What Bangladesh need to do after such a nightmarish tour?

Day 4 of the second Test between  New Zealand and Bangladesh at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval promised to be a gritty contest. On the second day, late strikes from Shakib Al Hasan, put the visitors in a commendable position and on day 4 – with the third day washed away by rain – Bangladesh were expected to gain the all important lead and start their second innings in a confident manner with the aim to shrug off the dismal batting display during the second innings at Wellington. 

But on a bright sunny day, the story of Bangladesh was another pathetic end.

Shakib Al Hasan dismissed Tim Southee, and with eight down, the hosts were still three runs away from Bangladesh’s first innings total. Neil Wagner, the thorn in the throat in the flesh of the Tigers throughout the Test series, hung on in the middle and supported Henry Nicholls to frustrate the visitors. With one hour or so, the ninth wicket stand was 83 and Bangladesh lost the edge over New Zealand.

New Zealand gained a lead of 85 runs and a solid batting performance was needed from the visitors to make the contest an interesting one.

Bangladesh came out to bat and scripted the same old story of implosion. Trent Boult, Southee and Wagner applied their tactics of pitching the ball short and Wagner’s ploy to target the rib cage, yet again, unnerved the Bangladeshi batsmen. Soumya Sarkar was the only batsman who was able to negotiate the bounce for the certain period, but the rest of the batting line-up capitulated in a shambolic fashion.

The New Zealand bowlers were tough to handle on the fourth day, but what Bangladesh needed was to exhibit calm and be composed. The shot selection of the top order batsmen was kid-like. When attempting back foot stroke-play too early or playing the ball away from the body, batsmen can’t blame the conditions.

If anything had to be blamed for the implosion of Bangladesh’s capitulation then, it would be the poor mindset and lack of physical fitness to play five-day matches.

The New Zealand tour has ended in a disgraceful manner for the Tigers, but they should not lose heart and take this tour as a lesson. Bangladesh cricket needs to work on certain things for a better outcome in the near future.

Improvement of the standard of domestic cricket

It has become very important to improve the domestic infrastructure of Bangladesh cricket. The standard of domestic cricket in Bangladesh is still not up to the mark. The tracks are too flat and hardly provide any assistance for the bowlers. The sports section of Bangladesh newspapers is filled with the heroics of batsmen scoring runs heavily rather than impressive bowling feats and thus, it gives a false impression that Bangladesh are producing good willow-wielders.

But the New Zealand series has exposed the technical fragilities of Bangladesh batsmen in a harsh manner.

While playing on flat decks, a batsman doesn’t need to concentrate too much on defence and footwork and thus, he can score freely without even caring much about the technical aspects of batsmanship. The batsman thinks he doesn’t have any problem in his technique and basks in false glory.

But in hostile tracks and bowling attacks, they melt down.

To overcome such problems, the wickets in the domestic cricket must be variable and should test the technique and temperament of batsmen.

If not in Dhaka, but in areas like Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, where the breeze blowing from the sea has an impact, the tracks must be made in such a way to aid movement and bounce, and pacers should get enough assistance to make the ball talk.

Batting under such a hostile atmosphere will help develop the mental toughness and technical solidity among Bangladesh batsmen. It will make them realise that batting is not all about relying on boundaries, but occupying the crease, leaving the ball and playing it according to the merit. Playing behind the line of the ball and closer to the body, and strike rotation are vital elements of batsmanship in Test cricket.

More emphasis on the longer-version format

Even though Bangladesh struggled hard and campaigned tirelessly for the Test status, in fact, their interest in playing the best format of the game is less. Many Bangladeshi cricketers, both national-level and youngsters, focus more on improving in the shorter formats and registering their names in the teams in Bangladesh Premier League.

Twenty20 is a part of cricket and a great medium to earn cash without breaking enough sweat. Cricket has always welcomed change and there is no harm in adapting to the change which offers a sound livelihood. But too much of anything is never good and one would never like an over-cooked Biryani.

