Bangladesh pin hopes on spin

[rassel]

Bangladesh pin hopes on spin

Debashish Biswas

October 25, 2004


After winning the first Test by the massive margin of an innings and 99 runs, New Zealand will hope to complete their first series win in the subcontinent since Geoff Howarth's side beat Sri Lanka 2-0 over 20 years ago. In Dhaka, Bangladesh were undone in by Daniel Vettori, who returned the excellent second-innings figures of 22-13-28-6, but they will expect to put up sterner resistance this time.

"The wicket was quite slow and we got some bounce that helped me a lot. It was good for spinners but not the best." said Vettori. "Patience is key to surviving on such wickets. They can learn a lot from our style of batting in the first innings."

To strengthen their batting, Bangladesh have replaced Hannan Sarkar, who had scored only 54 in his last nine innings, with Aftab Ahmed, who will make his Test debut on his home ground if selected: "I know this wicket better than anybody else and I want to leave my mark in front of fans here." Like Nafis Iqbal, and Enamul Haque junior, who joined the squad to bolster the spin attack, Aftab was part of the side that defeated Australia in the Plate final of the Under-19 World Cup in March this year.

Wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud will continue as captain, since Habibul Bashar has not yet recovered from the thumb injury that ruled him out of the Champions Trophy and the first Test.

The plan for Bangladesh is to bat as long as possible, to make a first-innings score above 300, to try to force the New Zealanders to bat on a wearing pitch. The spin attack is one area in which the Bangladeshis can compete. But it is a scheme that could work for either team according to Khokon, the curator of MA Aziz Stadium: "The team that wins the toss and chooses to bat first might establish control over match as the first two days will promise a lot of runs."

The pitch will be quite similar to that in Dhaka. "Even the pace bowlers would not be able to get any assistance during this time," Khokon added. "The wicket will only take a little turn on the third day while the fourth and fifth day will definitely belong to the bowlers. Maybe the only difference will be a slight change in bounce."

John Bracewell, New Zealand's coach, is reluctant to make any major changes to the side, but with one eye on the series against Australia next month, there is the temptation to include Kyle Mills or Chris Martin, who have yet to play a match on this tour. Ian Butler, who went wicketless at Dhaka, may be rested.

There is no room for complacency, however tempting, for New Zealand. Oram, who took only three wickets in the first Test, said: "The fact that we played with the ruthlessness which was expected was very good. We've come over here to get some results after recent poor performances, notably the 0-3 whitewash in England, and it doesn't matter who it's against."

Whichever way the result goes, history, either long-standing or recent, will be turned around.

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Javed Omar, 2 Nafis Iqbal, 3 Aftab Ahmed, 4 Rajin Saleh, 5 Mohammad Ashraful, 6 Alok Kapali, 7 Khaled Mashud (capt, wk), 8 Manjural Islam Rana, 9 Enamul Haque jr., 10 Mohammad Rafique, 11 Tapash Baisya.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Mark Richardson, 2 Matthew Sinclair, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Scott Styris, 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wkt), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 James Franklin, 10 Paul Wiseman, 11 Chris Martin.

Debashish Biswas is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo


Edited on, October 25, 2004, 3:47 PM GMT, by rassel.

[rassel]

This would be a decent line up. Taric should be terminated from this squad

Edited on, October 25, 2004, 3:53 PM GMT, by rassel.

[mahbubH]

Who will open bowling with Taposh?? Aftab??

[rassel]

Originally posted by sports_fan_bd
Who will open bowling with Taposh?? Aftab??

It doesn't matter whoever opens with tapos. I am quite sure anybody would do better job than taric.

[oracle]

Mushfiq should come in for Alok. We already have 3 spinners so whats the use of the legbreaks. Mushfiq can at least hold on for avital 20 -30 runs..

[AsifTheManRahman]

Yeah who's gonna open with Tapash? I'm guessing it'll be a spinner...

[rassel]

Originally posted by oracle
Mushfiq should come in for Alok. We already have 3 spinners so whats the use of the legbreaks. Mushfiq can at least hold on for avital 20 -30 runs..

yes, my bad this is not a decent line. I forgot about musfic. he should be in the squad instead of alok.

[fwullah]

What happens if we lose the toss and bowl first? In that case, I see a minimum of 400 again upto 450-480.

[rassel]

Edited on, October 25, 2004, 4:09 PM GMT, by rassel.
Reason: repeat

[billah]

Mushfiq should definitely replace Alok. He is decent if he keeps his line & length. He can bat better than Alok.

[BD Tigers]

if Mushfiq replacing Alok and Aftab replacing Sharkar..who is Enamul Jr. replacing?

[mahbubH]

Originally posted by BD Tigers
if Mushfiq replacing Alok and Aftab replacing Sharkar..who is Enamul Jr. replacing?

Iraqi Prime Minister!

[ZunaidH]

"Bangladesh (probable): 1 Javed Omar, 2 Nafis Iqbal, 3 Aftab Ahmed, 4 Rajin Saleh, 5 Mohammad Ashraful, 6 Alok Kapali, 7 Khaled Mashud (capt, wk), 8 Manjural Islam Rana, 9 Enamul Haque jr., 10 Mohammad Rafique, 11 Tapash Baisya. "

I am no Steve Waugh, or Imran Khan or the greatest cricket brain in the world, but I am thoroughly confused at not seeing at least a second pace bowler to bowl from the other end when Taposh opens.

Also, is Alok's name in the team a typo?

huh!

[Tehsin]

Fwullah, you forgot to mention one thing. If NZ bats first, they will pobably get those 400-450 runs in the first day. I don't know why our worst estimates always come true

What worries me about BD batting is it does not matter the quality of our opponents or the wicket, we manage to blow it no matter what. Let's not forget Grant Flowers amazing records against us. That was one of our worst batting by far. That and our contiinued qeakness against SPIN (of all things) makes me scared about the prospect of us loosing all 20 accounts to Wiseman and Vettori without putting up a decent fight. With quality bowlers like rafique and Moni in our lineup, you'd think our batsmen would be able to hold off the likes of Vettori (he is good but not that good) and wiseman.

IF the players have true commitment, they will play a very patient game and benefit from the dead wicket. It should see us post a score of 300+ no matter how many over it takes us to get there.

[billah]

Originally posted by BD Tigers
if Mushfiq replacing Alok and Aftab replacing Sharkar..who is Enamul Jr. replacing?

Enamul Jr. was out with injury. Is he back now?

Edited on, October 25, 2004, 8:11 PM GMT, by billah.

[mahbubH]

Prothom alo reported probably Manzarul Rana and Tareque is not playing tomorrow!! So tomorrows team: JO, NI, AA, RS, MA, AK, MR, KM, MR, TB, EH.

[Sam]

Originally posted by sports_fan_bd
Prothom alo reported probably Manzarul Rana and Tareque is not playing tomorrow!! So tomorrows team: JO, NI, AA, RS, MA, AK, MR, KM, MR, TB, EH.

That means Enam Jr. is replacing not Tareq but Rana. Do they mean that?

[bourny3]

WHy would they get rid of Rana. It looks to me that it is Tareq out for Enam Jnr.

[shaoun]

yea rana should of played but i think enamul will do just as good job as rana did on the first test. but still in bowling rafique is our guy. batting i dont know man. i hope we can build a good total.