jaybro wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:16 am
I think it’s a stretch to say Jayed and Edadat have our bowled Boult and Southee
Until this 4th innings they had with the caveat of
new ball spells only. Bangladesh's openers have put on stands of 57, 88, 75, and 4 runs. And the bulk of those overs were bowled by Boult and Southee. By comparison NZ's openers were both gone for a score of 8 for 2 (from 8 overs) in this game (Raval had a soft dismissal, but Latham was undone by a peach of a delivery from Jayed). In the first Test Latham was dropped on naught, regulation slip catch, granted that was a ordinary delivery from Ebadat. But Jayed and Ebadat bowled very tidy and probing spells in that game.
This last innings was the first time that Boult really got the ball to move around in his first spell - and he got Tamim 2nd ball.
My summary - from what I have seen so far of this series:
Negatives:
1) the importance of Mushy and Shakib was really felt. Shakib had scored 217 in Wellington last time, and Mushy contributed 159 as BD had scored 595-8 declared and earned a first innings lead.
2) Mominul's inability to score. He was out twice leaving short balls down the leg side, caught by the keeper. He was out this way once in South Africa. Minor technique flaw as the shot selection is correct, its just he's a touch late on the execution. The problem is his other dismissals are mostly due to terrible shot selection and the remaining 25% due to genuinely good deliveries (like the one he got from Boult last night).
3) Mithun, Liton, Soumya are almost surely out of their depth here. Yes, Soumya hit a superb 149. However, he lacks consistently. Hitting a big score once every 20 innings won't help the team compete. Also he plays almost exclusively in the air. I bet his 149 had plenty of shots hit uppishly. Mithun and Liton have not had any sizeable scores all series.
4) Pace bowlers fatigue easily. In Hamilton NZ were scoring at under 3 an over for the first 10 overs. In Wellington they were 8 for 2 in the 9th over. The first spell is terrific and then they start going for 5 an over. Understandable given their lack of experience and the fact that in BD domestic games the seamers probably bowl 20 overs in an entire 4-dayer, but here they are required to bowl that many in a single day. Hopefully they will improve their fitness as they gain experience.
5) Fielding. Slip fielding is the absolute worst. I doubt we take even 50% of the regulation catches off the quicks. Pakistani fans often say that Wasim would have taken 100 more wickets had he had the slippers from any other country. Well, if Wasim bowled with Bangladesh's slippers, he would have scarcely taken 100 wickets total! Again exposure is the key. Our close in catchers used to suck against spin because we rarely played on turning tracks that brought our spinners into the game. We are now much better (although still just mediocre), but that happened only because we now play on dustbowls at home.
Positives:
1) Shadman has looked promising. No big scores, but is consistently getting scores and playing some top notch shots as well. Largely unfazed by the short stuff too. Just needs a little experience and he will be the first to say that he needs to get some big scores instead of cute little 30s in every innings. Best thing is he hasn't been dismissed for under 25 at all this tour.
2) Seamers have shown some potential as well. Jayed and Ebadat in particular have moved the ball around a bit. Ebadat has a bit of pace and can extract some bounce with his height. Khaled has been less impressive, but could find a niche as a workhorse who just plugs away at a line and length. Jayed's pace has been higher than I expected bowling consistently in the low 130s, and Ebadat and Khaled have been slower than expected bowling at around 135 on average.