inn + 205runs) with SA building an opening 415 run partnership. A home return series in BD saw NZ barely escape with a 3 wicket win almost single handedly by Vettori while the 2nd test was drawn after losing 3 days to rain. BD went for the return SA series in SA and lost both by an innings (inn + 129 and inn + 148). The year ended with an almost historic ending when BD lost to SL by 107 runs chasing a 500+ target in the 4th innings.

2009 (2-0-1): BD played only three tests. The inspiring 1st test vs. SL was followed up with a poor 465 run loss to SL. The year ended in triumph with a historical 2-0 (95 runs & 4 wkts) sweep of WI in the Caribbean. It should be noted that this was not a full strength WI team due to a players strike even though a decent number of the players are now part of the West Indian team composition. 2W-1L

2010 (0-0-3) : A home test series against India that became more about Sehwag’s ‘ordinary’ comment than anything else. The first test showed promise with a 1 run deficit in the 1st innings which could have been so much more if not for dropped catches of Tendulkar. In the end, a 2nd innings declaration and a 113 run loss that never ended up looking threatening. The 2nd test was a narrow inning defeat avoider which turned out to be a 10 wicket loss despite a 151 from Tamim. A one off test in NZ was another opportunity squandered after having NZ on the hook for 5/158, a 339 partnership by McCullum and Guptil saw NZ home in a 121 run win. Although a victory was possible, the threat was never really there. A home series with ENG starts later this week. 3L

ODI

2008 (5-21, 1a) : A home ODI series to SA ended in big margin losses (9w, 7w, 7w) with BD failing to break 200 once. The 2nd match was competitive in the sense that SA had to bat till the 49th over for victory. A 3-0 drubbing of Ireland followed avenging the 2007 WC loss (8w, 84r, 79r). The Pakistan visit was a 5-0 affair (152r, 7w, 23r, 7w, 150r). The 3rd ODI was an valiant 285/8 chasing 308 but the pacing of the innings wasn’t really threatening enough. Two more defeats to PAK (70) and IND (7w) followed at the Kitply cup. The Asia Cup was followed with a win over UAE (96 runs) and one sided defeats to SL (131r), IND (7w), SL again (158 runs), and PAK (10w). AUS joined in with a 3-0 win (180r, 8w, 73r). A major win came with NZ at home (7w) enabling BD to eye a series win, but the last two matches saw BD give up on-top positions (5-86, 2-13) to end up losing big (75r, 79r). The last ODI in 2008 vs. SA was abandoned but SA had already taken the first two convincingly (61r, 128r).

2009 (14-5) : A tri-series involving ZIM and SL got off to a horrible loss to ZIM (38r) to be followed by an impressive defeat of SL (5w) with bonus points and a heartbreaking loss to SL in the finals (2w) after being on top almost the entire match. ZIM put another scare in a by winning the 1st match of a 3 match series (2w) with BD fighting back in matches 2 & 3 (6w, 6w) to save face. The next series was an historic yet asterisked series vs. WI in a whitewash of 3-0 against an under strength WI squad (52r, 3w, 3w). The next series against ZIM in ZIM saw a lot of individual glory and team records being set in a 4-1* win (8w, 49r, 69r*, 4w, 5w). Another 5 matches vs. ZIM at home finished off the year. ZIM took the first game (5w) to shock BD who won the series comfortably at the end 4-1* ( 7w, 4w, 6w, 1w) although the 6w win came chasing 44 while the 1w win took some magic from Naeem to bat with the tailenders for the win.

2010 (0-10) : A tri-series with 4 losses to SL (7w, 9w) and IND (6w, 6w) where the totals ranged from 245 to 299 and despite having early wickets never really a threat to win. NZ followed a 3-0 (146r, 5w, 3w) with BD blowing an upper hand in game one (5-135), saving embarrassment in game 2 to post a somewhat respectable total and failing to clean up the tail after dropping 7 wickets with 30+ runs still remaining. ENG came to BD with a depleted squad but ran off with the series (6w, 2w, 45r). The 2nd game seemed like an easy win till Shakib made it interesting with some late wickets. The last two matches had questionable decisions that could have swung a W for BD. It should be noted that the umpiring was poor all through the series for both teams, although BD paid a higher price for them.


T20

2008 (0-2) : BD played a T20 against Pakistan where there were they were completely outclassed by 102 runs. All out in 16 overs for 101 chasing 203. The other T20I vs. South Africa was far more competitive. BD had SA 118/7 in 14 when rain interrupted and were left to make 122 in 14 with the D/L method. They came 12 runs short. Not enough T20I for the year but a lousy start and a promising finish.

2009 (0-3): A miserable year for T20I. With no matches played before the WC, BD crashed out of the first round after losing to IND by 25 runs and IRE by 6 wickets. The year finished off with another lopsided 5 wicket defeat to a WI squad recently whitewashed in a Test and ODI series.

2010 (0-1): After scheduling no matches before the 2009 WC was not the smartest thing the BD team had one T20 in 2010 on its schedule before this year’s world cup. That was a miserable failure as NZ restricted BD to its lowest total (78) and romped to a 10 wicket win thanks to a couple dropped catches.