Sometimes, I wish I could have written out Bangladesh's fate at Lords. Then, they would have gotten 200+ and put England to bat with 20 overs left in the day. England, being recent World T20 Champs would have very much believed that this was possible and set out in an attacking manner. They would have lost a few wickets on the way and resign to playing for a draw, as per English customs.
Alas, I was fast asleep on Day 5 (the match starts at 5am here!) and so Bangladesh recoiled to Steven Finn for the second time. I now find it my moral obligation to dislike Finn. I hope he gets chosen for the Ashes and the Aussies end his career.
No I don't. I hope the Aussies end Graeme Swann's career, who by the way, for the first time in eons, had zero wickets in a test. I knew this would happen the minute he won the ECB player of the year award. But anyway, he can go to hell and Steven Finn can suffer a little for being so good against Bangladesh.
All is not lost however. I think for the first time, Bangladesh impressed millions around the world who doubted their test status. The skeptics are still not full converts but they are getting there. A big part of it is because of the two names that made it to the historical Honours Board at Lords. Shahadat shocked me, but I had no doubt about Tamim's ability to make his country proud. When I look at the names on the lists, I can't help but get ahead of myself and dream of a test team that is feared, the team to beat, be respected and even be the number one team in the world.
Don't laugh at me. They may have crumbled on three days out of five but they are doing something astonishing: fighting as a team...batting as a team. Sure, it's usually one half or the other but it's slowly coming together, just when people had started giving up on them. Plus, have you noticed we have a test team now?
AND, they two of them just made history.
5 comments:
c'mon Ajit Agarkar is on that list.. need I say more?
Bangladesh's batting line-up is improving but I would like to see Mohammadullah bat higher up the order as I think he would do better than Crash and he is wasted at number eight as he has to bat with the tail.
I'm not inclined to laugh, Purna: there is a lovely wistfulness in this, the dawning of real hope, the glimpse that this dream might well be possible.
As with anything, with time and money they can get there, and it is devoutly to be wished that your hope, and that of others like you, (and like me, who just like cricket!) mean that they are given that opportunity. How much time, is, of course, another question, but this is cricket and I don't think we can expect speedy results... there is a whole infrastructure underneath the team that needs to develop as well.
Miss Jane summed it up nicely, and I also think travelling Deshis are improving Deshis. A wicketless Swann is a good Swann. Finn is sacrosanct though.
Cheers,
Wes
A Heart For Losers
Mock, don't mock the Agarkar. He is great.
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