Test Squad announced: Ashraful and Nazimuddin returns

[Razi]

Ashraful recalled for Pakistan Tests
ESPNcricinfo staff
December 7, 2011

Mohammad Ashraful has been recalled to the Bangladesh squad for the two Tests against Pakistan starting later this week. Ashraful, who did not play the ODIs against Pakistan, is one of four changes to the Test squad that played West Indies in October and November.

The vice-captain Mahmudullah, medium-pacer Robiul Islam and batsman Nazimuddin were the other inclusions in the 15-man group, in place of opener Imrul Kayes and middle-order batsmen Raqibul Hasan and Shuvagata Hom.

Ashraful had been out of the Bangladesh squad since being dropped for the Tests against West Indies, after which the coach Stuart Law had said that he needed to perform to play international cricket. Since then he played five National Cricket League matches for Dhaka Metropolis and scored three half-centuries and one hundred.

Mahmudullah's return to the squad was more straightforward. He had missed the West Indies Tests because of dengue fever and recovered in time to play the ODIs against Pakistan.

Law had said that Robiul had missed out on the Tests against West Indies because Bangladesh were unlikely to play three medium-pacers. The squad for that series comprised 14 players, while the one against Pakistan has 15. Robiul strengthened his case by taking 11 wickets on Bangladesh A's tour of West Indies and took 4 for 39 for Sylhet Divison in their ongoing National Cricket League match against Dhaka Division.

Nazimuddin had not played for Bangladesh since 2008 and he was not part of the recent A team's tour of West Indies either. However, he has scored four half-centuries and a hundred in six NCL matches this season.

Kayes was axed after a string of poor performances. He made only 53 runs in three ODIs and 61 runs in two Tests against West Indies. He then scored 28 and 3 in an NCL match for Khulna Division, after which he was out for 2 and 6 in the Twenty20 and an ODI against Pakistan.

Shuvagata Hom was dropped even though he did not play a Test against West Indies and is yet to debut. Raqibul was cut after a poor A tour of the Caribbean, where he made only 91 runs in eight innings across formats.

Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Mahmudullah (vc), Tamim Iqbal, Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain, Elias Sunny, Shahadat Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Robiul Islam, Nazimuddin.

[Zeeshan]

Ameen.

Let the Ashension begin!

[Zeeshan]

So this a different Nazimuddin?

[Murad]

Selector der mathai ki shob GHU naki bujhte parchi na.

Ash Zimbabwe TEst e bhalo korsilo but ore WI Test e rakhenai. ODI te rakhsilo. EKhon abar ore Test e select korse.

Era naki shob gula former captain and Test players.

I wanted to see Ash playing all the NCL games this season. He needs more time off from national team.

[ahnaf]

Why again ash! ****.. These morons really dont know what they are doing..

Posted via BC Mobile Edition

[Ajfar]

Selector ra shob garbage. Ashraful should been dropped from the ODI squad in WI and keep him in the Test series. they did the opposite and than they bring him back.

Nazimuddin's a good call. Might as well try a different opener. Glad to see they didn't bring Razzak back

[AsifTheManRahman]

Originally Posted by Murad
Era naki shob gula former captain and Test players.

Era former captain and Test player dekhei to 10 bochore amra-anda-para-chara kichu korte pari nai.

[Razi]

BTW this is the first time Nazimuddin has been called up in a test team, don't know whether it's the right time to debut him in tests but with the woeful form of our top order we didn't have any option either.

[Equinox]

Unbelievable! How does Imrul retain his place? And how much longer are they going to ignore Dhiman? Even if Mushy is not prepared to give up the gloves, Dhiman should make it as a specialist batsman given his form with the bat over the last 2 seasons. And Farhad in Tests?! I thought Shafiul bowled pretty well this series.

[AsifTheManRahman]

Nazimuddin has been doing well, but I'm not very hopeful. Basically, I'm not very hopeful about any player, prospective or current. What we saw in ODIs 1 and 2 were pathetic, but what we saw last night was disgusting (or whatever I saw of it - wasn't going to waste my brain cells following these morons throughout the night). This has been said many times by many a fan on many a cricket forum from many an armchair, but we will continue to fail unless we revamp our infrastructure at the grass roots level. School cricket needs to be made more competitive, we need more and better scouts paid by the BCB to hunt talent and bring them into national academies coached by well-paid, high profile foreign coaches (no Nannu/Tukku). We should play more OD matches in the NCL without foregoing the DPL and lengthen our NCL FC competition so that our reserves don't sit around for most of the year.

