BD vs SL: Report Card

[samircreep]

Javed Omar: B

For me, Golla has been more of an enigma than Alok, Rajin et al. I have followed this guy’s career ever since he first came onto the international scene (in those days, the international scene comprised mostly of A team matches and the Sharjah tour) when, after making his debut against India, he played against the West Indies A tour with the likes of Cuffy, Dillon etc. I remember the 74 he made in the second one-day match under lights which won him both the match and the mom award. The reason why Golla has remained an enigma to me is that he really has tried hard to adapt his technique to the rigors of international cricket where every weakness a batsman has is analyzed and sorted out. For Golla, it was his footwork: not that he didn’t move his feet, he did but he only would play shots off the front foot. Bowlers quickly sorted him out with a barrage of short pitch deliveries and would suddenly throw in the surprise full-length seamer which he would be more than happy to edge.

Anyways, I’m digressing. Over the last two years, Golla has become absolutely motionless with his feet. In this tour also, he would go neither back or front, mostly stay motionless and play the ball off the length. This works fine with him mainly because Golla doesn’t have any shots. He waits for his favorite ball which is either just short of good length which allows him to either square cut or square drive, or he waits for the full ball which he can punch through mid off. This is absolutely fine if you’re a test opener and in theory, Golla should have had a way higher average than he has at present. There are two reasons why he doesn’t.

One is that he’s actually losing patience. You’d think Golla would be the least likely person to be inflected with CDS (concentration deficit syndrome) but unfortunately that’s not true. His dismissal in the first over of the first test inning is a perfect example of that: short ball shaping away, the Golla of three years ago wouldn’t even look at it. But no, the present Golla has to try to run it down to third man and only finds the slips instead. There are different reasons for this of course but that’s another story.

The second reason is that he’s probably one of the worst players of spin in the team. Not only does he decide to read the ball off the pitch instead of the hands, he also wants to play with his pads. Umpires nowadays very seldom give the benefit of the doubt to the batsman in case of close lbw decisions and Golla needs to change his spin strategy.

I gave him a solid B instead of anything lower since aside from one innings, he did more or less see the new ball off pretty comfortably. But I think the time has come where he seriously needs to think of his game plan and attitude.

Nafees Iqbal: B+
Coming into this series, Nafees had one serious problem: whenever he would go for the drive, his feet wouldn’t move and he would always edge playing away from his body. I’m glad that he’s stopped that: no, his footwork hasn’t improved a whole lot but suddenly he has realized where his off stump is. You could see the difference whenever Fernando came up to bowl. Time and time again he would throw in away swinging half volleys and repeatedly Nafees would leave them. In fact, I was very happy to see Nafees realize that he’s a test opener and not a middle order bat, the main difference being an ability to curb stroke play. The other difference that I saw was when he was playing deliveries full in the middle and leg. The previous Nafees would try to play against the line and his head would fall away, and in most cases he would be the perfect leg before candidate. This has changed with Nafees playing with a straight bat which perhaps cost him runs but made him prize his wicket as well. Yes, there were two horrible shots that he played which defied everything I have written so far but I don’t think those two rash shots undid all the work he has done in the nets. Relax Nafees, your big score is maybe a couple of innings away.

Shumon: A

Two positive differences that are now obvious in Shumon, one which was gradual, and the other one very much apparent in this tour. The gradual one that I’m talking about is the fact that he’s learnt to play the ball much more late now. Previously Shumon was the prefect lbw candidate: he would stick out his front leg every time the ball would be pitched on middle trying to work it to leg. For the last 6 innings or so, Shumon has learnt to play the ball way later, leading to a more wristy action whenever he’s trying to play on the leg side as opposed to drive the ball which is still wobbling around the seam. The other difference is that he no longer hooks the ball compulsively. Wow, now that’s a big change from the happy hooker that we once knew him to be.

Anyways, I just hope that Shumon doesn’t revert back to his old self again.