Since the rain-washed series against South Africa in 2015 to 2016, Bangladesh played just two Test matches and they even cut short a full Test series against Zimbabwe to accommodate the World Twenty20. If a team plays fewer Test matches, how is it possible to improve in five-day matches?

If Bangladesh wish to improve in Test cricket, they need to bear in mind that Test cricket is the ultimate format of the game, and concentrate on improving themselves by spending more time in the four-day domestic matches.

Improvement of physical and mental fitness

Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Kamrul Islam Rabbi or Rubel Hossain’s vim and vigour fizzled away after the first session or after bowling ten to fifteen overs. They struggled to rediscover their guile and rhythm and thus, failed to pitch the ball either up or full, and landed more on the middle and leg stump which allowed the New Zealand batsmen to settle down when they were under pressure.

Meanwhile, the batsmen failed to maintain their same fighting spirit and focus in the second innings against the barrage of short balls.

While countering the short balls, a batsman needs to do a lot of ducking, pulling and hooking which puts pressure on the muscles of the back and chest. Until and unless, a batsman’s muscles are strong and fit enough, it’s very tough to weather the storm of short-pitch bowling.

Neither can a bowler bowl consistently well if his fitness level is not up to the mark. The Bangladeshi batsmen and bowlers lacked the physical fitness to fare well in New Zealand. Against Wagner, they were apprehensive and clueless against short balls, and also looked unfit.

Cricket is a mental and technical game, but a lot of emphasis must lie in the physical fitness aspect of the game; even more so in the modern game.

Note: This article has been published at Sportskeeda on 24/01/2017 What Bangladesh need to do after such a nightmarish tour?

Thank You
Faisal Caesar

The belligerence of Sir Don Bradman at Adelaide in 1948

Just two months before the start of the Australia tour, India’s independence had been finalised. A new country emerged on the world map after almost two hundred years of struggle against the British Raj. A new country started its journey with a lot of hope and courage – determined to achieve the best and reach the peak of excellence in each and every aspect of life.

The World War and partition subjected them to the loss of key players and thus, when India landed on Australian soil, expectations were very low and a spirited display would be regarded as one of the most significant achievements. 

India’s first ever tour to Australia

It was a significant tour for the new nation in many aspects. For the first time, a team representing independent India would feature in an official series. It was also the first time, India would be playing against a team other than England and for the first time, they were touring Australia. Sadly, the tour was not a happy one for the visitors as they were outclassed in the Test matches – four were lost, and in three of them, Australia batted only once. 

The Australian team, led by the great Sir Don Bradman, were regarded as the ‘Invincibles’. Man-to-man, they were the ultimate champions and during that series, Don’s men made India toil hard. The subcontinent side dished out some inspiring performances, but they were not enough to notch up a win as the Invincibles mauled the visitors mercilessly.

The visitors’ struggles

The first Test was in Brisbane. The Indian batters had no answer to the fury of Ernie Toshack. In the second Test at Sydney Cricket Ground, inclement weather ended a riveting contest where India bundled out Australia for 107 runs to gain a lead of 81. They were, however, reduced to 61 for 7 in the second innings, but on a tricky wicket, anything might have happened had the weather gods not interfered. 

At Melbourne in the third Test, India put up a good fight, but in the fourth innings, Bill and Ian Johnston steamrolled the Indian batting line-up as the visitors lost by 233 runs.

The fourth Test was at Adelaide Oval and it was a chance for India to stay alive in the series.

No stopping the Don

Australia’s captain, Bradman, won the toss for the third time and elected to bat first. Before the Adelaide Test, Bradman’s sequence of runs in the series had been: 185, 13, 132 and 127 not out. The Don was on fire with the bat and even the long absence from cricket due to World War II didn’t hamper his hunger for runs and the urge to notch up big hundreds. At Adelaide, the Don’s intentions were the same.

Dattu Padhkar, the right-arm medium-pacer from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, produced a beauty to dismiss Arthur Morris. Australia were 20 for 1, but the joy of India’s celebration was short lived. Bradman entered and his presence at the crease dented the visitors’ joyous mood with immediate effect.

