Archive for Bangladesh
Australia’s new captain leads from the front
Posted by: | CommentsFirst test passed as Australia’s full-time captain for Michael Clarke, leading from the front with a century before his bowlers backed up the effort to complete a 60-run win over Bangladesh. Australia has a 1-0 lead in the three-match series and while the results might seem inconsequential after the World Cup, the subplot of Clarke taking over the leadership from Ricky Ponting has created some interest.
Clarke’s 101 suggested that the responsibility could sit well with him, and he needed to anchor the innings after Australia lost three wickets in their first 14 overs having been sent in on a good batting pitch. He helped get the Australians to a strong total of 270 for 7 and Bangladesh, who only twice in their ODI history have successfully chased totals of that size, were not up to the task.
They stumbled to 9 for 2 in the fourth over of their pursuit and although Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan both made half-centuries, the result was all but certain by the halfway point of their chase. It was a strong all-round performance by Australia in the field, seven bowlers being used, including the rediscovered legspinner Cameron White, and five men claimed a wicket each.
Brett Lee got things started when he had Imrul Kayes caught behind in the third over and in the next over, Shahriar Nafees fell for a golden duck when he got his pad in the way of a Mitchell Johnson delivery that would have hit the stumps. Raqibul Hasan followed for 7 when he drove John Hastings to short cover, where Shane Watson took an Aussie rules-style mark, leaping high to his left, and the hosts were in trouble.
Shakib also holed out for 51, but by that stage Bangladesh needed to score nearly 14 an over, which was as likely to happen as Australia calling on the commentator Greg Matthews for a few overs of offspin. The crowd cheered a few late boundaries from Mushfiqur Rahim (44 not out) and Mahmudullah (28 not out), but it was too little too late.
Tigers can’t roar any longer
Posted by: | CommentsThe loss after South Africa came out blazing in the morning, and the solid base that the openers gave allowed Jacques Kallis and Faf du Plessis to consolidate and accelerate seamlessly, giving their spin-heavy attack a substantial cushion to stifle Bangladesh and bowl them to the top the group. That they did so with 206 runs to spare was a testimony to how the fight completely went out of Bangladesh, and also confirmed England’s qualification for the knockouts.
Bangladesh were not favourites to win their virtual pre-quarterfinal against the might of South Africa, especially after the visitors breezed away to 284, but it was the meek manner of their abject batting surrender that would have jarred even their most faithful fans. Eight overs in to the tall chase, and the heart of their batting line-up had been ripped out by Lonwabo Tsotsobe, causing the substantial crowd at the Shere Bangla Stadium to quickly start dwindling. They never recovered from those initial blows, and all they managed was to beat their lowest total of 58 achieved against West Indies earlier in the tournament by 20 runs, before being put out of their misery by Robin Peterson’s fourth wicket.
It was not that South Africa’s attack, minus Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, held a lot of alarms. Tsotsobe did get enough bounce off the slow wicket to trouble the batsmen, and also got it to cut in from a very tight line outside off stump. But it was more a case of poor shot selection by the Bangladesh batsmen under the pressure of a big chase in a must-win game in front of a large home crowd. The first four dismissals were demonstrations of the various ways of how not to play on a low and slow wicket.
Bangladesh improves quarter-final chances
Posted by: | CommentsFor a brief while, there was some fight in the chase but it evaporated as Imrul Kayes took control to push Bangladesh to victory in Chittagong. Bangladesh were on a wobbly 14 for 1, for the loss of Tamim Iqbal, in the seventh over but Junaid Siddique and Kayes broke free to force Netherlands out of the contest.
Bangladesh wrapped up a six-wicket victory in a virtual must-win match. Shafiul Islam was luckless in a probing opening spell that read 6-3-7-0 but he was instrumental in strangling the Netherlands batsmen before the spinners tightened the screws further. The result escalated the pressure on England, who have to beat West Indies to stay in the World Cup.
The total was too meagre to defend and it was due their middling effort with the bat that Netherlands lost this game. Whenever they tried to take initiative, as Tom Cooper and Alexei Kervezee did, it proved just a mirage as they got out immediately.
