Bangladesh improving a lot?

[popepouri]

Anybody following the England U19s in Bangladesh? England have just lost the 7 game series 4-0. I'm not sure if this is a concern for England or if there's some great young players coming through the ranks for Bangladesh but based on players like Tamim and Shakib, I believe it's the latter. Interesting stuff.

 

[superkingdave]

Bangladesh have been doing well at U19 cricket for a fair while. Would have been more of an upset if England had won the series tbh.

 

[Richard]

We really do need an

*Official* Bangladesh are improving and will be <whatever> in <insert number> years' time

thread.

It'd help keep things in perspective.

As and when Bangladesh start competing with Test and ODI-standard sides regularly, then we'll talk. Until such a time, forget it.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

For once (the first time?), I have to agree with Richard on a Bangladesh issue here.

Bangladesh U19 have been strong for many years, going back to the side that had Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib and Tamim in that could easily have gone on to win the U19 World Cup when, somewhat ironically, they tripped up against a far weaker England side. Historically the Asian sides have produced good age-group teams and Bangladesh's success this summer in England (and presumably now at home) came on pitches that looked like they'd been imported from day five in Colombo.

The domestic standard is still poor (but I think, gradually improving and becoming more professional). It's not going to help their Test game if they don't play any Test cricket, either. England next February/March could be interesting.

 

[Richard]

Especially I think if England send a second-string team. It'll be interesting to see what happens should such a thing happen. If England still win easily then, well, nothing much of note has happened, but if they make them fight all the way then there'll be some hint of proper improvement... though obviously such a thing has indeed happened before.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

For me it depends on the nature of the pitches. If they are typical, then Bangladesh would be a good match for a second-string England side, especially given how poorly we've played proper spinners for as long as anyone can remember.

However if they have a bit of a tinge to them or even some hardness, then Bangladesh will struggle against the England seamers. Obviously drawing any conclusions from such performances, a la Bopara against the West Indies, would be very risky.

 

[Athlai]

Bangladesh are improving though, Shakib is their best player ever by a long way.

 

[morgieb]

They are improving. Not test-standard yet, however.

 

[Athlai]

Na but they have 1 definitely Test standard player and then a few who are getting close to it (Tamim, Ashraful, Raqibul, Mortaza, Razzak), probably ODI standard now. Think they could give most teams a decent competition at home, though ODI cricket is pretty competitve at the moment.

 

[four_or_six]

If we send a second string team over to play tests against Bangladesh, I'd be extremely worried. Remember the shock they gave a very decent Australian side last time they were there? Okay, the Gillespie 200 was daft in the second match, but if it hadn't have been for an awesome rescue job from Gilchrist and Lee/Gillespie in the first match Bangladesh would most likely have won it. Australia were 93/6 after Bangladesh had scored over 400 in the first innings.

1st Test: Bangladesh v Australia at Fatullah, Apr 9-13, 2006 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

 

[Athlai]

If we send a second string team over to play tests against Bangladesh, I'd be extremely worried. Remember the shock they gave a very decent Australian side last time they were there? Okay, the Gillespie 200 was daft in the second match, but if it hadn't have been for an awesome rescue job from Gilchrist and Lee/Gillespie in the first match Bangladesh would most likely have won it. Australia were 93/6 after Bangladesh had scored over 400 in the first innings.

1st Test: Bangladesh v Australia at Fatullah, Apr 9-13, 2006 | Cricket Scorecard | Cricinfo.com

Current Bangladesh team is better than that one as well.

 

[Richard]

Bangladesh are improving though, Shakib is their best player ever by a long way.

He's on-track to be. There's hundreds of examples of how no-one should take a year of excellence in a young player to be the harbinger of a sensational career ahead.

 

[Athlai]

He's on-track to be. There's hundreds of examples of how no-one should take a year of excellence in a young player to be the harbinger of a sensational career ahead.

Liked the look of him well before it was showing in his results. Looks like a Test player if you understand my meaning.

 

[Richard]

I thought the exact same about Shahriar Nafees Ahmed in 2005 - thought "he looks like a proper player unlike just about anyone from Bangladesh before". Look where he's ended-up currently.

Obviously the fact that Shahriar went one way doesn't mean Shakib will, it's just a demonstration of the possibility. So are hundreds of other cases. Vinod Kambli is one other example.

 

[popepouri]

I thought the exact same about Shahriar Nafees Ahmed in 2005 - thought "he looks like a proper player unlike just about anyone from Bangladesh before". Look where he's ended-up currently.

Obviously the fact that Shahriar went one way doesn't mean Shakib will, it's just a demonstration of the possibility. So are hundreds of other cases. Vinod Kambli is one other example.

Isn't Shahriar coming back though after December 31st?

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Isn't Shahriar coming back though after December 31st?

Possibly, he could do with scoring a few runs in domestic cricket though. People also forget that his form disappeared towards the end of his pre-ICL career.

Does the cooling-off period for the ICL players end at the end of the year?

 

[Richard]

People also forget that his form disappeared towards the end of his pre-ICL career.

That as much as the fact that he defected to the ICL at all is what I'm referring to. He went downhill completely, and there's no gurantee he'll come back - though obviously he may do.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

He didn't make a huge impression in the recently concluded Twenty20 tournament. Just throwing some names around, I'd guess Tamim and Junaid (although his own form is a worry), Imrul Kayes, Rony Talukder, maybe even Mithun Ali are ahead of him in the pecking order. Nazimuddin is another opener back from the ICL. Alok Kapali will fit in somehere. And Shamsur Rahman could have a big season. So a return is nowhere near a certainty at the moment.

EDIT: Throw in Mehrab jnr to that list. Yeah, plenty of competition.

 

[Gowza]

with the struggle to find a 2nd opener to partner tamim i'd say SN has a pretty good chance of returning. junaid is still struggling, imrul hasn't got any runs when he's been given chances, rony is still way off the national team imo, i'm not sure whether they'll use mithun as a specialist batsman plus he should have at least one more good season before getting a proper run, nazimuddin hasn't really got runs when he's been given chances and shamsur like mithun probably needs at least one or two more seasons plus he's not really an opener. other options are hannan sarkar, nafis iqbal and nazmus sadat but i don't really see them getting a run anytime soon despite sarkar and NI being picked for the A team/BCB XI recently.

SN has the track record that the others don't, so a couple of good scores in domestic matches could easily put him at the top of the pecking order imo. that's if they want him as an opener, if they want him as a middle order batsman it will be tougher for him.

 

[Athlai]

ICL cooling off period is totally up to the country, Bond got straight back into it.