Sir Viv Stadium looks like a batting paradise

TheWatcher · #1 March 26, 2007, 06:17 PM

Herald Sun: Stadium a batting paradise

Report excerpt-

AUSTRALIA'S cricketers visited the West Indies' field of dreams yesterday . . . and were immediately warned it represents a challenging new world.

The Australians took their first look at what coach John Buchanan called "the jewel of the Caribbean" -- Antigua's Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, which will be opened when they play the West Indies tonight.

The Australians were so keen to see it they stopped there on the way from the airport to the team hotel.

Its grassless, recently laid wicket is something of a mystery but looks a batting paradise.

Different challenge: spinner Brad Hogg inspects the wicket at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium yesterday.

The ground is much bigger, the outfield slower and batsmen have been reminded they will have to do a lot more running and working of the ball.

The Windies are expected to dish up about 20 overs of spin from Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Ricky Ponting is set to instruct his players to attack the Windies' part-time tweakers.

"In the Champions Trophy they got away with their spinners but they are the guys who we will be looking to put a bit more pressure on and we will see how they cope with that," Ponting said.

"Their batting is their strength. They have some class players such as Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, (Shiv) Chanderpaul and Sarwan. We know what they are capable of. Lara comes off and we will be chasing a big score."

Farhad · #2 March 26, 2007, 06:30 PM

Really, really bad news...........The only way we can even come close is on bowling pitches (because our bowling is so much stronger than our batting)...Lets hope the providence stadium (SA) match has better pitches......Good find btw

ammark · #3 March 26, 2007, 06:37 PM

Good, aftab and Ashraful can hit the aussie fast bowlers for 6 again. Our batting has enough variety and is not bad against low swinging pace bowling.

RazabQ · #4 March 26, 2007, 06:56 PM

Hmm, our bowling attack is not skilled or flexible enought to tackle shirt-front pitches. And our batsmen are still not there mentally in terms of chasing 300+ scores. This does not bode well for the Aus-BD match. But then again, it never did

Expect the worst, hope for the best I say. Go Tigers!

Hatebreed · #5 March 26, 2007, 07:49 PM

At least the ground is bigger. Aus/SA would whip us out of the park in a smaller ground. Hopefully Dav and the players will carefully analyse the pitch and choose the right bowling attack for this particular pitch.

al Furqaan · #6 March 26, 2007, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ammark
Good, aftab and Ashraful can hit the aussie fast bowlers for 6 again. Our batting has enough variety and is not bad against low swinging pace bowling.

uncle's right...if there isnt movement off the pitch or through the air, our batsmen will enjoy the pace of tait/lee...and even mcgrath will take a few hits...our stroke-loving batsmen like when the ball comes onto the bat given no lateral movement.

quality spin is something that tends to bog us down...even the likes of prosper utseya - who, btw, is just a mediocre spinner in int'l terms. plus aftab's technique against spin is absolutely wretched.

lets see who are the quality pacers and spinners we will face:

pace

mcgrath, tait, johnson, bracken (australia)
bond, franklin, oram (new zealand)
taylor, bravo, ??? (west indies)
flintoff, anderson (england)
pollock, ntini, nel (south africa)

spin

vettori (new zealand)

thats kinda good for us, only one quality spinner...exculding gayle

allrounder · #7 March 26, 2007, 07:58 PM

what is wrong with you guys, why is it that some fans are always looking for our batsmen to hit 6s and 4s.

Quote:

The ground is much bigger, the outfield slower and batsmen have been reminded they will have to do a lot more running and working of the ball.

When you go for big uppish hits chances of catches are more in slow field, ball does not come to the bat properly, chances of mistimed shots are more. So please expect them to bat sensibly and not just show how brave they are by trying to hit 4s and 6s.

Farhad · #8 March 26, 2007, 08:01 PM

I think you guys might be right....Our batsmen might just do well on this pitch. But Aussies batting line-up is much more dangerous than its bowling.......Tait is used more as an all-out pace spearhead, so the swing factor wont really affect his bowling much anyway. Mcgrath, Pollock, Ntini and Bond might be a lot less dangerous than their usual selves though....

allrounder · #9 March 26, 2007, 08:29 PM

These pitches will then work well for reverse swing, and Tait and Bond will throw cannon yorkers, if nothing else works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BD4eva
I think you guys might be right....Our batsmen might just do well on this pitch. But Aussies batting line-up is much more dangerous than its bowling.......Tait is used more as an all-out pace spearhead, so the swing factor wont really affect his bowling much anyway. Mcgrath, Pollock, Ntini and Bond might be a lot less dangerous than their usual selves though....

cricket_pagol · #10 March 26, 2007, 09:10 PM

With 3 quality spinnners, i think we have an upper hand compared to some other bowling attacks.

tiger_omar · #11 March 26, 2007, 09:23 PM

If we can get a decent opening partnership going, we can either post a BIG score or chase a BIG target as well.

