Bangladesh 58 all out

[shanealbertt]

Bangladesh's recent Test record is not all that bad. They've batted better than Pakistan in England and when looking at the last 10 games, have fewer innings defeats than teams like India and South Africa. I don't think a one off performance of 58 all out should be used as a litmus test.

[alinedian]

Yes bangladeshis are getting stronger and stronger ..they made it to the finals of Asia cup just felt short against the mighty Pakistanis. i just wonder what will the be gonna like when the will find some quality fast bowlers

[JHunter]

Bangladesh have definitely been getting better. Posting a score of 500 for the first time and going from 193/8 to 387 all out is a definite sign of improvement. Not that the international cricketing commentary will take note of course, but in time I expect Bangladesh (barring any disruptions domestically) will start being able to post 300-500 a bit more regularly which will put them in positions where they can think about winning.

[Jemisi]

They've just knocked off WI in the first ODI too, without Shakib. We'd be pretty pleased to win a game without Taylor.

[Kriterion_BD]

After crushing WI by 7 wickets with 10 overs ot spare, they now just took a dump on them by 160 runs. We also bowled them out for 61 last year. If we can TigerWash them 5-0, then I'd say its just compensation for the 58 all out fiasco.

[foreignfield]

At home Bangladesh have become more than a match for anyone outside the big 3-4 teams, especially in ODs. Teams like NZ or Windies are no longer heads-on favourites when they travel there -- rather the opposite when you look at some of the results. Zim would be rank outsiders for an OD series in Bangladesh, only reflecting the way they have drubbed us in the past.

Now the next big step up is winning more often abroad.

But congratualations to the Tigers for pulling out these big wins just when the so called informed first-cricket-world journos were again questioning their test status after 12 years of hurt (in the test arena) -- but then again I doubt many people in England/SA/Australia or India will take note.

[Kriterion_BD]

At home Bangladesh have become more than a match for anyone outside the big 3-4 teams, especially in ODs. Teams like NZ or Windies are no longer heads-on favourites when they travel there -- rather the opposite when you look at some of the results. Zim would be rank outsiders for an OD series in Bangladesh, only reflecting the way they have drubbed us in the past.

Now the next big step up is winning more often abroad.

But congratualations to the Tigers for pulling out these big wins just when the so called informed first-cricket-world journos were again questioning their test status after 12 years of hurt (in the test arena) -- but then again I doubt many people in England/SA/Australia or India will take note.

It would be interesting to see how we would fare against the Big 4 sides at home. India has gone down a couple of times, and given how generally weak their bowling attack is a full on series might be interesting. I hope that Bangladesh are similarly on the verge of beginning to compete in Tests at home as well, but for that we need a couple of fast bowlers who can take wickets. I do think that everyone will take note of the progress though as with mass media around its kind of hard not to. Everyone saw and made a big deal out of the 58 and 78 all out fiascos in the world cup last year. They may not publicly acknowledge it, but they'll know it inside.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

At home Bangladesh have become more than a match for anyone outside the big 3-4 teams, especially in ODs. Teams like NZ or Windies are no longer heads-on favourites when they travel there -- rather the opposite when you look at some of the results. Zim would be rank outsiders for an OD series in Bangladesh, only reflecting the way they have drubbed us in the past.

Now the next big step up is winning more often abroad.

But congratualations to the Tigers for pulling out these big wins just when the so called informed first-cricket-world journos were again questioning their test status after 12 years of hurt (in the test arena) -- but then again I doubt many people in England/SA/Australia or India will take note.

It's funny, Australian cricket fans don't tend to acknowledge good performances unless it comes against them. For example, JP Duminy is rated very highly here because he performed well here. If you asked the average supporter to name a Bangladeshi cricketer... I think the typical response would be "no idea", followed by Ashraful. Not Tamim or Shakib or even Mortaza, but Ashraful because of his match winning 2005 century against Australia.

[foreignfield]

It's funny, Australian cricket fans don't tend to acknowledge good performances unless it comes against them. For example, JP Duminy is rated very highly here because he performed well here. If you asked the average supporter to name a Bangladeshi cricketer... I think the typical response would be "no idea", followed by Ashraful. Not Tamim or Shakib or even Mortaza, but Ashraful because of his match winning 2005 century against Australia.

Yes, that's what I meant. I tend to follow the English press, and it's exactly the same. The Guardian's otherwise excellent cricket website did not even mention Bangladesh's wins -- with two big test series on at the same time they could be forgiven though.

It took the cricket establishment in England a long time and an embarrassing thrashing at the hands of Murali and Co. at the Oval to even acknowledge SL as a test nation. Next time Bangladesh tour England and they get skittled on a potato patch by let's say Derbyshire somewhere around the beginning of April, the nay-sayers will have another field day.

At least Bangladesh get to tour ... and thus the chance to prove a point.

[hhm]

I'm sorry guys but Bangladesh's competitiveness against the West Indies is as flawed as Zim's near test win against NZ at home. There's no way Bangladesh would last beyond 4 days against a full strength WI side. They just got ripped apart by Fidel, then Best(minimal effort) in either innings, and those two aren't even the first choice pace duo - Roach+Jerome would be! Sarwan still has what it takes. For all Powell's talents, surely he would have to sit out so Darren can open to accommodate Sarwan, and his brother can't be excluded even in Sammy's presence.
1Gayle, 2Darren Bravo, 3Sarwan, 4Samuels, 5Chanderpaul, 6Dwayne Bravo, 7Ramdin(wk), 8Sammy(c), 9Shillingford, 10Jerome Taylor, 11Roach
Bench: Seamers-Edwards, Best, Rampaul; Spinners: Miller, Benn, Permaul, Narine

As it stands, I think the classification is
A-SA, Aus, England
B-SL, Pak, WI, NZ, Ind
C-Daylight
D-Zim, Ban

We all know Aus, Eng & SA are ahead of the rest, have the beating of each other and one can dominate the other equally on their day(an Eng without strife would've shared the home series with SA).

NZ have beaten Aus in an away Test to share the series, and have now matched SL who clobbered a mighty SA in a Test away, then shared the home series with England recently. Pak thumped Eng in the Middle East, then got handed a thumping by SL themselves. While both NZ and WI were unfortunate not to win a Test and & share/win the series against a stronger than current India side the last time they toured there. India with nothing positive to report, are clearly the only side threatening to have the daylight bridged.

With Tendulkar's retirement due any moment now, I think they are the only full strength Test side Ban&Zim stand a chance of pushing for a draw. However, a full strength WI side would be too much for those two, as indeed is the case with a very much underrated NZ team. They stand more of a chance of winning a Test against India as opposed to those two.

Zim we have a painful and fresh reminder of how far they are behind NZ, and I can't see either they or Bangladesh beating this NZ side - home or away:
1Guptil, 2McCullum(c), 3Williamson, 4Taylor, 5Ryder, 6Brownlie, 7Walting(wk), 8Vettori, 9Bracewell, 10Southee, 11Boult