Shariar Nafees: B

In spite of his low scores, I’m gonna give this guy a B. I think he’s a feisty little character and he should bat at number 5. he’s the kind of player who can hold a partnership together and he was one of the few players who was playing Murli off the wrist and not the pitch. He did make two fatal errors though and as people have already mentioned his technique against short pitched bowling is questionable. But test cricket is just as much about heart as it is about technique and boy does this guy have heart.

Ash: B+

Yes, you saw it right, I didn’t give him an A. Any one who saw Ash’s century must agree that it was far from a chanceless stroke. He could have been easily caught at least on three occasions and run out once. But yes, his strokeplay is as usual brilliant. And I can’t rave enough about his techniqe, he reminds me so much about Inzy, he just has that extra bit of time whenever he plays any bowler. And that my friends is pure genius, something you can’t just teach someone over the nets.

For him to get an A in my books, I think he needs to learn the value of rotating the strikes in test cricket. I know he can hit boundaries at will but sometimes its not about what you CAN do, but what you SHOULD do.
Kapali: Poor guy. I’m not gonna grade him.

Pilot: B+

Didn’t get many runs but fantastic keeping. Pilot has always struck me as a reliable keeper but this time he’s pulled off some stunning catches aside from his great work behind the stumps (not to mention the cheekiest things he has to say). For me, he’s the best Bangladeshi test player in recent years, always giving his best.

Rafiq: B+
The old warhorse. What worries me about Rafiq is that his bowling hasn’t really changed over the last 5 years. It’s still basically arm ball based and I hate it when he starts bowling leg stump as soon as he gets hit for a few. Still a very gutsy player and his batting eye is still there.

Shahadat: A

I think the worst spell that he bowled was his first spell of the series. The best thing about Shahadat is that he didn’t get his wickets through pace. Actually every time he tried to bowl really quick were the times he got hit all over the place. As he himself said, whenever he tried bowling at a channel, he got the tad late movement which undid the batters trying to play him away from the body. The best dismissal was Samaraweera’s in the 1st innings of the second test. Four balls on the stumps and the fifth ball just shaping away which undid him. And his bowling against the tail enders was just terrific. I also like his action which is very straight on and is not overly dependent on his shoulders. Good future this lad has.

Junior: B
He is Bangladesh’s best spin bowler, I’ll lay my reputation on that. The problem is, he’s a very orthodox leftie and he’s not gonna get a lot of wickets in BD where there is some turn but the pitches are just so slow that unless you’re like Murli or Warne, the batter will have all the time to play you. If he goes to India, this kid’s gonna get heaps of wickets.

Rassel: C

I’m sorry, I’m just not very impressed by this guy. Sure he can swing the ball both ways but at his pace, even a tail eneder won’t have problems playing him, which the SL tailers did. And he’s absolutely useless with the old ball. He’s not test material yet.

Mushfik:I’m not gonna rate this guy either. It was just pure bad decision to call him up now. Poor guy.

[RazabQ]

Excellent piece. Can't quibble too much with your grades 'cept perhaps I'd have given Ash a little more credit for improving his shot selection.

Originally posted by samircreep
Mushfik:I’m not gonna rate this guy either. It was just pure bad decision to call him up now. Poor guy.

Uh oh. Now you've done it... Danger Will Robinson Danger!!!

[Sham]

Now there is a piece I could read many times over and still find little fault with.

I disagree about Shahadat's grade though. I'd have given him a B+. Here are my reasons:

There is no doubt that he has impressed everyone in this series. But I think everyone will agree that what was most impressive about him was his attitude. He really did run in hard and bowl his heart out whenever he was given the ball. That is what one likes to see in a young fast bowler.

However, I saw his first spell in the first Test, and I wrote about how this guy is never gonna get anywhere by bowling like that. No doubt he improved a great deal over the two matches, and that is a huge positive as well. But here is my problem with him: he still hasnt realized that he can't bowl the same way to top order batsman as he does against tail-enders. He can unnerve lower order batsmen by bowling quick and at the body. He can let a few bouncers rip. But thats just not going to cut it against top class batsman. He bowls just a little too short for my liking and I would have been happier had he realized that he will be much more potent if he pitched it up more and made the batsman play.

