**Official** Australia in Bangladesh

[Neil Pickup]

Been away in the Lake District for the weekend...

Sunday, 09h00: Wake up. Switch on TV. Turn to BBC 1. Press Text button (old analogue style Ceefax). Page 340. Ahh, Bangladesh v Australia. Enter page number. Noooo! Bloody mountains in the way. Only random letters are actually appearing. Who the hell is M A@* %ful ? Looks like Bangladesh aren't doing too badly, but can't see anything properly.

Sunday, 09h30: Finish breakfast of hot cross buns. Brainwave. Try ITV Teletext. Turn on TV. Press Text button. What the hell is the cricket page on ITV? Some little gnome in the back of my head says it's page 450. Enter 450. Ooh! Ooh! It's working. Bangladesh v Australia - page 461. Enter 461. Shahriar Nafees - 121*. Woohoo!

Monday, 09h00: Wake up. Turn on TV. Straight onto ITV. No messing this time - page 461. Aussies are three down. My sceptical Dad, who reckons that all Asian games are fixed, now agrees that the pitch can't be as flat as a pancake.

Monday, 10h00: Pink grapefruit still running down my chin. Turn on TV. Already on ITV. Page 461. Wild party dance - five down now.

And to make my day even better... I get home and Wisden has arrived.

I didn't think it was possible, but you actually make me look cool.

 

[What-A-Player]

If Bangladesh finish them off, it would probably mean more to me than England winning the Ashes.

Best. Game. Ever!

They shall call it Bashes

 

[Blaze]

History of sport... there's a hell of a lot to pick from. FA Cup has a lot, for starters.

It would be up there though wouldn't it?

 

[Goughy]

It would be up there though wouldn't it?

It would be a big deal, but not the biggest upset in sports history. Bang are a team of experienced professional cricketers (not very good ones granted) and are due to perform at a high level for at least 1 game sooner or later.

It would be a shock but not quite N. Korea 1 - Italy 0 (1966 WC) or Douglas vs Tyson etc..

 

[Neil Pickup]

Yes. Googling "biggest sporting upsets..." results in lots of references to that afternoon in Cardiff, plus:

• 1980 US Olympic Ice Hockey team
• Greece winning Euro 2004
• Denmark winning Euro 92
• Cameroon v Argentina 1990
• USA 1-0 England 1950
• Buster Douglas v Mike Tyson
• Sutton Utd beating Coventry 1988 (?)
• Wrexham beating Arsenal 1991 (?)
• Hereford beating Newcastle 1971
• Exeter and Burton holding Man Utd (sorry)
• Aussie speed-skater Stephen Bradbury
• Damon Hill at Hungary in 1997
• Zimbabwe v Australia 1983
• Ben Curtis winning the 2003 Open
• Francis Ouimet in the 1913 US Open Golf
• New England Patriots v St Louis Rams, 2002 Superbowl
• Foinavon in the Grand National

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Yes. Googling "biggest sporting upsets..." results in lots of references to that afternoon in Cardiff, plus:

• 1980 US Olympic Ice Hockey team
• USA 1-0 England 1950
• Sutton Utd beating Coventry 1988 (?)
• Hereford beating Newcastle 1971

Those four would top my list.

(my criterion is "amateur beating professional")

 

[Neil Pickup]

This needs its own Off Topic thread, really... add Man Utd 0-3 York City, League Cup, 1994 to the list.

 

[luckyeddie]

History of cricket, yes.

History of sport... there's a hell of a lot to pick from. FA Cup has a lot, for starters.

The USA beating England in the 1950 World Cup was probably as huge an upset. Another celebrated World Cup victory was enjoyed by the mighty North Koreans who beat Italy 1-0 in 1966, Bob Beamon's 1968 Gold medal in the long jump at the Mexico Olympics (beat the old world record by more than a foot) - or how's about Randolph Turpin defeating the mighty Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951?

 

[fishyguy]

Bang are a team of experienced professional cricketers (not very good ones granted) and are due to perform at a high level for at least 1 game sooner or later.

Actually I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you on that one.

BD are probably the least experienced side.

Maybe you didn't know but that 100 from Shahrier Nafees was his first first class hundred as well. Most of the guys are from the under 19 squad

Their average age is around 25 compared to Australias 33 and god knows how many test caps.