Whenever they tried to steal some quick runs, they got involved in run-outs. Cooper had struck Shakib Al Hasan for two fours in the 25th over but he got out in the next over, run out due to a misunderstanding with Eric Szwarczynski. He rushed across for a single after pushing to point but couldn’t get back in time despite a wide throw from Shakib. Mushfiqur Rahim collected and swiveled to flick a direct hit.
Rubel Hossain for two fours in the 33rd over but fell in the next, stumped off the bowling of Suhrawadi Shuvo. To add to their woes, four batsmen ran themselves out on a day when nothing went right for the Associate team.
Szwarczynski, the opener, dawdled for 68 balls but couldn’t convert the start into anything meaningful. Ryan ten Doeschate, dropped on 14 by Kayes, hung around for an unbeaten fifty but he lacked support. The innings lacked momentum from the start, after Shafiul’s inspired opening spell, and it went nowhere in the end.
Shafiul’s confidence get Bangladesh going
Posted by: | CommentsOn a sluggish track in which runs had, for the most part, to be grafted, England batted first and were bowled out for 225 – a total that was no better than par, and which owed everything to a chalk-and-cheese stand of 109 between Jonathan Trott and the fit-again Eoin Morgan. In reply, however, and in dew-laden conditions that made the ball tricky to grip – particularly for their cantankerous spinner, Graeme Swann – Bangladesh were on cruise control at 155 for 3 in the 31st over, before a calamitous run-out gifted their opponents a way back into the game.
The man who had the game in the palm of his hand was the eventual – and rightful – Man of the Match Imrul Kayes, the less-vaunted of Bangladesh’s opening batsman, who slipstreamed Tamim Iqbal during a captivating 38 from 26 balls that put Bangladesh firmly ahead of the run-rate, before settling down to play the holding role with a chanceless 100-ball 60.
In another unbearably tense finale, Bangladesh’s ninth-wicket pair of Shafiul and Mahmudullah transformed a futile situation with a glorious blaze of strokeplay, as they turned an asking rate of 57 in 62 balls into an emotional victory with an over to spare. The honour of the winning hit went to Mahmudullah, who belted a Tim Bresnan full-toss through the covers for four to cue uproar among the most passionate cricket supporters in the world, but it was Shafiul’s refusal to accept defeat that ultimately paved the way for glory.
Shafiul Islam raised Bangladesh’s World Cup campaign from the dead, as he turned yet another astonishing contest on its head with a breathtaking assault in the batting Powerplay to leave England stunned by their fifth cliffhanger in consecutive contests, and facing their own make-or-break encounter with West Indies in Chennai next week.
Junaid must get his head down
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s been more then a year ago that Junaid plyed against England at home, in February 2010. He scored a duck. Since then, Junaid has played 19 ODIs, and has been dismissed in single figures only twice. Even those two instances have occurred only recently, after an unbroken run of double figures in 14 games. That’s a record any No. 3 in the world would trade, but then again this coin has the other side too. Twelve of those promising starts have ended for scores less than 40, which is Junaid’s average for the same period is 35.
He has become more free flowing, but that seems to have cost him his wicket too often. And in a side that has shown it needs somebody to put a heavy price on his wicket, someone who puts his head down and faces the heat, Junaid’s recent adventures haven’t quite helped. He said he does not want to get out in the next match and this is what he is practicing in the net.
His last sentence is important. Bangladesh nets sessions are usually a place where the batsmen don’t spend a lot of time defending or fine-tuning defensive shots. Perhaps it is just because this is one-day cricket, perhaps the recent defeat makes it more conspicuous, but the Bangladesh nets sessions seem to feature much more merry hitting than other teams’. Over the last two or three days, though, Junaid and Mushfiqur Rahim have been more focused on playing the correct shots first before the adventurous one.
Vice-captain confident of improved display against England
Posted by: | CommentsBangladesh opening batsman and vice captain Tamim Iqbal has pleaded with supporters to keep their emotions in check when they take on England in a crunch World Cup showdown on Friday. The two sides meet in Chittagong with the Tigers knowing that anything but a victory will give them an almighty mountain to climb if they want to reach the quarter-final stage.
Extra policing provisions have been put in place for the fixture after Bangladesh fans attacked the West Indies team bus with stones after Friday’s heavy defeat in Dhaka.
And, with emotions sure to run high in Chittagong, Tamim requested the fans not to do any thing silly.
Bangladesh faced the wrath of fans after a rampant West Indies attack skittled them out for just 58 runs.
