***Official*** Bangladesh in England

[superkingdave]

Rahim scoring runs again, 147-5

 

[crickmate]

Yeah, 57 of 90 balls so far, now selectors have to pick him but they cannot drop Khaled Mashud either. So I guess, both keeper will play at lords. Mushfiqur will play as specialist batsman. Whatmore gave a hint yesterday to telegraph:

Asked if their 16-year-old prodigy Mushfiqur Rahim had a chance of playing as a specialist batsman, although he came as reserve wicketkeeper, Whatmore replied: ''Why not?''

Whatmore had not seen Rahim, a Bangladesh under-19 captain, before the tour and he was not due to have a bat when the tourists netted briefly at Lord's after arrival. But when he saw the diminutive Rahim face a few throw-downs, he got him into the nets and the coach's eyes lit up. Compact class.

Rahim was the tourists' only batsman not to have a nightmare in the innings defeat by Sussex. ''He battled it out very nicely in the first innings [Rahim lasted for 140 minutes] and in the second innings he made 60-odd with wickets tumbling at the other end,'' said Whatmore.

At Northampton yesterday Rahim was the last one out of the indoor nets, finishing off with powerful reverse-pulls against the left-arm spinners. There have been other wicketkeeping prodigies in recent years such as Parthiv Patel of India and Tatenda Taibu of Zimbabwe, but Rahim could prove a better batsman than either.

Details: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2005/05/22/scban222.xml

 

[superkingdave]

Got his century, well done to the lad

 

[chaminda_00]

It seems that they have the top six settled on the back of Rahim form:
Omar, Nafis, Bashar, Ashraful, Rajin, Rahim, then Khaled, Rafique

The only major problem seems the rest of the bowlers, Haque jnr bowled ok so far on the tour so you would think he would get in. But the problem seems their pace attack, neither Mashrafe Mortaza or Tapash Baisya have hit form. I would be surprised if they went in with Shahadat Hossain and Anwar Hossain Monir.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

It seems that they have the top six settled on the back of Rahim form:
Omar, Nafis, Bashar, Ashraful, Rajin, Rahim, then Khaled, Rafique

The only major problem seems the rest of the bowlers, Haque jnr bowled ok so far on the tour so you would think he would get in. But the problem seems their pace attack, neither Mashrafe Mortaza or Tapash Baisya have hit form. I would be surprised if they went in with Shahadat Hossain and Anwar Hossain Monir.

I can't see them dropping Mortaza - he's the only one I'd trust taking wickets regularly against good opposition. Anwar conceded buckets against Northants - possibly they'd take Shahadat Hossain and go with three seamers + Rafique.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

I don't think they'd want to drop Enamul Haq jr for the Tests - so I think it'll be two spinners.

 

[Nate]

It`ll be Mortaza, Baisya, Rafique and Junior.

 

[James90]

Although I think it's too early throw Mushfiqur Rahim in the deep end I'm pretty sure they will. Either Aftab or Rajin will miss out.

I really doubt they will play two spinners, having said that Rafique is a must so Enam will have to sit out and pave the way for Shahadat to make his test debut.

 

[Nate]

I really doubt they will play two spinners...

Why? Especially considering Enam`s form against England!!

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Two spinners would seem sensible, given what is likely to be a dead flat wicket. Perhaps Enamul will miss out for the second test in favour of a third seamer.

 

[James90]

The best bowling lineup is obviously Rafique, Mashrafe, Tapash, Enamul. However the thinking was however that you just couldn't go into a test in England in the early summer with just two seamers.

Now I'm starting to change my thinking, Shahadat will get carted anyway, the pitch at Lords isn't as bad as I thought it was and Aftab's medium pacers will be useful in the conditions.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Personally I can see both sides of the seamer/spinner argument. Enamul is clearly a much better bowler than Shahadat, but there is nothing in the Lord's track for anyone at this time of year - and I think that Shahadat's extra pace (especially given the current climatic [wind, rain, cloud, t-storm] conditions) may produce a little more by way of wickets than Enamul's essentially slow medium. Okay, maybe it'll be based on mass shock on the part of the English batsmen if Shahadat bowls a good ball, but hey...

Roll on Thursday - and not just because I've a French exam on Wednesday.

 

[superkingdave]

yep, looking forward to it, thanks to the queen having a birthday,the wonders of flexitime and all those complete bankers, i have thursday to monday off, though i'm not really expecting it to last till monday.

Forecast for Thursday is good, friday and saturday showery

 

[superkingdave]

actually now the forecast is showing cloudy for thursday, and partly cloudy sat sun, maybe a good toss to win and insert em

 

[superkingdave]

oh and i see Ladbrokes have halved the odds on a Bangladesh win since Batty got called up as cover.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

oh and i see Ladbrokes have halved the odds on a Bangladesh win since Batty got called up as cover.

From 1000-1 to 500-1?

I could understand the reasoning behind halving the odds of a draw if Batty plays - I don't think he's as likely as Giles to get wickets on a flat track, and spinners could potentially have a lot of bowling to do if it's as flat as reports suggests - but I can not see Bangladesh taking 20 wickets unless the entire English batting line-up contracts legionaries' disease ten minutes into the game.

 

[marc71178]

yep, looking forward to it, thanks to the queen having a birthday,the wonders of flexitime and all those complete bankers, i have thursday to monday off, though i'm not really expecting it to last till monday.

Tomorrow is my last day in the office till 15th June (study leave)

Unfortunately I'm on a course Wednesday to Friday.

 

[lord_of_darkness]

Another 27 mins to start !

 

[Neil Pickup]

Err.. what?

 

[a massive zebra]

Another 27 mins to start !

No mate, 2169 minutes until the start.