"not very good ones"....well only time will tell.

 

[luckyeddie]

The Bangladesh side have a total of 490 first-class matches between them - that's less than just Hayden and Martyn together.

I wouldn't describe Bangladesh as experienced by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Goughy]

The Bangladesh side have a total of 490 first-class matches between them - that's less than just Hayden and Martyn together.

I wouldn't describe Bangladesh as experienced by any stretch of the imagination.

I knew using that word would cause problems.

It was meant in terms of them being a Test nation with a number of top quality games behind them (FTP has given them that at least), as well as U19 WCs, touring around the world in different conditions etc, rather than an Associate Member who has the butcher taking 4wkts and a baker scoring 39*.

 

[aussie]

Uhh 10 years ?
McGrath has barely been playing international cricket for 10 years and i would like to remind you that circa 1996, Wasim, Ambrose and Donald were higher in the pecking order than McGrath.
McGrath genuinely staked a claim around 98/99 as far as i am concerned.

i'd say about 97/98 after his superb bowling in the 97 ashes.

 

[C_C]

Btw, even IF the bangladeshis win here, it will probably not go down as the biggest upset in cricketing history.
For one, Kenya ( a non Test nation) beating the WI in 1996 world cups was one of the major upsets...for two, the greatest upset, IIRC, was Ireland beating the impregnable West Indies....IRELAND!

 

[tooextracool]

i must say that if australia dont manage to get within 150 of bangladesh this game is as good as lost given how hard its going to be to bat on the last few days. the ball has really been turning from day 1, so Australia can only blame themselves if they do lose.

 

[aussie]

It's amazing that a team has absolutely dominated the world for several years has a couple of bad days and some people can't come to terms with it at all. As I said before, you certainly could not be a West Indies fan (or New Zealand fan, or England fan, or Pakistan fan, or India fan,............)

ha, come on man dont get all technical with me, so what if Australia have been the big boys over the last decade the this is bloody Bangladesh, they have absolutely outplayed Australia in this match, geez, dont care how good your team is i'm sure most supporters would be very annoyed if Bangladesh had done this to there team.

 

[Blaze]

Btw, even IF the bangladeshis win here, it will probably not go down as the biggest upset in cricketing history.
For one, Kenya ( a non Test nation) beating the WI in 1996 world cups was one of the major upsets...for two, the greatest upset, IIRC, was Ireland beating the impregnable West Indies....IRELAND!

Yeah but you have to take into account that, if Bangladesh win, they will have done so in a Test match which is a far greater achievement.

 

[aussie]

Are you really accusing your belovered homeboys of throwing a match? You'd prefer to think they were rotten cheats with no morals than Bangladesh had favourable conditions and took full advantage of them.

really i wasn't serious..

 

[tooextracool]

Btw, even IF the bangladeshis win here, it will probably not go down as the biggest upset in cricketing history.
For one, Kenya ( a non Test nation) beating the WI in 1996 world cups was one of the major upsets...for two, the greatest upset, IIRC, was Ireland beating the impregnable West Indies....IRELAND!

i dont see how OD's have relevance when compared with tests. its generally far harder to compete with a team over 4-5 days(especially when you get 2 cracks at each discipline) than it is to do so in 1 day. As such tour games barely mean much because not many teams are going to put in their best effort, not to mention that that was also an OD.

 

[C_C]

Yeah but you have to take into account that, if Bangladesh win, they will have done so in a Test match which is a far greater achievement.

I dunno about that.
I frankly would give the current Zimbabwe team a better chance to beat OZ in 5 day contest than a team like Mongolia beating one of the 'big boyz' in ODIs.....
we'r talking about Ireland beating WI here...i cant remember if it was during the Lloyd-Viv era or Sobers-Kanhai era, but either way, they beat a team that was at worst #2 in the world at that time...also, i cant remember if the Irish beat WI in an ODI game or a 3-day encounter.
In anycase, a team comprising of part time players beating one of the best teams in alltime stakes is just nuts.

 

[tooextracool]

i'd say about 97/98 after his superb bowling in the 97 ashes.

i dont think anyone in their right minds could have put mcgrath ahead of ambrose or donald(both of whom were probably near the best) because of 1 good series.