The fans booed the Bangladesh team at the ground and threw their shoes on to the road in front of their bus on their return to the team hotel, a huge insult in the country.
The attack on the West Indies team bus was taken very seriously by Bangladesh security forces and politicians and the nation’s elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested at least 28 in connection with the stoning of the bus.
Police said they also detained a fan in Chittagong on Sunday for showing his thumbs to Bangladesh players, again a big insult in the country.
Vice-captain Tamim hopes an improved display against England would change the perception of fans about the Bangladesh team.
Bangladesh improves security level
Posted by: | CommentsThe International Cricket Council (ICC) might move World Cup matches if there is any escalation in violence directed at players.
The sport’s governing body gave a warning after Bangladesh fans threw stones at the West Indies’ team bus on Friday, breaking two windows in the process. But the incident was a mistake of identity by the fans thinking it to be the bus carrying the home team.
Bangladesh had lost the Group B clash in Mirpur by nine wickets after being bowled out for just 58 – their lowest ever total in one-day cricket. ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has revealed that arrests have been made after what he described as a minor incident outside of the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. Lorgat confirmed that the ICC could re-schedule matches away from original venues if there are further concerns. Meanwhile, Bangladesh have now ramped up security ahead of games against England and South Africa.
Bangladesh Crash To Massive Defeat To West Indies
Posted by: | CommentsBangladesh tumbled to a score of 58 all out on their way to a humiliating nine-wicket loss at the hands of the West Indies in a woefully one-sided ICC Cricket World Cup Group B match in Mirpur.
Their innings lasted just 18.5 overs and it took the West Indies just 12.2 overs to knock off the runs required and take their second win of the competition.
Only three West Indies bowlers were required to take ten Bangladesh wickets, with left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn returning figures of four for 18, captain Darren Sammy three for 21 and pace spearhead Kemar Roach three for 19.
Only Junaid Siddique (25) and Mohammad Ashraful (11) reached double figures in a desperately disappointing batting display from the co-hosts in front of their home crowd.
Four batsmen failed to score as they proved to be no match for the West Indies, who themselves had made an uncertain start to the tournament with a loss to South Africa before bouncing back to thrash the Netherlands.
Bangladesh began with a comprehensive, but by no means discredited loss against India, and then a narrow win over Ireland although they never came close to a repeat victory in this game.
Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 37 in 36 balls with six fours to finally extinguish Bangladesh’s chances and despite Devon Smith falling to Naeem Islam for six, the game was long since over as a contest.
Bangladesh’s score of 58 is the fourth lowest in World Cup history and disturbing reports emerged following the game that angry fans threw stones – breaking a window – at the West Indies team bus, mistakenly thinking that they were attacking the Bangladesh team.
Tamim given all-clear
Posted by: | CommentsAn X-ray has cleared Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal of any serious damage to his left hand.
Tamim, 21, visited hospital for a precautionary scan after injuring himself in the act of taking a diving catch to dismiss Niall O’Brien during the Tigers’ 27-run victory over Ireland at the World Cup on Friday.
Bangladesh win in revenge game
Posted by: | CommentsCaptain Shakib Al Hasan chipped in with the early wickets of Will Porterfield and Niall O’Brien before Shafiul came to the party, claiming the vital wicket of Kevin O’Brien as well as mopping up the tail.
Only Tamim was able to score above 40, with a knock of 44 off 43 balls. Of the rest, the only meaningful contributions came from Mushfiqur Rahim (36), Raqibul Hasan (38) and Naeem Islam (29). The pick of Ireland’s bowlers was Botha who picked up three wickets, while Trent Johnston and and 18-year-old George Dockrell both got two.
Shafiul Islam took four wickets as Bangladesh secured their first win of the World Cup with a 27 run victory over Ireland in Mirpur.
Bangladesh’s win owed a lot to their bowlers after their batsmen had earlier managed a modest total of just 205 all out from 49.2 overs.
Paul Sterling had made just nine before he was stumped off the bowling of Abdur Razzaq, and it was not long before opening partner Porterfield (20) joined him in the pavilion, as Ireland were reduced to 36 for two.
Ed Joyce had played at the last World Cup for England but he was unable to use his experience to steady the ship, making just 16 before he was caught and bowled by the recalled Mohammad Ashraful.