Padhkar, Commandur Rajagopalachari Rangachari, Lala Amarnath and Vinoo Mankad gave their all to dismantle the Don, but he was an immovable object and his willow acted like a sword to slice the Indian bowlers into pieces.

Padhkar and Rangachari tried to keep things tight and put the Don under pressure by keeping things tight but it was to no avail.

A couple of boundaries via pristine timing opened the floodgates and on the first day, the damage was done. Bradman drove with authority, pulled and cut on the back foot with power and flayed some eye-catching drives through long on and long off.

Australia’s greatest ever batsman was an unorthodox stroke-maker. His full-fledged drives through cover and extra-cover were never a thing of spectacle, but in terms of bruising the confidence of the opposition, his brutal drives were equivalent to murder.

On that day, The Don hit just one six. It was not about airshows at Adelaide while Bradman was batting, but more about keeping the ball on the ground and making the fielding team sweat.If the ball was pitched up, outside the off stump, Bradman would bring his bat down from a high back lift and sweetly time it as early as possible through the cover and extra-cover regions for four. Meanwhile, he pivoted on the back foot and executed pulls towards midwicket against shorter deliveries pitched outside off.

In those days, such shots were unexpected, but the Don was a batsman of a different breed – way ahead of his contemporaries.

Vijay Hazare to the rescue

At the other end, Sydney Barnes kept fetching runs and stitched a partnership of 236 runs for the second wicket and when he was dismissed for 112, Lindsay Hassett joined the party and added 142 runs for the fourth wicket.

As time passed, shadows grew taller and the fielding team grew tired, but the Don’s appetite for runs never stopped. He notched up his double ton with 21 boundaries and one six off 296 balls. Scoring at such a brisk pace and in such a fluent manner was a cakewalk for him.

Vijay Hazare halted Bradman’s belligerence at the fag end of day 1 but his hundred on January 23, 1948, helped Australia post a mammoth total in the first innings.

However, his hundred was overshadowed by twin centuries from Vijay Hazare, which earned accolades from the great man himself.  

Note: This article was published at Sportskeeda on 23/01/2016 The belligerence of Sir Don Bradman at Adelaide in 1948

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Remembering the great English batsman Herbert Sutcliffe

Nowadays, we hear a lot of complaining about a cricket pitch. If it’s a rank-turner, teams touring the subcontinent would criticise the track rather than their technical fragilities. Whereas, the subcontinental sides would never be satisfied if the ball is moving and bouncing a lot to make them dance at the batting crease. Critics tag such tracks as substandard and demands for pitches which would gift a sense of comfortability.

But what’s the benefit of fetching runs easily and without facing stifling challenges?

Things were different during the days of uncovered pitches and pre-helmet era. In those days, countering testing conditions and hostile bowling was regarded as the yardstick to measure the best batsman in the business then. Batsmen relished challenges and didn’t boast of scoring big hundreds on flat decks while numbers hardly mattered for them.

Unfavourable conditions hardly mattered for Sir Herbert Sutcliffe. No one personified the hard-school pro-attitude as much as Sutcliffe. At first glance, it seemed like he was a soft character who would be undone by the guile and hostility of the opposition’s pace bowler.

But as soon as the bowler released the ball and posed a threat after landing it on a nagging length, the Englishman’s eyes would light up, muscles flexed and the bat negotiated it so gently, backed by a strong defence. It left the opposition captain and purists of the game astonished, and in turn, they fell in love with Sutcliffe’s batting display.

Textbook perfect defence

Sutcliffe’s defence was immaculate and it was difficult to notice even the tiniest of space between the bat and pad while executing the forward defence. His strength lay in his ability to force well-pitched deliveries off the front foot on either side of the wicket.

His initial trigger movement was always on the back foot and it enabled him to pivot on the back foot quickly and get behind the line of the ball to execute the hook shot with great control. His back foot stroke-play on sticky wickets made him one of most respected batsman of his era. At times, on quick pitches, he was overly defensive, but as soon as he rediscovered his rhythm, eloquent strokes used to crop up all around the park.

