[Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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Kriterion_BD
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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CrimsonAvenger wrote:
Tue Aug 29, 2017 11:54 pm
pariah wrote:
Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:56 pm
CrimsonAvenger wrote:
Tue Aug 29, 2017 10:53 am
...that too being an opener...
:|
Context: when an opener succeeds, the team does well. "Context is important" as someone would say. He has opened all his life and has matured amazingly as a player.
Most importantly, Tamim is a NATURAL opener. He's not being forced to open. Asking for Craig or Williams to open simply to "protect" less capable black players down the order is ridiculous.
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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Hahah we can't even have a thread in the non Zimbabwe index without The 'Hhm opening agenda' comes into play :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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Australia has sent home ( or will be sent home after the test ) Josh Hazelwood who suffered a side strain.

He's been replaced by Steve O'Keefe who many will recall stared in the recent India series. For those who think it was odd that a spinner who just took 12 wickets in a test against India was dropped this was the reason.

He got on the drink at a NSW Cricket awards night and said something offensive to Australian women's opener Rachael Haynes. This was his second episode on the drink in less than 12 months. But the selectors said it was a decision to opt for Aston Agar instead of SOK because they're planning for India in 4 years time so they want to develop Agar. Steve Smith backed up these claims which seemingly had ended the test career of SOK.

Although I don't agree with leaving SOK out of this tour and not considering him for tests anymore I understood the selectors angle. What I don't understand is how one test match later SOK has been recalled after the selectors reasoning for leaving him out in the first place ?

What is also confusing is the fact Australia replaced a fast bowler with a spinner even though they still have Mitch Swepson a leg spinner on tour already. Surely Australia won't play 4 spinners in the second test?

Another puzzling fact is that in the training camp which took place in Darwin Australia had 5 spinners there - Lyon, Agar, Swepson, Jon Holland ( left arm spinner ) & Adam Zampa. Holland was pick of all the bowlers and took 50 first class wickets last season but was overlooked ?

My only thought on how this has all worked out is that they wanted to leave SOK out even though they know he's the 2nd best spinner in the country but after seeing the pitch in the first test they don't see the point in playing 2 seamers in the 2nd test.

I don't think they have enough faith to throw in young Swepson especially since this series is turning out tighter than expected. Looking at the situation I don't see the point in sending another player for just 1 test if you're not going to play him so I'm expecting SOK to play the second test.

It's stupid selection policies and soap operas that get Australia into trouble, they keep trying to 'think 1 step ahead' predicting who will be a good player and selecting them regardless if there is someone better for the job.

So many good Aussie players get overlooked for stupid things like this.
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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BD desperately need a wicket
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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I wonder at what point BD realised they made a mistake picking Safiul Islam and even Muztafizur Rahman for that matter. An extra spinner or batsman would have been handy.
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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Bangladesh on the verge of history here

Australia's woes against spin continue massive collapse
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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jaybro wrote:
Wed Aug 30, 2017 5:04 am
I wonder at what point BD realised they made a mistake picking Safiul Islam and even Muztafizur Rahman for that matter. An extra spinner or batsman would have been handy.
Or we could have picked the batsman who top scored in the practice match and has the highest average on the team. The selectors and coach have some answering to do.

It would have probably worked better had we gone with an all spin attack as the corollary to the Windies 4 man pace attack (did India ever field an XI without a single specialist seamer???). Then again, what could a 4th spinner do that the other 3 didn't already?

But maybe the Windies also never had promising spinners back in the 70s...

But Mustafiz had to make the XI since he averages under 25 with the ball and bowled the match winning spell vs SL in Colombo. Granted he's only played 4 Tests so that average isn't signficant, but its still better than say a Rubel Hossain who averages nearly 80. Plus, you'd reckon he could be a handful on a turning pitch with his cutters. Only conceded 21 runs off his 9 overs, so he could have bowled a bit more particularly to the tail to pick up some cheap wickets perhaps. But its not like he bled runs. He's our best seamer, and you have to play him. Hazelwood didn't do much, but you can't imagine Australia leaving him out even if Starc and Pattinson were fit.

Shafiul was a questionable pick. I think he can be a good 4th seamer, but when would you ever pick 4 quicks? Did beat the bat of Warner and/or Renshaw a few times in the first innings without really threatening. So he too didn't look totally hopeless. I'd have picked Taskin every day of the week...his pace and bounce could have prised out a wicket or two and also changed things up a bit when the game drifted.

The really poor decisions - so poor that I expect and hope its strong enough to break the "winning combo" concept - is the omission of Mominul. Soumya's fielding and talent with the bat warrant more chances, IMO, but I would also understand if he was to be dropped. Imrul should either open with Tamim or ideally be left out as we've outgrown whatever his utility is. Sabbir is NOT a longer form batter. Doesn't even have a score bigger than 64 in ODIs. I like Nasir Hossain, but I'm not sure we have room for him in our best XI.

Soumya, Imrul, Sabbir, and Nasir scored a combined 70 runs in the match at an average less than 9, and they are all specialist batsmen. Surely Mominul who averages 45+ for his career can come in place of one of those, form and "technique" notwithstanding.

