Is Enamul the premier test spinner??

[Beamer]

Want to hear the opinion of you guys though it is irrelevant at this point.

What if we are touring outside and the situation of the pitch and weather dictates only one spinner in a test match? We have Rafiq and Enamul to choose from. What do we do? We can go with both anyway or leave one alone. Forget Rafiqs batting ability for the moment.

Something for future consideration. I still will pick Rafiq for the considerable future for his experience and record given such a situation does rise. Hope it doesn't touch a wrong nerve here. Not advocating Enamul instead of Rafiq. But, I do see this dillema staring us in the face in a not too distant future.
By then, Enamul will be a major strike bowler if he continues his improvement...Any point of view?

[Maximillian]

Is Enamul even the 2nd best spinner ? Maybe so !

But he will need to be similarly or near effective against the other test nations before we begin to seriously consider a tandem spin attack comprising of the two, or Enamul himself.

[Fazal]

If we just consider bowling alone, may be still Rafique. But my guess is after the end of this test, I will change my mind. Beacuse the more success enamul is getting, the more confident he is becomeing, thats bringing more success. No one knows where it end.

I hope we have more this kind of dillema where we have two capable player to select from rather than off-form Gullu or Rajin (in the past) kind of cases, where we realize that a player is off-form but no one outstanding to replace from.

Boy, we are moving in the roght direction, atleast in the bowling section.

Edited on, January 14, 2005, 6:48 PM GMT, by Fazal.

[Zunaid]

I urge you to read Razab's article on the front page

He discusses the very same issue:

England in early summer is a spinner's graveyard unless you spin the ball prodiguously ala a Warne of Muralitharan, or happen to be a master of changes of pace. So for most of our matches, we will probably feature one spinner and it will probably come down to a straight choice between Enam & Rafique. Believe it or not, Enam has the edge at present because he just recently had a tour or England (thus being more familiar with the conditions) and he is also a bigger turner of the ball. I am - and this will raise the ire of many a forum poster - skeptical of Rafiques impact on the soft english greentops. Unless he pulls a Kumble and essentially morphs his approach to a slow medium bowler, Rafique might struggle to take wickets. However, and yes, this is a broken record, that's what the practice matches are for. We are now left with 14 slots.

[Mahmood]

For now, Enamul probably will have the luck of MacGill , who sits half the gams to make room for Warne, even when his record in India was better than Warne.

[Optimist]

Enamul did not do too well in England with the under 19s. And as some others pointed out, I would like to see him perform agianst stronger teams. Hardly any batsmen ever took on Rafique...........it is a testament to his ability to probe even under difficult conditions. Specially for teams like Bangladesh, Rafique is a blessing since he not only takes wickets, he bowls countless tight overs allowing other bowlers the rest they need. I would love to see what Enam does when some one like Tendu or Ganguly goes after him. That said, I think we all know that on spinning track Rafique is little bit less effective. We saw against West Indies during the one dayers when Rana took vital wickets and we would have won if Rafique could take some wickets.

At this moment though............if we have only one slot and we have to choose between the two of them.........I will vote for Rafique. Enam though will surely have his time......and it is not far!

[sadi]

i like this conversation where we get to choose from two very capable spinners. As long as we have healthy competition like this, I am sure our team is heading to the right direction. I understand the idea of choosing Enamul but i think he is still too unexperienced and need a little more time to establish himself as the first spinner.

[DotBall]

Originally posted by Beamer
Want to hear the opinion of you guys though it is irrelevant at this point.

What if we are touring outside and the situation of the pitch and weather dictates only one spinner in a test match? We have Rafiq and Enamul to choose from. What do we do? We can go with both anyway or leave one alone. Forget Rafiqs batting ability for the moment.

Something for future consideration. I still will pick Rafiq for the considerable future for his experience and record given such a situation does rise. Hope it doesn't touch a wrong nerve here. Not advocating Enamul instead of Rafiq. But, I do see this dillema staring us in the face in a not too distant future.
By then, Enamul will be a major strike bowler if he continues his improvement...Any point of view?