Look, I know a lot of people are talking about bringing in replacements from domestic cricket, but do we really think the outcome will be much different? Name one batsman in the national team who hasn't beaten the crap out of domestic bowlers in recent times. SN, Rahim, Tamim, Naeem and even Alok have all scored runs in either the NCL or the BCB cup. Yet they fail at the slightest hint of spin, pace or swing. I think this speaks volumes about the quality of not only the NCL but also our cricket in general.

These things need to be fixed at the roots and if we're lucky we'll start to see positive outcomes in a decade or so. In the short run, we can bring in Ash, Nazimuddin, Anamul, Asif or whoever one can think of, but in two years, we will be calling for their heads and I can't say we won't have a good reason to. I'm not saying we should stick to failures, but I don't really see any hope of us doing well in the short run either.

PS: Law is an extremely ordinary batting coach. Siddons was better, but still not the solution. Regardless of how crappy Law is, though, what kind of brainless idiots forget what they were coached as recently as earlier this year and start acting like morons who've never seen a cricket bat let alone holding one let alone scoring runs with it?

[Ian Pont]

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
Nazimuddin has been doing well, but I'm not very hopeful. Basically, I'm not very hopeful about any player, prospective or current. What we saw in ODIs 1 and 2 were pathetic, but what we saw last night was disgusting (or whatever I saw of it - wasn't going to waste my brain cells following these morons throughout the night). This has been said many times by many a fan on many a cricket forum from many an armchair, but we will continue to fail unless we revamp our infrastructure at the grass roots level. School cricket needs to be made more competitive, we need more and better scouts paid by the BCB to hunt talent and bring them into national academies coached by well-paid, high profile foreign coaches (no Nannu/Tukku). We should play more OD matches in the NCL without foregoing the DPL and lengthen our NCL FC competition so that our reserves don't sit around for most of the year.

Look, I know a lot of people are talking about bringing in replacements from domestic cricket, but do we really think the outcome will be much different? Name one batsman in the national team who hasn't beaten the crap out of domestic bowlers in recent times. SN, Rahim, Tamim, Naeem and even Alok have all scored runs in either the NCL or the BCB cup. Yet they fail at the slightest hint of spin, pace or swing. I think this speaks volumes about the quality of not only the NCL but also our cricket in general.

These things need to be fixed from the roots and if we're lucky we'll start to see positive outcomes in a decade or so. In the short run, we can bring in Ash, Nazimuddin, Anamul, Asif or whoever one can think of, but in two years, we will be calling for their heads and I can't say we wouldn't have a good reason to. I'm not saying we should stick to failures, but I don't really see any hope of us doing well in the short run either.

PS: Law is an extremely ordinary batting coach. Siddons was better, but still not the solution. Regardless of how crappy Law is, though, what kind of brainless idiots forget what they were coached as recently as earlier this year and start acting like morons who've never seen a cricket bat let alone holding one let alone scoring runs with it?

I think this shows how well Jamie was respected by the players who tried to bat the way he suggested. It might be that the message is different or that the batsmen are being allowed to do something they want to do, without any comeback on them.

In my time with the team it was clear that self-belief and confidence was the key to helping the team win, which is why we spent so long on motivation and also getting them to play fearlessly (not recklessly).

Knowing how to win and then winning, is based on creating good habits. Sadly, with Bangladesh at this time, that has to be drilled into them. It is no good having underarm half volleys thrown at you in the nets as a batter and being in your comfort zone, and then wondering why as soon as it turns or swings, you get out.

[Nadim]

God save Bd cricket!!!

Sir Ash is back!!!

Kayes and Shahdat still in the test squad and more likely to be in the staRTING XI at least in the first Test

SN still there!!!

Nazimuddin is there to make carry the drinks!!!


Reza? WTF BCB??? are you f****** kidding me????


Overall: Crap!

[simon]

don't think Kaedge will play,very unlikely

[MarufH]

I give up.

[Razi]

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
Nazimuddin has been doing well, but I'm not very hopeful. Basically, I'm not very hopeful about any player, prospective or current. What we saw in ODIs 1 and 2 were pathetic, but what we saw last night was disgusting (or whatever I saw of it - wasn't going to waste my brain cells following these morons throughout the night). This has been said many times by many a fan on many a cricket forum from many an armchair, but we will continue to fail unless we revamp our infrastructure at the grass roots level. School cricket needs to be made more competitive, we need more and better scouts paid by the BCB to hunt talent and bring them into national academies coached by well-paid, high profile foreign coaches (no Nannu/Tukku). We should play more OD matches in the NCL without foregoing the DPL and lengthen our NCL FC competition so that our reserves don't sit around for most of the year.

