The comeback of Bangladesh bowlers

A cracking comeback by the Bangladesh bowlers halted West Indies progress…….

When a young pacer knows how to pitch it full and bring it back at a consistent pace, no skipper should keep him off, but should continue to use him intelligently. Such pacers are an asset for any team. They run in even when the hopes are diminished and keep on trying different things in search of a wicket. They do breach the best of defences and they do break stubborn partnerships, which create the platform for others to exploit.

Abu Jayed is one of those quality pacers, which Bangladesh did not utilize enough yesterday.

But today, he was instrumental in changing the scenario in favour of Bangladesh.

Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase came out to bat on Day 2 with the intention to swell the total as much as possible. The kind of lacklustre bowling displayed by the visiting team yesterday, both the Windies batters thought of something similar today, but at Jamaica, in the first hour of play, it was a different Bangladesh unit.

A young lad named Abu Jayed ran in defying the heat and humidity and pitched the ball on the ideal lengths – back of a length and full enough. And, he pitched it with a consistent speed. It was the consistency in pace, which made Jayed a different bowler altogether. He kept the speed in and around 80 mph and his line-and-length created doubts in the mind of batters. He struck gold as early as possible by bagging the wickets of Hetmyer and Chase.

The dangerous Hetmyer failed to keep his bat away from a sharp delivery of Jayed, which jumped from the length outside the offstump, while Chase was trapped plumb in front via a full-delivery aimed from an angle. Chase and Shimron had to walk for the pavilion, leaving West Indies surprised and giving rise the question in Bangladesh cricket fraternity, why Jayed was not used enough yesterday when the track had enough to aid his fast-medium stuffs?  

Only Shakib and Bangladesh think tank can answer this question. Perhaps, Shakib wished to unsettle the Windies with spin as traditionally, they are not very good against spin bowling. It was a well-thought plan, but if the bowlers err in line-and-length, your plans would never be implemented. But ideally, with the new ball, there is no meaning in keeping someone like Jayed away, as because, he is one of those bowlers whose full-length and ability to bring the ball back in, would have helped Bangladesh a lot.

Moreover, opening with a spinner on such tracks may help in a Twenty20 match, but not in a five-day match.    

Two set batsmen gone and the complexion of the Test started to change.

The Tigers were on a roll.

Enters Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

Now, this man is always special in Test matches.  He was one of the impressive bowlers yesterday in an average display, but today, he varied his pace and obviously, the length was improved even more.

The gritty little lad Shane Dowrich was outweighed by the slowness of the ball, which enticed the batter to come forward and resulted in a tame dismissal. Then Keemo Paul was undone by another full-length which kissed his edge, while Miguel Cummins was trapped lbw first ball, which gave Miraz yet another five-wicket haul in Test cricket.       

The West Indies skipper gave the visitors the fear of another effective partnership by the tail, which was so regular in the previous series against Sri Lanka, but Jayed’s pace ended up the ghost of Shannon Gabriel.

It was the perfect comeback by the Bangladesh bowlers, which was much needed Shakib and his men. And it was all dished out by that young man, Abu Jayed!  

It's up to the Bangladesh batsmen to deliver the goods so that the hard work of Jayed and Miraz don't go wasted! 

Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 13/08/2018 The comeback of Bangladesh bowlers

Thank You

Faisal Caesar