West Indies in Bangladesh 2012

First topic message reminder :

The first test between West Indies and Bangladesh is geting underway tomorrow.
Bangladesh are back in test action almost after a year, and for the series will give a chance to build on the recent good record, the win in the world T-20 was huge and before that they won the test, ODI and T-20I series against New Zealand.
For Bangladesh as usual a great deal will depend on Shakib Al Hasan. Tamim Iqbal and captain Mushfiqur Rahim are the other key players and I am looking forward to yourg Nasir Hosain's perforamcnes, hopefully the lad wil get a chance to bat up the order and captain should make more use of his bowling.
West Indies have picked a 15 member squad for their first engagement after becoming the World T-20 champions. They are playing 2 tests against Bangladesh. Guyana left -arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (23), who led the A team against India early this year is the only new face in the squad. Adrian Barath is dropped, and there is a recall for Kirk Edwards who was dropped after his horrer show in England during the summer. Darren Bravo is back after missing the New Zealand series with injury. Fidel Edwards, who was dropped from the original squad was recalled following an injury to Kemar Roach.
Squad
Darren Sammy (capt), Denesh Ramdin (vice-capt), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards, Marlon Samuels

Tino as usual, bowling as fast as he could, but spraying it around a bit as well.

all 7 wickets in the match so far to seamers

Bangladesh can bat down to 9, but these 2 have to stay there and see the day through.
Shakib troubled by Tino a bit, an energetic short ball, Shakib got into a bit of tangle and it just fell short of the fielder.

KPF, Sohag Gazi is an offspinner.

The first offy to open the bowling in test cricket on his debut it seems.

Bangladesh seem to know only 2 gears while batting, 5th is the prefered mode and else its first!.

msp83 wrote:KPF, Sohag Gazi is an offspinner.

oh okk....thanks...I saw the scorecard and felt that he is a seamer since he was opening the bowling.

Off spinner from BD,,,, is a rarity in the land of SLAs

Now we have the West Indies young debutant, Veerasammy Permaul into the attack. He bowls slow left arm.

Gazi did look decent in his first match with the ball I must say, was willing to toss it up even when he came under Chris Gayle fire.

Gayle time with the ball.

Gayle's the highest wicket taker in this WI team!.

Gayle's really throwing them up inviting Naeem to go for it, and he has been up to the task, hitting 2 boundaries.

Stumps on day 2, Bangladesh 163-3. Naeem Islam on 26, Shakib Al Hasan on 16.

looks like another featherbed unfortunately. The BD way recently has been to make flat pitches and hope somehow they can eek out the odd draw, which is of course not the right way to go. Nice knock from Chanderpaul, though he almost certainly should have been given out LBW when just past his century yesterday (no DRS of course, neither board can afford it and the ICC won't pay for it...). Tanim made a nice start but threw it away again, I'm worried that he doesn't seem to be learning. Still, BD have a decent chance of saving the follow-on here you think, though a WI win still seems very possible. Narine showing that he's still a much better bowler in T20s than in tests. Rampaul easily the pick of the bowlers in the match so far.

ridiclously flat pitch, and not good for the game of cricket!

MFC, to be fair to Narine though, after being taken on, he kept things quiet, although I didn't like him bowling flat and fast to Tamim. But he did toss it up to Naeem and later Shakib, who I thought played him well. Besides, there wasn't a lot of help from the pitch either, remember Shakib went wicketless after bowling 34 overs.
Only Junaid got out to a good ball, it was quite a nasty bouncer from Rampaul. Nafees flailed at a wide enough ball that he should have left alone, Tamim tried to pull from way outside off and hit it straight to the only fielder that he could have found.
The only way Bangladesh are going to improve is by playing more test matches. If the FTP doesn't give them a lot of room, then they should work things with other boards, Zimbabwe aren't playing any testt match now, Pakistan too have a rather relaxed schedule. The previous BCB president had gone on record saying that a full tour of India was on the cards soon. Hope they would do some hard pressuring on that front. I would any day gladly watch a test with Bangladesh rather than a stupid ODI tournament involving Sri Lanka and India!.

Darren Sammy must be fuming though with some of his bowlers...in Bangladesh you cant bowl short, you have to bowl full and straight, un even bounce, and no pace in the pitch, bowling short is food and drink for any batsmen on these pitches.

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:In this match Gayle reportedly the first player ever to score a six off the first ball in a test match....

Corporal - I can't recall a six ever being hit in the first over of a Test match (let alone the first ball). Perhaps it has happened in recent times with a more adventurous batting approach being adopted and I've just missed it. Certainly not something I tend to associate with the likes of Boycott and Gavaskar when I was first following Test cricket ....