Look, I know a lot of people are talking about bringing in replacements from domestic cricket, but do we really think the outcome will be much different? Name one batsman in the national team who hasn't beaten the crap out of domestic bowlers in recent times. SN, Rahim, Tamim, Naeem and even Alok have all scored runs in either the NCL or the BCB cup. Yet they fail at the slightest hint of spin, pace or swing. I think this speaks volumes about the quality of not only the NCL but also our cricket in general.

These things need to be fixed at the roots and if we're lucky we'll start to see positive outcomes in a decade or so. In the short run, we can bring in Ash, Nazimuddin, Anamul, Asif or whoever one can think of, but in two years, we will be calling for their heads and I can't say we won't have a good reason to. I'm not saying we should stick to failures, but I don't really see any hope of us doing well in the short run either.

PS: Law is an extremely ordinary batting coach. Siddons was better, but still not the solution. Regardless of how crappy Law is, though, what kind of brainless idiots forget what they were coached as recently as earlier this year and start acting like morons who've never seen a cricket bat let alone holding one let alone scoring runs with it?

Top post Asif bhai, really this has been the story of our cricket.

[Razi]

Originally Posted by nadim 98
Kayes and Shahdat still in the test squad and more likely to be in the staRTING XI at least in the first Test

Originally Posted by simon
don't think Kaedge will play,very unlikely

Imrul was out in the 3rd ODI due to a groin injury and it is most likely that he'll also miss the first test.

[Shaun petr]

sack mr.law asap....otherwise black future.

[meazz1]

It really does not matter anymore who bcb brings in for the test. I don't see Ash doing any worst than Tamin at this moment.
No one is playing any better than the other one.
They are just replacing one brainless player with another one.

[Dhakablues]

I am not sure whether I should trust banglanews.com but if this is true,, I think we are looking for a 3 day test affair; What is the point of having A teams if we are not selecting players from that squad for emergencies? Since when did Forhad Reza become a test expert and in which category? How did Nazimuiddin get into the fold? Why not Mominul, Raqibul?

But the reality is different than selection actually,,if Tamim, Shakib and Mushfique doesnt fire,, we are doomed. A one off Nasir or a enigmatically selected Riad cannot be the savior of pride. Pakistan has their Hafiz, Afridi, Younus, Misbah firing guns and Bangladesh is just showing knee-jerking reactions and not being able to just display even club level cricket against them. I can accept good bowls by Gul or any other Pakistani bowlers,, but were they really good balls? I mean were we facing Warne or Steyn? I didnt see complelety amazing turn of balls ( like Nepal scoring froma rainbow volley 50 yards) Some of these senior players must demonstrate how to hold on to wickets and play BASIC cricket and unless that happens, we will definitely see Test matches wrapped up in 2.5-3 days..even if Naeem Islam scores a 2 runs out of 950 deliveries!!

[Nadim]

On a different note: Is Nazimuddin picked as a opener?? or a top/middle order batsman???

IF he has been picked as a OPEner than in what logic??? all his decent knock in this ncl this year has came from number 4/5 .

[munnabhai]

Worst selectors ever! Why are these failed cricketers even selected as selectors? Hire a foreign knowledgeable coach and ask them to select the team instead of these failed cricketers/selectors.

[Murad]

Originally Posted by Ian Pont

In my time with the team it was clear that self-belief and confidence was the key to helping the team win, which is why we spent so long on motivation and also getting them to play fearlessly (not recklessly).

They were very fearless after working on motivation for so long and thats why they gave us 58 and 78.

Motivation is not the problem in the current team. Most of our players are crap.

[Fazal]

Originally Posted by nadim 98
On a different note: Is Nazimuddin picked as a opener?? or a top/middle order batsman???

I think he is selected as a top order, not opener.

Its Ashraful, who may be slected as an Opener.

[AsifTheManRahman]

Originally Posted by Murad
Motivation is not the problem in the current team. Most of our players are crap.

We need to reach a stage where our players are capable of motivating themselves. Seriously, what kind of professionals need external motivation? If you need someone else to motivate you to keep performing on the job, then might as well quit or get fired. Until we have players who show some initiative to improve their games independently, we will, as you said, continue to be crap.

[simon]

the way a player like Ashraful gets dropped and aussitôt gets selected shows how far our cricket has improved.
Having said that I'm not too annoyed with Ash's inclusion because the last time he played a test match he scored some runs & looked very much in control.
And knowing that we will be playing a lot of spin, Ash will be a good choice.