It is way way too early to even thinking about this. Enamul is hot right now and he needs to be consistent like Rafique and that alone will take another year or 2. He is a great potential but we don't need to over praise him.

[shujan]

This series belongs to Enamul, no doubt. It will be very interesting to see how Enamul do in the future. We will be waiting for future good performance from Enamull.

Rafiq is an unshaken pillar of Bangladesh team. He earned his respect through international community by posting results over years of success. He ranks 20th in PWC world rating.

Wish well to both Rafiq and Enam. Hope they both place them self in top 10 in the world.

[Blah]

ofcourse rafique is the first choice. Enam is yet to proof himself against other more stronger opponents, while rafique has done that already several times over. And the fact that rafique can also bat make the comparision look silly, atleast for now. Enam on the other hand could easily be a second choice along with razzaq. Actually I am great fan of razzaq. Given the chance I am preety sure razzaq would also run havoc on this zimbabwe batting line up.

I hope everyone doesnt forget razzaq, he is a great prospect.

[IanW]

Send em both to England, give them each a couple of warmup matches, and then make your decision.

Ian Whitchurch

[sham1980]

This is test cricket and everything matters batting, bowling, fielding. Hence Rafique still number one.... Like Enamul says the man gets you wickets on any track... Enamul needs experience he needs to show consistency He is exciting I think we should keep him as our Home secret weapon though he won't be secret once every one knows. Yr right Enam was not sucessful against eng u19. BUt we do have an upcoming gem on our hand, its great that we are blessed with Rafique who will continue for a long time, Enam, razzaq, even Manjural though poor chaps confidence has been dented.

Also I hear a guy buy name Nadif Chowdury ??? SLA lower middle order bat and can bowl LMF ?? any one know anything about him

[islam]

We need some off spiners/leg spiners. SLA's won't trouble many of the worlds bigger crickting nations ( the only ball they can get people out with is really the arm ball, and once you get acustomed to it, you have no problems...unless its a spiners paradise.)

[sham1980]

I agree we need Variety.... Off break, and leg spinners do we have any body in contention apart from Alok and Naimur hojw about Shabbir K ? Mosadeek h what happened to him

[islam]

Alok can be good @ times, but we need a specalist, not bowlers who do bits and peices. All the other subcontinantal teams have off/legs spiners which then allow them to produce spining track against tourists giving them the upper hand.

We producing batting tracks confident that our batsmen are better than ZIm(which is why we have won), against a team like Aus , we would probably conceed 700+runs on a flat track, so we need some variety.

[jaanleva]

enamul just took his second 5 wicket haul in as many test matches!!!!

not far behind rafique ...

bangladesh so lucky to have some wonderful left arm spinners like rafique, enamul, manjarul, abdur razzak raj etc.

probably because bd batsmen are mostly righ-handed .. they are used to bowling to right handers at home!

[Hasib]

Don't write Rafique of simply because he hasn't been taking wickets... he is goin at less than 2 runs an over allahr-rahmatha.

[reinausagi]

When did Talha and Enamul replace Masri and Rafique as the strike bowlers

This is turning out to be a very entertaining series.

[Mon]

Rafiq bai Jekhani ami aachi Shaikhani.
Enamul is a new addition to our stockpile but we cannot forget Rafiq who has saved us many times. It will take years for Enam to get close to Rafiq.
but they both compliment eachother. and an amazing duo
go bd

[shaoun]

if enamul takes 3 wicket in this test then he will become the youngest bowler to take 10 wicket in a test. wasim akram holds that record for now. inshallah enamul will be able to break it. take a look at how many record bangladesh holds for being the youngest. ashraful is the youngest test centurian. talha is the youngest to take 4 wicket and now enamul is about to join that list. in time these guys will get better. a bringt future ahead of them and ahead of bangladesh cricket. inshallah.