New front page article: The openers saga: Guess the numbers

**Zunaid** · #1 November 5, 2006, 12:09 PM

BanglaCricket Articles

The openers saga: Guess the numbers
Rubu Islam
Bangladesh has played 136 ODI matches so far. As an avid fan of Bangladesh cricket, I must have followed at least a hundred of these matches. As I watched our fragile opening pair being changed every so often, I asked myself this question: "How many times have we changed the opening pair so far?" The answer was a surprise even to me!

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Discuss: The Opener Saga: Guess the Numbers

Rubu · #2 November 5, 2006, 08:51 PM

Thanks doc.

one typo: Are you ready dor the answer?

Rubu · #3 November 5, 2006, 09:01 PM

It juts goes to show that we did not give enough time to any pair even from this point of view.

Rubu · #4 November 5, 2006, 09:06 PM

he same goes for Rana as well. If he had such a high averagre after two stints

uss01 · #5 November 5, 2006, 09:39 PM

Great article. Good Analysis. Rajin should be given more chances and I'm sure he'll succed. He has limits to his talent, but that's a good thing as it means he will not get out playing fancy and stupid shots like Ashraful. I remember that innings against India he played as opener: great innings and showed great potential. I'm sure he'll succeed with his attitude and score a few fifties, if not hundreds.
And I don't understand why people want Mehrab Hossain Jr to start opening, he's young and we need relatively older players like Rajin who've already proven themselves in the big stage. Mehrab's time will come in a few years.

FaridpurChicago · #6 November 6, 2006, 12:13 AM

It is surprising to see such a high avg for Rafiq. Does Faruq (chief selector) know his own average!!
Another big surprise is Manjarul not getting enough chance while we took oath on keeping faith on Ashraful. Manjarul could be a very good all-rounder for our ODI team.
Looks like we can try with Rajin up to world cup. If he performs then Mehrab Jr will continue in A team, otherwise Mehrab Jr should take over immediately after world cup.

Shafin · #7 November 6, 2006, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubu
he same goes for Rana as well. If he had such a high averagre after two stints

use Firefox 2.0,it has built in spell-checker. A wrong spelling, immediate red underline.

right click,right word

I love it

Arnab · #8 November 6, 2006, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shafin
use Firefox 2.0,it has built in spell-checker. A wrong spelling, immediate red underline.

right click,right word

I love it

Agreed, that *is* a great feature. Better yet, it comes bundled with the browser.

Opera can do the same. But you have to install GNU aspell dictionaries on your system first. Then Opera will autodetect the dictionaries upon restart, and you are all set.

sislam2 · #9 November 6, 2006, 04:12 PM

Noone mentioned bringing Reza at the spot. The boy likes to play on the up. Natural striker of the ball. May be the shot selection is not the best. But he drives really well on the up, good reason to use him in the powerplays.

billah · #10 November 7, 2006, 04:31 AM

A very timely article Rubu, as usual. Thanks.

Tokyobreeze · #11 November 7, 2006, 09:30 AM

Nicely written and digged.Thanks for bringing these things into light.

I do agree with you in terms of the opening pair for Nafees.But, I would like to see Mehrab getting ample chances before world cup.If he settles in, that's the best thing we can have.

LateCut · #12 November 7, 2006, 01:48 PM

Nice article. Now I would like to see the same table but only the averages excluding Zimbabwe and Kenya. This will give a better picture.

billah · #13 November 7, 2006, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LateCut
Nice article. Now I would like to see the same table but only the averages excluding Zimbabwe and Kenya. This will give a better picture.

Both Zimbabwe and Kenya had free rides on us in the past. For the longest time, they both collected points by just beating us. I remember doing an analysis of Kenya once, when they had ODI status and were ranked above us, the difference between ours and their stats was their wins against us. It's payback time. Why exclude their stats? There was a time when cricket super powers used to ride on their success agains SL and NZ, going back, even on India. It's all good.

TheWatcher · #14 November 7, 2006, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LateCut
Nice article. Now I would like to see the same table but only the averages excluding Zimbabwe and Kenya. This will give a better picture.

Good suggestion. Here is the table. I excluded matches against Zim, Kenya, HK, and Canada. There is no point talking about pre-DW era openers. Also, I only kept those players who played substantial number of matches.

Name	Matches	Average	Highest	Fifties
Rajin Saleh	7	23	82	1
Shahriar Nafees	15	22.87	75	2
Javed Omar	38	20.42	85*	5
Hannan Sarkar	17	16.76	61	2
Mohammad Ashraful	20	16.3	66	3
Shahriar Hossain	10	15.2	47	0
Habibul Bashar	6	14	25	0
Alok Kapali	2	13.5	18	0
Mohammad Rafique	4	8.75	21	0
Nafees Iqbal	8	8.5	19	0
Al Sahariar	12	8	25	0
Aftab Ahmed	1	4	4	0
Manjarul Rana	1	1	1	0
Sanwar Hossain	1	0	0

I too think this gives us a better picture of quality of our openning batsmen. Now I am thinking is it fair to blame DW for being so desparate to find couple of good openning batters ?

FaridpurChicago · #15 November 7, 2006, 04:56 PM

In both the stats it is clear that Rajin and SN is our first choice openers. I don't think we have any other option before the WC unless we try and find Mehrab a solid one in our matches against Zim.

LateCut · #16 November 8, 2006, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWatcher
I too think this gives us a better picture of quality of our openning batsmen. Now I am thinking is it fair to blame DW for being so desparate to find couple of good openning batters ?

This shows that your observation is right on!

FagunerAgun · #17 November 8, 2006, 11:31 PM

SN and Mehrab Jr. will be a nice pair in the near future. As long as Ashraful is not playing, BD is winning.

FagunerAgun · #18 November 8, 2006, 11:32 PM

SN and Mehrab Jr. will be a nice openning pair in the near future. As long as Ashraful is not playing, BD is winning.

uss01 · #19 November 9, 2006, 06:44 PM

What's the big deal about Mehrab Jr? He just played well in the under 19's and decent record in the first class level. That does not mean he should be given a shot at the national team ahead of Rajin. From what I hear of him, he has the potential to be a calm and effective batsman, which will be useful for BD team ofcourse, but that can happen in a few years, no point of exposing him too early.

Saquibul Hasan is doing good so far and he's from the under 19's. But that was a big gamble as he is very inexperienced (only 11 first class matches as per cricinfo). Farhad Reza was less of a gamble as he is a bit older and more experienced. But so far Saquibul is doing better than Reza in ODI's . But basically my main point is, at this point, Bangladesh national team should pick players not just from under 19's, but players who played under 19's and then atleast played 3-4 years in the first class level. And I strongly believe we have 15-20 players set for the next 2 years so we don't even have to touch 17-19 year olds at the moment unless they're backups. Forum members please let me know what you think of this view of mine.