SA wrest control - Really?

[Sham]

CricInfo front page claims that SA wrest control of the Second Test. Now I know that some of you are gonna come after me for whining, but seriously guys, that is ridiculous!

Think about it this way, if SA were playing England or Australia, and after winning the toss and putting themselves in on a batting track (okay, its not an ideal batting track because it is really slow but it sure is easier to bat than bowl still, that will change as the wicket breaks up later on), would anyone say that they are in control of the match having lost 6 wickets for 260 odd?

We had them at 60 odd for 4. If we can put up a similar performance in the second morning, we could get SA all out for about 320. Now our batsmen might make 320 seem like a colossal score, but from a first day point of view, I don't think they have wrested control at all. Couple of early wickets, and we could get them all out for under 300. I think SA would be devastated by that, but somehow the Wisden-CricInfo guys will provide a ton excuses on SA's behalf.

If I were writing the headline, I would say something like SA fight back well to end even on Day 1.

[Zobair]

there were 2 clear LBW chances that were denied by Bowden. Ravi Shashtri was livid but Cullinun just stammered and talked about the wktkeepers movement. The first obvious one was rafique getting pollock on the pad almost on the full on a straight ball that pitched on off and middle. The commentators were baffled. And then Bowden did it again. This time Masri had Peterson plumb on the backfoot! That one would have clearly gone on to hit middle and leg no doubt about that. I don't even hear any mention of that in any of the news reports???!!! This could have been 260 all out for God's sake. When Umpires elsewhere make a hash of decisions wisden struggles to come up the wittiest quips at the umpire.

Just gimme a break. Bangladesh bowled excellent today. Rafique was wonderful. Sujon rotated his bowlers really well given that he had 3 front-line bowlers in the team with one half-fit.

I guess the only reason W-CI dare talk about wresting control is because they really don't give our batsmen any chance against SA. They really think 260 odd and whatever they add tomorrow will put beyond our boys'capabilities. I so hope tomorrow our boys come out all cylinders and shut these loud-mouths up.

[Nasif]

Sham: I laughed at that too. What a bunch of suckers.

[Sham]

Masri was very unlucky yesterday. First Bowden didn't catch Gibbs glove a ball to Selim down the leg-side (Selim's catch was superb), and then he didn't get that LBW decision late in the day, again Bowden screwed up. Bowden also didn't give a plumb LBW on the first evening of the First Test in chittagong.

[Arnab]

Sham, it's not cricinfo anymore...it's wisden-cricinfo, and the writer of that article is Mr. Premachandran. That alone should explain it.

[Piranha]

Cricinfo by themselves used to give pretty neutral assessments. I used to really look forward to their end of day reports. Now this premchandran bastard is screwing everything up.

More than ever, now I am wishing they eat their words in this test match.

[Banglatiger84]

Amazing how australia gets in control by scoring 320-3 against west indies

"South Africa recover from shaky start" would have been appropriate,

[sheshprohor]

Are they really scared of the tigers?

I know SA cricket is suffering now, but they should compare with at least a team with their levels.

Funny morons.

Prohor

[Sham]

Now thats a team in control. If SA had a score like theirs, I don't think any of us would be complaining. But yeah, you guys are right, after Wisden hooked up with CricInfo, its a double whammy for us. Now we can't escape our man Prem. Sucks!

[Ehsan]

This is so stupid man ... they never appreciate our efforts. This really sucks...wisden sucks...cricinfo sucks...indians sucks....

[fwullah]

As far as I can remember, there were 3 decisions going against us not given by Billy Bowden. I was thinking at the time - whether it was or was not "Bornobad".

I am sorry to say this, but I fear that our batsman will not be able to at least let South Africa bat again. The pitch looks THAT BAD. And since our bowlers did better than average, so you make the 2 plus 2.

[fwullah]

Now BBC's sports site is the only good site for us. Their headline is "Rafique lifts Bangladesh".

BBC

[Tehsin]

First of all .. I forgot that we played today (I HATE dial up) and second of al, when I read the Cricinfo headline, I thought - there, we did it again .... While I was eagerly waiting for the page to load, I thought of a couple of scenarios :

1 - BD were bowled out for another measly total of 70-150.
2 - SA ended the day at 340-400 for 2 or 3 wickets.

Seriously, what else can one expect to see after reading that heading - that too, on the front page .... For us, we'd still look into the score and all but most folks would just read that heading and that's the only thing that will stick to them ... It's kinda like propaganda ... You can twist it any way you want to fit your needs ...

Instead of a more appropriate - SA regain initiative after early collapse or Bangladesh/Rafique hold SA down on Day one ... we see a completely lop-sided title to go with a blind umpire .... Give us four years, we'll have enough presense on the net to twist any story to fit whatever way we need it to ...

Look at the world today - if you control the media, you control the world ... you force your opinions on the rest .... blah blah blah

[Tehsin]

After having a look at the scorecard and reading the report .. it's obvious that our batsmen will have a hell of a time to score past 150 twice on this wicket .... So, we need to bowl SA out for under 300 if we are to avoid follow on .... The wicket is HORRIBLE and as it has been said --- i is going to be unplayable against the SA bowlers.

(Notice how we don't mind admitting when the wickets play a role in our favor ... good luck finding our neighbors or other sides to do the same ...)