If the ball rose, it encountered a dead bat, and if it spun sharply and jumped, Sutcliffe either pushed it down or took it on his body. The short of a length delivery outside the off stump would be gently deflected by the drop of wrists at the last moment. The lack of brute force in his drives was compensated by placements of absolute surgical precision.

A vigilant batsman; partnership with Sir Jack Hobbs

According to Sir Neville Cardus, “[Of his batting] Sutcliffe had style... But it was his eternal vigilance, his keen eye and a mind that could move and anticipate, which were his assets, plus his Yorkshire realism and his Yorkshire tenacity of character. Immaculate in flannels, his hair burnished by the sun, the cynosure of all the women's and girls' eyes, a cricketer of manners, symbol of the new urban social consciousness, none the less he could be fitted into the Yorkshire scheme and body and atmosphere, after all”.

Opening the innings for England in 1924-25, he watched the bowler deliver the first over to Sir Jack Hobbs. The bowl swung away late regularly and Hobbs drew away his bat just as the ball was to make contact, a perfect example of professionalism. At the end of this accurate over, Sutcliffe walked down to meet Hobbs. “I think I’d leave them alone, Jack, if I were you.”  Sir Jack knew then that he had found the right opener for England.

Sir Hobbs and Sutcliffe scripted 157 runs for the opening stand in that Test and a Test later, chasing 600, Hobbs and Sutcliffe stayed in an entire day for 283. Their stroke-play and running between the wickets left the Australians frustrated and their understanding was so remarkable, they never called or seemed to be in a rush.

In the course of time, Sir Hobbs and Sutcliffe opening pair amassed 3249 runs in only 38 innings at a whopping average of 87.81 and was recognised as one of the finest opening pairs in the history of the game.

The sequence of Sutcliffe’s highly successful Ashes series was 59, 115, 176, 127, 33, 59, 143, 22 and 0, and his 734 runs at an average of 81.55 were the highest on either side. A partnership of 172 with Hobbs on a tricky track at the Oval in 1926 decided the fate of the Ashes in favour of England. Sutcliffe’s 161 was, in his esteem, the most satisfying innings of his career.

The partnership repeated the same on another deadly-sticky-wicket at Melbourne in 1928/29. That time, they added 106 as England successfully chased down 332 to win. Sutcliffe again scored a brave match winning hundred.

In the case of Sutcliffe, delight, fury, defeat and charm were all submerged in glacier like calm. “He was understood over 2000 years in advance by Greek philosophers. They called his character megalo-psychic. It is the sort of man who would rather miss a train than run for it and so be seen in disorder and heard breathing heavily,” said R. C. Robertson-Glasgow, cricketer and cricket writer, about Sutcliffe.

 His later years

After retirement, Sutcliffe was successful as a manager in an investment firm. Later on, he also served as a selector in the England Cricket Board and was also a club committee member for Yorkshire for 21 years.

As time passed, age took its toll on him. He developed severe arthritis as he grew older and the severity of the disease was so much that he had to use a wheelchair. He suffered a personal tragedy in April 1974 when his wife Emmie, then aged 74, died as a result of severe burns following a fire at the family home in Ilkley.

On January 22, 1978, Sutcliffe’s health condition deteriorated and was finally admitted to a Cross Hills nursing home in North Yorkshire. He breathed his last in that hospital and world cricket lost an absolute master with the bat.

World cricket still remembers the great man and his contributions towards the game with utmost respect.

Note: This article was published at Sportskeeda on 21/01/2017 Remembering the great English batsman Herbert Sutcliffe

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Why Bangladesh lost the first Test at Wellington

Tamim Iqbal slashed the third ball of the day over the slip cordon for four and set the tempo of the Bangladesh innings. Under the dark sky and on a greenish deck, he flexed his muscles to disturb the length of New Zealand bowlers. Tamim’s confident strokeplay became contagious as Mominul Haque joined the party and executed some exquisite strokes off his fluid wrists.

On a sun-kissed day 2, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim unleashed one of the finest moments in the history of Bangladesh cricket by stitching a record partnership for the fifth wicket as the bowling of New Zealand was made to sweat on a hot day. 