Shahadat has pace, although nothing terrifying. But he needs to add another dimension to his bowling. He needs to learn to swing the ball consistently. Samir mentioned the Samaraweera dismissal. Now that was a fantastic delivery because it had a hint of movement. Shahadat needs to learn to do that more often. One or two such deliveries in a Test match isn't going to do it.

He is young, he has plenty of time ahead of him and possibly a long Test career. But if he wants to finish up with 200+ Test wickets to his name, he will need to get just a little smarter. I'm glad that he isn't trying to blast the batsmen off the pitch like he was in England, but he is still too reliant on his short deliveries and he overbowls them instead of bowling the bouncer as a surprise ball. Australia will kill him if he does too much of that. What I'd like to see in the next series from Shahadat is just a little more consistency with bowling on the corridor of uncertainty and hitting a good length. Basically, just do what Mashrafi does!

Edited on, March 14, 2006, 12:15 PM GMT, by Sham.

[pagol-chagol]

Nice observations.

Front page material.

[Tigers_eye]

Nice work Samircreep,
The detailed analysis is eye opening. I do not agree with some of the gradings, though.

Rasel don't have pace and so does Pathan. Old ball movement, not very many bowlers can do it. In recent times the English bowlers mastered it after years of practice. Rasel has plenty of time to develop. Line and lenth is more important to me rather than sparying it all over with 10 k faster. In any team as IanW would say, there is a need of fast-controlled, swing and aggressive bowler. Mash gives the 1st option, Rasel gives the second and we may get the third from Shahadat.

No one deserves an "A" in batting when the team lost 8 wickets and 10 wickets. The A players not only plays well but also makes others around him bat better. Thats leadership with good batting. The captain is expected to lead by example. He got a "B". For his previous recent performance he was getting "F"s in my book.

[Fortuner]

Hey Samir...

Excellent piece...maan...

but i cnt fully agree wid Abir's grade to be B...

I wld put him for C....

His technique dint improve and still he likes to play to the 3rd man region often.....he has too much problem wid swinging balls...

[al Furqaan]

good one indeed

[sadi]

couldn't agree more about javed omar..... yeah rasel did well to keep things tight from one side.... thats not bad considering we have other bowlers like mashrafee and shahadat who can go out there for wickets....

Bashar gets a B from my side for his batting and a C for his captaincy..... it will be interesting to see your comments on his captaincy... he could definately be a little more aggresive....

[Tigers_eye]

Originally posted by sadi
he could definately be a little more aggresive....

মোটা'টা কি করে? কোনো strategy বের করতে পারে না? He should shoulder some blame on passive fielding. Not bringing in Enam early enough.

Edited on, March 14, 2006, 7:15 PM GMT, by Cats_eye.

[AsifTheManRahman]

i would actually gice ash a couple of more points. he has definitely changed his game a lot, and it looks like he appreciates the virtue of settling down before going for the kill. it should be interesting to see how he fares against the kenyans - his record against weak attacks hasn't been all that great. it should also be interesting to see whether he can continue his new found consistency.

bashar imo deserves fewer points; the guy has been around for quite some time, and it is high time that he starts scoring big in odi's. while he has played a couple of useful knocks in the past, his odi record is disgraceful to say the least, and does not conform to his abilities.

shahadat - i can understand why people like him so much, but i still think he is too wayward and expensive. he has to work on his bowling a lot more in order to bother batsmen on a regular basis.

rasel - well he's got the movement, but i am not sure how far he can go with his mediocre pace, which in the long run might turn out to be a major drawback, unless he develops divine control over his line and length. even in this series, he's been guilty of giving it away quite a few times when we were in the driving seat - goes to show that he must watch his line and length. rasel, imo, can be an amazing first change bowler at best.

[bhobishshot]

I enjoyed reading this peice. Good observation and analysis. Nice work. I do want to make a comment about the grades. I think all the grades should be lowered by a letter grade for every body. You would think that with all this As and Bs, we would have at least pulled a draw. Since that did not happen, I am reluctant to give anyone an A. May be a few Bs and Cs. Other than that, I would say it is very insightful.