Bangladesh 220-3. Shakib has reached 50 and Naeem is batting on 45. That follow on target is still 108 runs away.

50 now for Naeem Islam. Bangladesh 229-3.

250 up for Bangladesh, 252-3. Shakib 65, Naeem 62.

455/6 at stumps, Madmudullah 42, Nasir Hossain 33 the not out batsmen

Bangladesh's day for sure. 291 runs for 3 wickets has to be a pretty decent effort.
Superb effort from Naeem Islam. He showed it to the likes of Shaariar Nafees as to how it is to be done.
Good effort from Shakib as well, but with his experience and ability, he should have converted it into a hundred. Mushfiqur the captain too gave away his wicket easily. But good to see young Nassir among the runs, this guy is really tallented Mahmudullah is a tallented batsman, and had built up a decent test profile for himself before regressing over the last 2 seasons, where admitedly Bangladesh didn't play many test matches. I hope Nassir and Mahmudullah should take a leaf out of Naeem's temprament and build their innings tomorrow. Debutant Sohag Gazi is someone with a couple of first class hundreds and a batting average of 27. Not much can be expected from Rubel and Shahadat, but the other 3 should Bangladesh as close as possible to the West Indies total. If they somehow manage to bat out a session and a half they should be able to establish a lead and from there on they can fight for a positive result, even a draw will be positive from their point of view.

can I be the first to say "road"? oh wait, I already did after yesterday's play. Seriously Bangladesh won't improve much by playing on these types of pitches, they'll manage the odd draw against weak bowling attacks like this one (Rampaul probably the only test class bowler), but that's not how they should be moving forward. Bowlers win matches, and BD don't have enough of those, and producing these pitches isn't going to help one bit...

Realistically BD won't lose from here barring a catastrophic final day collapse, while they probably need another 200 runs from their last four wickets to apply enough scoreboard pressure for a win.

For WI, I know it's a ridiculous pitch to bowl on, but Narine disappointed. Going at over 4 per over not great, and the fact is he was easily outbowled by the debutant Permaul. Rampaul produced a whole-hearted effort, Sammy was steady if not very threatening, and Best was poor.

Finally, a word of praise for Naeem Islam, whose innings was a superb study in concentration and diligence. He'll be a bit disappointed (hopefully) at getting out soon after reaching his hundred, but it's still a great positive for BD to take out of this game. Tamim and others could do worse than take a leaf out of his book...

Mad for Chelsea wrote:can I be the first to say "road"? oh wait, I already did after yesterday's play. Seriously Bangladesh won't improve much by playing on these types of pitches, they'll manage the odd draw against weak bowling attacks like this one ...

That applies to Eng and India also....making pitches to suit their strengths and tigers in their own condtions

point taken, but roads don't really suit the BD strengths I don't think. Playing to one's strength means preparing pitches which give you best chance of winning the game. This one doesn't, it gives BD absolutely zero chance of winning (of course, I may end up with egg on my face as BD roll over WI in their second innings, but somehow I doubt it).

I don't have a problem with home conditions, I have a problem with roads (and I'm a batsman ). India preparing spinning pitches for England is fine, England preparing pitches that assist the seamers (or at lest offer them some help) is fine, etc.

MFC, while your larger point is well taken, I don't mind Bangladesh preparing the occasional flat pitches, I know I had the other day very nearly declared all batsmen my enemies, but a side like Bangladesh could do with a few draws. It won't help in the long run in terms of batting or bowling quality, but results also matter at the end of the day. You can't expect Bangladesh to straight away start winning testt matches, but a few draws could be a good starting point. If their batsman find that if they spend enough time on the wicket they too can score hundreds, that might eventually change the attitude and approach to batting and would benefit the side.
But as I said, There could be the odd flat track from time to time, otherwise they should go for the conventional dustbowl where they can unleash their army of spinners and try and find a way to win test matches. They can't produce quality fast bowlers learning things on the job, so if they have to have a few green tops, those have to be at the first class level.