Bangladesh declared the first innings at 595 for 8, but still failed to create pressure on the hosts. And on day 5, they left the field dejected and disappointed as Kane Williamson and his men notched up an emphatic win against the Tigers to add more fuel to their woes.

It’s never acceptable to lose a Test after notching up so many runs in the first innings, but the reality is a harsh one and there were obvious reasons which contributed to such a defeat.

Inexperienced bowling attack

Bangladesh took the field without Mushfiqur Rahim as he was injured and Tamim was in charge. As a captain, Tamim was bold and his intent was to take wickets. But his aggressive intent was undermined by some poor bowling.

Taskin Ahmed and Mehedi Hasan Miraz were the weakest link of the Bangladesh bowling attack. While Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Shakib Al Hasan and Subashis Roy created pressure at one end, Taskin and Miraz released it and gave the home team the opportunity to settle down with ease.

The two were too short and struggled to understand the ideal length to be bowled in that pitch. Mehedi’s pace was his major weapon to nail the English batting line-up last year, but at Wellington, his deliveries lacked pace and the cutting edge as he didn’t use his shoulder enough. Of course, relying too much on the shoulder is not good, but Mehedi needs to add guile to his game.

The track, vastly different from the tracks in Dhaka and Chittagong, was not aiding enough turn and bounce even on day 3. Mehedi needed to concentrate on discipline and make the batsman play forward rather than trying to be too adventurous.

Even though Taskin has been one of the major reasons behind Bangladesh’s outstanding success in the limited-overs format, in Tests, he has never seemed to be up to the mark. Pitching the ball on a 50 or 20-over format length and dragging the ball way too short are never ideal on wickets like Wellington.

A pace bowler needs to understand the flow of the breeze and utilise it at its very best by pitching the ball full enough in-and-around the off stump to gain maximum results.

Taskin bowling was suited for a limited-overs game and thus gave away 141 runs from 29 overs in the first innings.

Meanwhile, Subashis’ problems with the landing of his front foot dented his rhythm and Tamim found the going tough on the field.

Above all, one needs to bear in mind, this bowling attack was inexperienced. Taskin and Subashis were making their debuts while Mehedi and Rabbi were playing their third Test. The responsibility on Shakib was huge, but it is quite obvious that he cannot strike gold every day and thus, the inexperience of others, left Bangladesh struggling.

Lack of mental strength, skill and fitness to counter the short-ball attack

One of the major reasons behind New Zealand’s success at home has been their ability to trigger collapses in the second innings by unleashing a ferocious display of short-ball bowling. Neither Tim Southee nor Trent Boult are known for their short-pitch bowling, but Neil Wagner has played a vital role in creating unrelenting pressure on the opposition and triggering collapses.

Wagner’s short-balls are different; he bangs the ball short by targeting the rib cage area of a batsman at a deceptive pace with an astonishing regularity. This tactic has helped New Zealand come back in the game many times in the past and it was no different at Wellington.

Be it with the wind or against the wind, Wagner did not shy from throwing cannon balls from his disposal and intimidate the batsman. 

 To counter such bowling, a batsman needs to be mentally tough and technically solid. Mental toughness is especially important against the short-ball attacks. 

 The flurry of short-ball attacks were expected on the final day and Wagner hinted at such a tactic at the fag end of day 4. But the Bangladesh batsmen lacked the mental strength and physical fitness to withstand the heat of Wagner and co.      

Even technically, the Bangladeshi batsmen were not well-equipped against the short-ball attack.

They are not trained to get on top of the bounce, on the back foot quickly and behind the line of the ball against short-balls. When the initial trigger movement is on the front foot, it’s never easy to play the short-balls well. Had the initial trigger movement of Bangladesh batsmen been on the back foot, it would have been easier to negotiate the short stuff.

The Bangladeshi batting line-up melted and squandered a great opportunity of getting a positive result.

Note: This article was published on 16/01/2017 at Sportskeeda Why Bangladesh lost the first Test at Wellington

Thank You
Faisal Caesar