With Tamim and Nafees, we have two aggressive batsman that could put up runs very quickly, so let's hope Nafees can get into form and Tamim can get a bit lucky in the Super 8s' and let's surprise some teams. However, if our opening batsmen don't stay at the crease for a while, we can be in big trouble especially against the better teams.

TheWatcher · #12 March 26, 2007, 09:26 PM

BTW, Bangladesh is playing only two matches on this stadium (v Aus, NZ). The team will move to Guyana for the third match (v SA), and then to Barbados for the last three (v Eng, Ire, WI).

ammark · #13 March 26, 2007, 10:38 PM

1. Bangladesh team has to field with full commitment (as they did vs India) and Bashar has to field and use bowlers intelligently.

2. Aside from hitting boundaries, Aus and SA top order takes many quick singles, and those really have to be limited. If that can be done, Aus and SA can be limited to a gettable score.

3. Our batting, on its day can be just as marauding as Aus and SA's.

I just want BD to perform with 100% commitment. Even if they lose to Aus SA NZ and WI

Russell2k7 · #14 March 26, 2007, 11:12 PM

Our batsmen seem to get out after they get 50 or 100. Never figured that out.

TheWatcher · #15 March 29, 2007, 09:38 AM

Pitches seem to be easy paced. There is no extravagant bounce, just enough so that batsmen can play their shots comfortably.

bengaltiger · #16 March 29, 2007, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ammark
Good, aftab and Ashraful can hit the aussie fast bowlers for 6 again. Our batting has enough variety and is not bad against low swinging pace bowling.

except that aussie batting is so much stronger...

TheWatcher · #17 March 29, 2007, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWatcher
Pitches seem to be easy paced. There is no extravagant bounce, just enough so that batsmen can play their shots comfortably.

Just thought I should add this line-

"Although, Jacob Oram can still get extra bounce out of this pitch because of his height."

akabir77 · #18 March 29, 2007, 10:33 AM

well acording to ian chappel only way to put aus in trouble now to put them in fielding. cause there bowling is the weak point and if the team gets to 250+ they have chance as Aus havn't chased for a while. but u put them in to bat they will get to 350 and thats all done for the op team... i like his idea...btw they scored 300+ in last five match batting first

PoorFan · #19 March 29, 2007, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akabir77
well acording to ian chappel only way to put aus in trouble now to put them in fielding. cause there bowling is the weak point and if the team gets to 250+ they have chance as Aus havn't chased for a while. but u put them in to bat they will get to 350 and thats all done for the op team... i like his idea...btw they scored 300+ in last five match batting first

Sounds sensible & logical to me.

TheWatcher · #20 March 29, 2007, 11:55 AM

Words from Ponting-

'Put us in, if you dare'

Quote:

"I think it's probably well known that Australia's favourite way of playing is to bat first," Ponting said.

"I certainly don't worry about batting first.

"I think there are a lot of other teams favouring bowling first, particularly in day games, because they probably feel that if there is going to be something in the wicket, it's there in the morning.

"I think generally during games, conditions stay pretty even.

"The flipside is if we happen to play well and bat well and post big totals, it's going to take exceptionally good batting to chase down those scores."

Australia, with another Hayden ton, powered to 6-377 against the Proteas, who then started well but fell away.

That match marked the fourth time in as many innings that Australia had passed 300.

"In a run chase like that, if you lose one wicket or two in a quick period, the game changes completely," Ponting said.

"That's the pressure they are putting themselves under by bowling first."

Kabir · #21 March 29, 2007, 01:55 PM

Too bad, we chased them down even when they're so good when batting first. It just shows one thing...we're just that much better.

oracle · #22 March 29, 2007, 07:32 PM

We may have to drop Razak for Shahadat in this venue.

Protic · #23 March 29, 2007, 07:45 PM

Oracle : I think dropping Rasel would be better.. Hayden,Ponting,Clarke,Gilly will simply bash rasel out of the ground..he is too "predictable" for em.. like shaun pollock. Razzak is a better option than Rasel.

cricket_pagol · #24 March 29, 2007, 10:06 PM

If shahadat is bowling well in nets, then we need to drop Rasel. Bangladesh needs Shahadat's aggression in the first couple of overs

akabir77 · #25 March 29, 2007, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kabir
Too bad, we chased them down even when they're so good when batting first. It just shows one thing...we're just that much better.

no we chased them down when they came to england just weeks before where as we were there for a month. And we took that advantage...but now its a diff story