[RazabQ]

Originally posted by bhobishshot
I enjoyed reading this peice. Good observation and analysis. Nice work. I do want to make a comment about the grades. I think all the grades should be lowered by a letter grade for every body. You would think that with all this As and Bs, we would have at least pulled a draw. Since that did not happen, I am reluctant to give anyone an A. May be a few Bs and Cs. Other than that, I would say it is very insightful.

Glad I never had you grading any of my exams or papers

[tnb]

Insightful, as usual from Samir. You are too generous in grading though.

Good observation on Bashar. I was pleasantly surprised by the absence of leading edges in his game this time around.

About Golla, the glaring problem looked to me is that he is not picking the line very well. The way he regularly tried to cut the ball inches outside offstump was giving me heart ache. It’s probably related to the CDS problem. I guess all the criticisms from fans are getting into his head. It’s better for him to shrug them off. That might allow him to go into his shell, and see off the new ball. Also, the selectors will do him a favor if they leave him out of ODI team. That way he won’t have to do the arduous task of switching the mindset. At present, looks like, he is irreplaceable in the test matches and we should keep him there only.

[Sham]

Originally posted by Cats_eye

Rasel don't have pace and so does Pathan. Old ball movement, not very many bowlers can do it. In recent times the English bowlers mastered it after years of practice. Rasel has plenty of time to develop. Line and lenth is more important to me rather than sparying it all over with 10 k faster. In any team as IanW would say, there is a need of fast-controlled, swing and aggressive bowler. Mash gives the 1st option, Rasel gives the second and we may get the third from Shahadat.

You can't really compare Rasel's pace to that of Pathan, because Pathan is a good 10k more than Rasel. I don't think every quick bowler needs to be express. And I agree with you, its better to have a bowler who is slower but bowls with greater control and swing than a faster bowler who sprays it around. BUT, Rasel is just TOO slow!

I would put international fast bowlers in 3 bands. There are the real quickies, who average around 88-90 mph in a spell, with their quicker deliveries hitting 94/95 mph! Bowlers like Shoaib, Lee, Harmison, Bond fall within that category.

Then there are those who average around 84-86 mph with their quicker deliveries hitting about 89/90. These guys are pretty quick as well and can definitely hurry the batsmen on, even if they cant get wickets with sheer pace.

The third band are bowlers who average around 80-82 with their quicker deliveries hitting 85/86. These guys aren't considered all that fast, but they usually have something else that makes up for their lack of pace. Bowlers like McGrath, Hoggard and Pathan fall in this category.

Now, there were no speedometers in BD but from his bowling speeds in SL last year, Rasel averages around72-75 mph and I'm probably being generous! That is just too slow and no young fast bowler in international cricket should be happy bowling at 72mph! He needs to atleast get up to the high 70s. Otherwise, no matter how much swing he gets, the batsmen will always have enough time to play him! He may make a great one-day bowler, but Test class he won't be!

Even Shahadat, who is the quickest we have, falls in my third band of bowlers as far as his bowling speeds go. He is quick by Bangladesh's standards, but not by international standards. During the series, both Malinga and Fernando consistently bowled quite a bit quicker than Shahadat and they fall in my second band. Shahadat as he bowls more and gets stronger might even get into my second band in a couple of years, but even then, just sheer pace won't do it. He needs to learn to bowl a better length and a more consistent line.

[Beamer]

samircreep

Absolutely brilliant piece of work based on prudent observation. What else can I say? Great job.

I am behind you 100% about Golla and your observation of him. It doesn't need any more elaboration as you have said it all quite eloquently . I say it always and will say it again : We are better off losing without Golla opening for us than with him. He has no upside and the biggest myth about him is the excuse they give, of "experience" and "patience", whenever they mention him and justify his inclusion. I disagree.

I have noticed a change in nafis Iqbal's technique as well. He is not shuffling as much and unlike Golla, knows where his offstumps are, a vital commodity for an opener. I am willing to forget his indescretions in the match against SL. He is young and has a huge upside. He should open in tests for a while.

