Zimbabwe seamers made
the best use of the condition in Sylhet, which has left Bangladesh think tank
pondering of playing just one seamer…..
When commentator Ed Rainsford was doing the pitch report on
first day, he termed the Sylhet deck as dry with an evidence of cracks in it.
Also, there were dark patches on the track, which hinted about the presence of
moisture. At this time of the year, such moistures don’t dry away so easily but
tend to assist the seamers in major parts of the day.
Ideally, any team would back the inclusion of at least two
seamers in the side. But Bangladesh emphasized on picking up just one.
Bangladesh bowled first and the fourth ball of Abu Jayed
curled like hell indicating how much juice the track had for the seamers. Jayed
discovered Taijul Islam as his partner with the new ball at the other end – a
familiar scenario, which has been a ploy to achieve success in the last three
years.
Well, at times, such a ploy does not work in all conditions.
Moreover, playing against teams like Zimbabwe unleashes the opportunity to play
with at least three seamers. Bangladesh’s main strength is the spinners, but at
the other hand, Bangladesh think tank must encourage the development of pacers
as well. Overemphasizing on just one sector tends to halt the growth of others.
Sadly, neither Taijul found any turn nor bounce on the deck
with the new cherry, but the deck demanded yet another seamer.
Taijul picked up wickets, but it was not about the
assistance from deck. Taijul’s first three wickets were an amalgamation of
sloppy batting and a slice of luck. While the rest three wickets were the
tail-enders, who hardly posed a threat. Zimbabwe’s fifth and sixth wicket pairs
stabilized the proceedings. Peter Moor, Regis Chakabva and Sean Williams’
defiant resistance frustrated Bangladesh, who searched for wickets.
Mahmudullah Riayd, the stand-in captain, brought on Jayed as
he noticed a grey sky above midway through the post-lunch session. Jayed bowled
aggressively and moved the cherry. He created pressure, but the use of a
spinner at the other end did not work well. The home team needed the services
of another pacer. Image two seamers operating with the new ball and then, doing
the same under the grey sky against Zimbabwe’s resistance – one thing can be
said with confidence, the Zimbabwean resistance might not have lasted longer.
Well, Bangladesh did have someone like Ariful Haque to bowl
some seam-up deliveries, but sadly, Ariful is more about line-and-length stuff
rather than generating pace and movement – useful in the shorter formats
though. Test cricket demands more skill.
In the post-lunch session of Day 2, Tendai Chatara and Kyle
Jarvis started off by pitching the ball up more to t batters from a full-length
and swing it as much as possible as because the weather in Sylhet during
November is not as hot and dry like March or September or October and despite the
sunshine, the chill in the air could be felt.
Sylhet is a tropical region where the rainfall is more in
most months of the year, and dry season is relatively shorter. The dark clouds
tend to fly over the sky of Sylhet consistently and always gives the impression
of a shower at any moment. Moreover, the presence of winter can be felt earlier
in Sylhet than other divisions.
Thus, even if you try to prepare a dry-deck, it might not
start to crumble to early as because, the moisture does not vanish in the
twinkle of an eye. And in a tropical region like Sylhet, obviously, the seamers
would get some assistance.
And for which, Jarvis and Chatara were able to extract
enough movement off the deck. After bowling two away swingers, they brought one
back from the back of a length against which, the Bangladesh batters failed to
negotiate.
Their discipline and skill exposed Bangladesh’s fragile
technique and temperament. Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes watched the ball move
away but left a gap between bat and pad when the ball came back in, while Liton
Das and Nazmul Hasan poked at one, which was leaving after pitching around the
offstump.
The top-order was outclassed by the movement and Bangladesh
could never recover from the disastrous start.
Zimbabwe bossed the day and certainly, they deserved such.
While the visitors studied and utilized the condition better, the hosts think
tank took things for granted. They waited for the condition to favour
them rather than thinking of utilizing it the right way. And, when you wait for
things to happen in Test cricket, you can’t reap a rich harvest.
Note: This article has been published at Cricketsoccer on 04/11/2018 Jarvis and Chatara convey Bangladesh think tank important message
Faisal Caesar
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