Series Thread: U19 Tri-Series SA v Zim v SL

[CrimsonAvenger]

The Lankans won the series then, so they finally realized they need not respect the SA team more than the Zim team. Looks like they were the strongest of the 3 after all.

[Kriterion_BD]

Yeah, this is a very important observation. And the reason why we struggle to put up a big score across formats at all levels. Contrast that with the times of Andy Flower, Heath Streak and Guy Whittall. They hardly played low percentage shots. Present generation of Sibandas and Williamses are itching to play that low percentage shot as soon as they middle one or two. Craig Ervine's success last year must be attributed a great deal to his ability to control the urge to play low percentage shots unlike his teammates. Hope he continues in that fashion.

Bangladesh perennially suffered from this disease too, but has grown well over the last 5 years. Shakib still has those tendencies though, a lot more that Tamim. And the Afghans are still finding their feet with respect to this trait. So, therein lies our chance to topple them, if only we are intelligent and stifle their scoring a bit...

Very astute and important observations. First I'll talk about Bangladesh and then Zimbabawe/Afghanistan as I watch all 3 teams very closely.

Bangladesh used to suffer from this shot selection dilemma for years and years. Most famous was our "triple AAA" battery of Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, and Alok Kapali...the 3 most talented batsman Bangladesh produced before the Mushfiq-Tamim-Shakib era. All three had the technique and the ability, but either lacked intelligence or work ethic, or they couldn't control their impulses. Its no surprise then that Alok and Aftab ended their Test careers with averages under 20 and Ashraful only slightly better at 24.

But there were other players as well, lesser talents, who also played inexplicable shots. And that comes down to a pure lack of ability. When you can't score, or realize you aren't good enough to play low percentage shots in the gaps consistently enough to compile a big score, you go for the release-the-pressure-boundary attempt. It might work two or three times, or on a good/lucky day you might be able to score 30-40 runs, but inevitably you will get out and you can't hit really big scores (hundreds) that way. Habibul Bashar was the epitome of that, and it was only freakish hand-eye coordination that allowed him to have a Test average just north of 30.

Tamim is actually a very responsible batsman. His strike rate in Tests is not very high. Not very high in ODIs either and downright poor in T20Is. Everyone thinks of Tamim as being an aggressive batsman in the mould of a Dilshan, and that is the product of a single season where he was blitzing Indian and English bowlers, home and away. But his strike rates are only 55 and 80 in Tests and ODIs respectively and that is actually probably even under the par. He plays well within himself and has focused on trying to play longer innings rather than faster innings. An average of 40 in Tests indicates there probably aren't major issues with this approach, but I actually think he goes back to being aggressive he can do better. Regardless, a batsman of Tamim's pure ability should be averaging no less than 45, so he is still underachieving with the bat overall, although in the last few years he's been playing up to his potential.

Shakib is a enigma. When's he dumb he's stupider than Ashraful, and that takes some doing. But he's got the second highest Test average on the team, and over the past few years its climbed from the low 30s up to past 40 now, even higher than Tamim. He's done it without making any really big scores, hinting at consistency, although he will often throw it away. I think he should bat at #6 in the Test side until he can show the same responsibility he does in limited overs.

For Zimbabwe, Sibanda followed in Ashraful's footsteps...talented but no impulse control. Ervine is Zimabawe's best batsman now after Taylor's departure, and he looks the part. My hope is on Musakanda and Burl or Murray to also step up. Starting to lose the faith in Williams who is rather Shakib like in his play at times. Moor can definitely hit the big shots, but needs to work more on low percentage shots in order to be a solid middle order batsman against pace and spin.

Afghanistan have polished batsman in Mohammad Nabi...Shahzad is a hack who doesn't have the technique to score heavily on a consistent basis. Usman Ghani who hit a 100 vs Zimbabwe at age 17 didn't play in the WC and has gotten very few chances since...not sure why, but Afghanistan still has some decent batting talent coming up in Rehmat Shah and Rashid Khan. Again, they often play self destructive shots because some of the guys lack impulse control or don't have enough expereince yet, and the other guys simply aren't good enough for this level (prime example their captain Stanikzai).

[Googly]

That's why a competitive domestic structure is vital. You wouldn't see inconsistent batsmen in the mix for selection if the domestic cricket was tough. Unless you're playing north of 30 games a season how is a batsman going to groove a technique that works? Aside from the quality net sessions, drills and coaching required to prepare you for game time you need the time in the middle to gain experience so you can assess the conditions, the bowler, the field settings, and the state of the game at that time. We rely on theory here- everyone knows what to do in theory, but unless you've done it hundreds of times it's not that easy to put into practice. I always like the story of Steve Waugh deciding to tighten up his game and put away the pull to increase his average, which was already a healthy 40 something, and his new look took him into the 50's. Flower also was very careful who he took on with the short ball, and there's a great interview with Wasim Akram where he rated Flower as his toughest opponent. Basically he said Andy made the short ball a non event and they had to figure out other ways of getting him out.
My beef is that I don't think any batsmen at any level here practice enough. There's stories of the top guys batting for 3-4 hours a day for years to be the best they can be. Aside from Flower I've not heard of any of our guys that have this ethic. Part of the problem is a lack of people to throw. We don't have indoor facilities that the franchise guys can readily access either. We need a couple of those Merlin machines for quality spin deliveries and we need different matting to simulate different pitches. We're trying to compete without the right preparation. Everyone seems to have mostly surrendered.