Almost there or still a long way to go
Harsha Bhogle writes on the almost-dramatic Bangladesh-Australia test in The Indian Express:
Australia seemed to be in a trance. At most times they make things happen, here in Fatullah, exhausted and with their minds back home, they allowed themselves to believe that things would happen. It is one of the great realities that sport teaches us: if you just turn up you get a kick up your backside… So, a Test match that we believed would end in three days went to five; a side that we thought would turn up to be trampled upon did the dancing for a while and the world champions spent a couple of sleepless nights against the minnows. It was beautiful while it lasted.
A few years ago, Inzamam-ul-Haq denied Bangladesh a test victory. It was Ricky Ponting this time. Or do they have themselves to blame rather than any external factor? Bangladesh have made a huge leap. However, how big a leap is still needed to be taken?
Also, how and when will the bigger leap take place? We will have to wait and watch.
Tags: Australian Cricket, Bangladesh Cricket.
April 14th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Finale at Fatullah : Cricket with Faith and Confidence
- Nizamuddin Mahmood Selim
Fatullah is a far cry from Sophia Gardens. But the Cricket that Bangladesh had played at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff in an ODI on 18th June 2005 and the Test that they have played at Fatullah in Narayanganj from 9th April to 13th April 2006 apparently tends to carry the same tone and tenor in its bravado and belligerence. And, that too against the all-winning and all-conquering Australians!
Fatullah, in Naraynaganj, Bangladesh, saw between 9th to 13th April 2006 Bangladesh take on Australia in a 5-day Test. The result, with twists and turns in between, eventually saw Australia – the World Champions – take the game away from the jaws of defeat to victory over Bangladesh on the last day. It was a workman-like two innings of grit and determination from Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting – Captain and Vice Captain – that saw Australia through, but not the cake-walk or walk-over that many had expected of mighty Goliath over the minnows of the Cricketing world!
The application that Bangladeshi Cricketers showed in Fatullah seems to suggest that Sophia Gardens wasn’t perhaps all of a flash-in-the-pan victory, after all! One is however constantly confronted with the inconsistency of a streak of defeats peppered with scanty wins that has been dogging Bangladesh’s Cricket team for umpteenth years now, and which has understandably been provoking denigrating remarks on its Test status from various quarters from time to time.
In fact, even Australian Captain Ricky Ponting had also been persuaded to the same doubtful notion about Bangladesh’s cricketing ability for meriting Test status not very long ago, though he was quick to temper his past remarks with a prudent prognosis on Bangladesh’s prospects on arrival in Dhaka, if not for assuaging the dented sentiments of the hosts, but albeit for recognition of Bangladesh’s recent streak of wins, particularly over Kenya, a long-time parenthetical companion of Bangladesh in Cricketing standards with whom Bangladesh has now achieved a difference with day-lights in between.
What, then, has made the difference for Bangladesh to perform as it has been doing for some time now? As Bangladesh’s Australian Coach Dav Whatmore would perhaps be prone to saying with understandable aplomb, “It’s faith and confidence, Old Chap”. Whatmore has diligently been articulating on the aspect of faith and confidence for quite some time now, insisting in the same breath that Bangladesh wasn’t wanting in talent though. Take, for instance, the cases of Shahriar Nafis, Habibul Bashar, Aftab Ahmed, Ashraful, Mashrafi-bin-Mortuza, Rafique, Razin Saleh, Khaled Masud, Shahriar Hussain, Enamul Jr., et al, all arguably having flashes and sparks of talent and brilliance, but bereft of consistency and application that is plausibly derived from faith and confidence.
Faith and Fatullah do indeed appear to have become handy handmaidens for Bangladesh’s perceived success on the Cricket field there. While Sophia Gardens sizzled with the sheer delight of a serenading spirit of youthful exuberance, Fatullah does not appear to have been a fever pitch of frenzied and frenetic fervour. Fatullah rather seems to convey a coming-of-age for Bangladesh’s Cricket, - brimming with faith, confidence and dogged determination, but, regrettably, as the second inning conveyed, lacking the maturity that comes with age.
All things said and done, Bangladesh’s Cricket team wasn’t without blemish though, their second inning once again proving their Achilles’ heel! Five second inning wicket falling for a paltry 17 runs, and the whole of the second inning lasting a mere 50 overs!
But, the redeeming aspect of the Lilliputs putting Gulliver on the mat, little Bangladesh pitted against the mighty Goliath that the Australian Cricket team is, and the minnows of Cricket against mammoth Australia – all had the makings of a fairy tale in the first two days before Australia started showing their fangs and true colours of a wolf in sheep’s clothing on 11th and 12th April 2006. The mettle and character of the World Champions finally prevailed and Australia came out unscathed, though a lot of toil and sweat had to be shed by Australia to retain their pride and honour!
While the Cricketing world likely savoured the turnaround of a dream-come-true Zeus coming down to earth at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens, or even perhaps equated this event of Australia’s coup de grace in the hands of Bangladesh with Adam’s Paradise Lost, Fatullah will likely go down in history of Cricket as a new beginning for the minnows of Cricket vying for a piece of the cake at the top of the Cricketing ladder!
Cricketing pundits in the commentary box have also ascribed this faith-gelling fiesta at Fatullah to a youthful team bonding together, not with barmy bravado, but boiling over with confidence in their capabilities. Confidence has done the trick for Bangladesh’s Cricket team, and detractors and doubters have hopefully been put in their place.
If the finale at Fatullah is the beginning of the end for Bangladesh, it is likewise the end of the beginning for those who had doubted in Bangladesh’s Test playing capabilities. Confident Cricket has at last caught up with Bangladesh’s Cricket team. But let Fatullah not be the last hurrah! Let Fatullah not be the last frontier for Bangladesh.
Nizamuddin Mahmood Selim
House No. 31, Road No. 1
Hill View R/A, 571 Nasirabad
Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Tel.: 031-652061 (Res.). 031-714207/08 (Office)
Fax: 031-710001
Mobile: 01713 120 821
E-mail: nizammselim@hotmail.com; nizammselim@yahoo.com
April 14th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Comparisons between Fatullah and Sophia Gardens: Angshu touched on it as well (to which I pointed out a few days ago here: http://www.sportolysis.com/2006/04/10/go-bangladesh/
Fatullah is not the last frontier for Bangladesh - still a long way to go..