I have proposed for a long time that Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afgansitan also perhaps should be allowed to play as a First class side in respectively India, SA and Pakistan's domestic cricket.

that will give them all the exposure that is necessary for their development as a test side.

the way BD and Zim are right now.....they do not merit test match status

msp83 wrote:MFC, while your larger point is well taken, I don't mind Bangladesh preparing the occasional flat pitches, I know I had the other day very nearly declared all batsmen my enemies, but a side like Bangladesh could do with a few draws. It won't help in the long run in terms of batting or bowling quality, but results also matter at the end of the day. You can't expect Bangladesh to straight away start winning testt matches, but a few draws could be a good starting point. If their batsman find that if they spend enough time on the wicket they too can score hundreds, that might eventually change the attitude and approach to batting and would benefit the side.
But as I said, There could be the odd flat track from time to time, otherwise they should go for the conventional dustbowl where they can unleash their army of spinners and try and find a way to win test matches. They can't produce quality fast bowlers learning things on the job, so if they have to have a few green tops, those have to be at the first class level.

how long have BD been a Test nation again? about ten years now isn't it? (I know I'm being slightly disingenious here BTW). I get the argument about them maybe gaining confidence from a few draws, but these pitches won't be doing the game in BD any good at all you'd think. I mean, since lunch on day 1 there've been a grand total of 7 wickets at an average of slightly less than one wicket per session (over the whole match that average improves to a massive 1.11 wickets per session!!!). Admittedly both sides are stronger in the batting department, but it's still not good.

KP_fan: interesting suggestion, but ultimately impractical for several reasons (not least the fact India would never agree to it). I think a two-tier system with Ireland, Afghanistan included could be one way to go also.

The way the ICC work and with the kind of politics involved, I don't see a 2 tier system emerging in the near future. Bangladesh should try to play more test matches, mostly with sides that are ranked 6 7 8 and Zimbabwe to start with. I believe if they could get themselves going in the test game, their overall game will improve. 2 or 3 test matches a year won't help at all.

And the ICC should let Bangladesh and Zimbabwe play 1 test fixtures, that might give them a better chance to schedule a test match or 2 with the big boys as well from time to time.

50 for Mahmudullah. Bangladesh 483-6.

Sunil Narine gets a wicket at last. Mahmudullah gone for 62, Bangladesh 489-7.

1 brings 2 for Narine. Young Sohag Gazi hit his first ball in test cricket for 4 but was bowled by Narine for the same score. 493-8.

50 for Nasir and Bangladesh reaching 500. 500-8.

Yes, Bangladesh takes the lade!.

Terrific, fabulous knock from young Nasir Hossain!!. So unfortunate he missed out on a richly deserved hundred. When Mahmudullah and Gazi went in the same over Nasir had barely reached his 50. At last he goes, 4 short of his hundred, but this young lad is someone with a terrific tallent and brilliant temprament. Think he should bat ahead of Mushfiqur.

Bangladesh allout for 556 at last. Lead by 29.

Sunil Narine finishes with 3 wickets, on another day he might bowl far far better and may not get a wicket.

If Gayle gets a biggy today, WI can think of setting a chalenging last day chase and try to force a win.

Lunch on the 4th day, and Gayle and Powell has seen that short session through for West Indies.

No extended Gayle storm, he goes for 19, caught behind of Rubel Hossain. West Indies 26-1.

WI 114-1. Powell reaching his 50. Bravo is on 36.

Powell closing in on his 2nd hundred of the match. Bravo too is moving on quickly, he's 67 not out and Powell on 79.

Bangladesh have nipped out 2 quick wickets, Bravo missed out on a hundred flashing at Rubel and edging behind, and then Marlon Samuels got a cracker from Gazi that he could only fend to forward shortleg. West Indies 214-3.
Think there will be pressure on Bangladesh to avoide a last innings collapse. But for that the West Indies would need another 70 runs to go in with confidence.

233-5 the West Indies. The match is getting into some life now. Shakib Al Hasan with 2 strikes late in the day.

This match is back to life!. West Indies are 244-6. Shiv Chanderpaul hasn't batted and it seems he has some fitness concerns. We don't know the extend of it as yet, but if West Indies are bowled out in the first hour tomorrow, then we could have a contest. Sunil Narine could still make a significant impact on this game!. Will be a heartbreak for Bangladesh if they lose after scoring 550 in the first innings, will be a huge setback for the West Indies spirit if they lose to Bangladesh in a test match after the high points of last month. Going into the last day, all results are very much possible.

Bangladesh are chasing 245 to win the test match. Debutant offspinner Sohag Gazi picked 6 wickets in the 2nd innings to take his match tally to 9 and the West Indies were bowled out for 273. Bangladesh in reply lost Tamim Iqbal early to Ravi Rampaul. They are 39-1 at the moment.

Tino strikes for West Indies, Junaid Siddique gone. Bangladesh 45-2. Naeem Islam has joined Shahriar Nafees.

And that's lunch on day 5.