Shariar needs to tidy up his footwork. I am not sure he always knows where his offstumps are, something Iqbal has figured out as an opener, and he must do so as well if he wants to open in tests. He is gritty for sure and very strong off his legs. He is vulnerable to short pitches and the subsequent fuller ones that follow. Better footwork should take care of it. He must work hard. He has character and I have high hopes.

Spot on about Ashraful. Won't find too many poeple in world cricket with his ability. He is up there with the best in terms of sheer God given ability. He has the stuff to be recognized as a household name in world cricket!

Shumon has really pleased me in his last test. The difference between him and the rest is he is 33 and they are early 20 something. Unlike Golla, he has used his experience to conssitently score for us. Also, he is always positive, and maybe sometimes too positive, but if the last test was any indication, he has still good four years left in cricket in a much more matured fashion.

Pilot's batting is really alarming. If it continues, their patience will run out and eventually( sooner ) he will be ignored. You won't find too many teams in world cricket with a wktkeeper not contributing much at all in terms of runs. Wkt keepers with better keeping skills are getting pushed out in favor of better run scoring wktkeepers for many countries. They already think Rahim is a better batsman ( he batted before pilot at no.6 ) and if this slide continues, it will be hard to justify his inclusion ( pilot ). For a handicapped team like us, it is a luxury to have a no.7 spot occupied by a wktkeeper who is not making runs. If Rahim clicks as a batsman, he will bat in the middle order, an automatic upgrade than no.7, and the team will have an added spot to pick a player depending on the demand. It could be an extra batsman, or a bowler, or an allrounder. Sri lanka is a prime example of that with Sangakkara coming at no.3. Hope he comes back strong.

[IanW]

In my opinion, the modern trend towards batsman-keepers is a mistake. It's driven by fashion, and that fashion is driven by a once-a-lifetime talent in Gilchrist, who is the best wicket keeper-batsman there ever was.

If a substandard keeper misses one chance and gives up five byes, then thats the difference between a bunny who averages 8 and a keeper/batsman who averages 30.

I also disagree about the utility of genuine medium-pacers. Yes, the modern game hasnt seen a lot - but Adam Dale took 245 wickets for Queenland at an average of 20.45, and he was never, ever quick.

Ian Whitchurch

[RazabQ]

My favorite medium pacer is Chaminda Vaas. Never express, tho he can occasionally bowl a slightly quicker effort delivery. Also that Martin fella from NZ seems like a classical medium pacer. I think Marshy's "pie thrower" comment was the death knell of medium pacers.

[Beamer]

Sure Ian. It was a fashion driven by Gilchrist. But, the competetive edge it gives you over your opponent is too valuable to discount, specially in one dayers. When the likes of Gilchrist, Sangakkara bat in the top five, it automatically gives you an added advantage against your oppenents in the line up. You are able to pick an extra bowler or an allrounder or even a batsman if you like, to come and occupy that customary no.7 slot of a wkt keeper. It is a copy cat sport and positive trends will be exploited and implemented if it is to your advantage. Saying that, you need the type of player to do that task. Imagine Bangladesh sending Mashud to open or come at no.3 in ODI's? or even tests? Not gonna happen. That is why it is important for him to get his scoring touch back. They won't carry two wktkeepers in the team for long.

[Tigers_eye]

I know this is not the place nor the time for commenting on Pathan and Rasel but from my prospective pathan started at range 84-86 with occationally 89-90 fast bowl. Now his average droped 10/12 km. That puts him in the 78-80 range. there is not much difference between 75-78 to 78-80 when both are swinging. The recent Ind-pak series it was alarming/shocking for everyone to see Pathan losing pace. Afridi's fast ball has that kind of speed. I made the comment comparing to Pathan because I didnot agree with the grade Rasel got "C". Pathan's value in Indian lineup is similar Rasel's in BD lineup. This boy did nothing but hold up one end While Mash was out for the last two series. he desreves better. He never clocked 90+ like Talha but did his job perfectly. And the wickets he got wasn't the tailenders ones.

Later days of Sir Richard Hadlee had the swing but no pace. Yet he got wickets regularly.

Edited on, March 16, 2006, 9:54 PM GMT, by Cats_eye.