My ideal side for Tests in the SC would be:

Tamim
Soumya (Imrul only fits as an opener but has less upside than Soumya)
Mominul
Mosaddek (can bowl some useful off spin as well)
Shakib
Mushfiq (his WK in the last two Tests has been superb)
Nasir
Miraz
Taijul
Taskin
Mustafiz

Maybe I'm sleep deprived but I can't think of who ought to be our #7, so I guess Nasir would take that spot for now. I think he needs a long run in the side having been left out for so long. He deserves it as he got the Mominul treatment before Mominul. Damn Hathurasinghe.

_______________________

My analysis of this Test in specific, but our cricket in general:

1) We've been resilient. England had raced away too 100-0 chasing 273 and then lost all 10 wickets in a session. Australia's fall wasn't as dramatic, but they were 158-2 at one stage and then found themselves at 199-8. This fact is probably paramount, and is the one that most makes me proud.

2) Lower order batting: virtually non-existent. None of our bowlers can consistenly score 15 runs, nor can they consistenly face 30 deliveries. By contrast, Cummins batted solidly in both innings and put our batsmen to shame.

3) Close in catching: piss poor. In SC conditions slips don't get many chances to catch off pace, but when we were in NZ at least a couple of regulation chances were put down. Our bat-pads and slips have fared better at home, but when you see the sheer number of fumbles, lucky ricochete catches, you realize we have no one near the sure hands of a Rahane or a Smith or a Williamson (more of a gully fielder but still). Soumya took some amazing catches, but part of the novelty was the fact that he juggled fairly straightforward chances.

4) Shakib's frustrates with the bat. Threw away a sure fire draw in Wellington at the start of this year after his epic 217. Threw away the match with the bat in Mirpur as well. Only this time the conditions allowed him to fetch it back with the ball.

5) Tamim might just be one of the finest openers going around. He scores in all conditions he's faced, and looks equally solid vs both pace and spin. His twin 70s here were just as important as Shakib's 10-fer to our win, and his century on an identical minefield vs Engalnd last year won us that match. I'm speechless really.

________________________

Interestingly, Bangladesh has now not been beaten in a home Test series since May 2015. With our next two series being Sri Lanka and the West Indies, we might be able to push to at least 3+ years without being beaten at home. Of course we've hardly played any matches, but I reckon we wouldn't have lost to SA in 2015, had it not rained, and would have probably beaten Australia in 2015 when they had a far less settled side than they do now.

With Hazelwood out, we might just take this series 2-0. Then again, Australia, did very nearly beat us in our tailor made conditions.

On the other hand, I reckon Cartwright has a great shot at coming in for Khawaja.
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

Post by cricket_22001 »

Have no doubt, I want Australia to beat everyone.
But, and apologies for the cliche, test cricket is the winner this week.
An ever improving Bangladesh plus a highly competitive Windies only promises good things for the game.
Congratulations to Bangladesh. If the opposition underestimate you, it is at their peril.
I have to admit, I always felt Shakib was a bit of a prima donna but he really performed. I still didn't like his second innings dismissal though.

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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

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I've been home ill for the last few days so I got to watch the whole test and honestly it was one of the more exciting ones I've watched.

Real close up and down match and a credit to both sides for competing so well. Just another case for sides to produce more 'sporting pitches'. Don't tell me there wouldn't be more interest in test cricket if we saw more games like this. Bangladesh will likely be invited for a test series in Australia soon, maybe in the next year or two.

As for the Aussie lineup for the next test Steve O'Keefe will likely replace Hazlewood as the Aussies will go with 3 spinners. It will be interesting if Hilton Cartwright is given a match and if he is who will he replace?

It will either be for Khawaja or Maxwell although I assume they will want Khawaja to bat @3 in the Ashes due to his solid home record so it will be interesting to see if he's dropped. There's two ways to look at it firstly they might want to just leave him there because he's their guy for the Ashes or secondly they might want to shield him from being done by the spinners again and save him for the Ashes. Either way Khawaja is a flat track bully and will never be successful in Asia.

Matt Wade is on borrowed time also absolutely horrible batsman the Aussies can't wait for young South Australian Alex Carey to be ready
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Re: [Series Thread] Australia in Bangladesh 2017

Post by Kriterion_BD »

Jay, the match vs England in Mirpur last year was very similar...I'll compare the two as BD batted first in both:

England Test

BD went from 170-1 to 220 all out (Tamim 106, Mominul 66) mother of all collapses.
England slumped to 140-8 but Rashid and Woakes I think took them to 244 and a not insignificant 1st innings lead
BD replied with 296 all out, setting a tarvget of 273 (Imrul 78, Shakib scored 40 odd, most of the lineup chipped in some)
England raced away to 100-0 at 4 an over by lunch...game was over and I quit watching.
Miraz took 12 in the match and the Poms collapsed to 164 all out, losing all 10 wickets in a single session.

Shakib took 4 in the 2nd innings, including the vital wicket Stokes.

Australia Test

BD started 10-3 and then had a tail order collapse as well to get 260 all out (Shakib 84, Tamim 71).
Aussies went from 14-3 to 217 all out
BD had total control but middle and lower order collapsed so our target went from 189-3 to 265 (Tamim 78, Mushfiq 41).
AUS recovered from 28-2 to grab control at 158-2, then collapsed to 244 all out, with Shakib taking a 10 fer.
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