Cocky Aussie cricket fans should join the Tigers' roar

By Geoff Lemon / Expert

There is a casual arrogance native to many Australian cricket fans. Ours is the most worthy side in the world, we think; our absence from the top an anomaly to be ironed out. Other cricketing nations are regarded with disdain.

India’s achievements don’t count because they can’t win in Australia (and never mind the fact that we can’t win over there).

West Indies are a twitching corpse, which those who remember the 70s and 80s still quite enjoy giving the odd sly kick.

Sri Lanka are never rated, despite making three of the last five World Cup finals. England might have beaten us once or twice lately, but nothing can wipe away the memory of Mike Atherton. Anyway, we all know they’ll implode pretty soon because they got beaten by Pakistan.

Pakistan, by the way, are a bunch of cheats. South Africa a pack of chokers. New Zealand don’t deserve a Shield side. (What happens in Hobart…)

And then there are Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, who naturally enough don’t count at all; their only use a means of discrediting the records of subcontinental players who have the temerity to be deemed rather good.

Bangladesh in particular have become a byword for cricketing incompetence – promoted too soon, never able to compete. The only references in Australia’s press are patronising or dismissive.

Ironically, though, the cliché tells us that Australians are supposed to support the underdog. I consider it our patriotic duty to get behind the Desh. And there is a lot to like about this side; a lot to relish in their progress.

Admittedly Bangladesh have historically been… well… a bit crap at international cricket. There were the endless collapses. The World Cup losses to the Aleutian Islands. Ian Bell’s average. The Jason Gillespie double hundred. (Lest we forget.)

Yet something has been happening in the last few days that – utterly unsurprisingly – has received no Australian attention at all.

Since March 11, Bangladesh have beaten the World Cup champions India, beaten the World Cup finalists Sri Lanka, and very nearly beaten the world’s current form side Pakistan. The result is that today, they’ll contest the final of the Asia Cup – something nobody would have predicted only a couple of weeks ago.

Even winning consecutive matches is something that has been rare for the Bangladesh national team. Winning consecutive matches against separate top-flight teams has never happened before. Hitting a stretch – however brief – of competitive form and confidence has given a new look to this vibrant side.

The results have not been gifted to them. After Pakistan’s openers piled on 135, Bangladesh applied the brakes and prised out 7/63. Only a late counterattack by Pakistan’s tail dragged the total up to 262.

In the chase, Bangladesh were 5/224, needing 39 from 40 balls, and should have won. It took brilliant spells from the world’s best spinner, Saeed Ajmal, and one of its best exponents of death-bowling, Umar Gul, to derail the chase.

The crucial thing, though, is that Bangladesh didn’t let this deflate them. After conceding 289 against India, they shrugged off a slow start to coolly chase it down in the last over. After strangling Sri Lanka out for 232, they wore a rain delay which cost them 10 overs and only wiped 20 runs off the chase, as well as spicing up the pitch for Sri Lanka’s pace attack. No problem. They ticked off 212 with three overs to spare.

Nor can these results be attributed to jaded teams. Two days after that loss, India monstered a chase of 330 to beat Pakistan in 48 overs. Sri Lanka were the form side of the Australian tri-series, though they managed to lose the finals. Bangladesh earned their wins.

Of course this doesn’t mean Bangladesh have suddenly become a first-rate team. It’s a high point in a graph that will rise and dip, but in the long term is on a gradual ascent. When Tamim Iqbal smashed consecutive Test centuries in England in 2010, it didn’t mean he could then do it every match. Predictably enough, he had a subsequent dip in form, but has now regained his upward arc.

Indeed, Tamim has been a big part of Bangladesh’s success in this tournament, with half centuries in all three matches, and has demonstrated a developing adaptability and complexity in his own game that mirrors that of the team.

Known previously as a see-ball hit-ball impulse player, he instead knuckled down for responsible innings of 64 from 89 balls against Pakistan, and 70 from 99 against India. Against Sri Lanka, where the reduced overs needed a positive start, he biffed 59 from 57.

Top-class all-rounder Shakib al-Hasan has been the other key, with 64, 49, and 56 to go with his 30 tidy overs and four wickets. But the real key is that these two are not doing it alone.

Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Jahurul Islam, and captain-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim have all contributed 30s, 40s, and 50s with the bat. Veteran seamer Mashrafe Mortaza has returned from injury to stunning effect, while Abur Razzak makes a specialty of 10 overs, 2/40.

In Bangladesh’s early years in international cricket, there were occasional high points. There was Aminul Islam’s century in his nation’s debut Test. There was a 16-year-old Mohammad Ashraful’s century on debut. There was Ashraful’s 2004 ton against India, which inspired one of my favourite cricketing paragraphs from Rahul Bhatia.

“I felt robbed when Mohammad Ashraful walked away, head bowed… The show had ended halfway, and I wanted my money back. This kid had scored 158 in a few hours, made decent bowlers look really bad, and played as if he’d come out to set things right for Bangladeshi cricket all by himself.

“He hooked, pulled, jived, boogied, nearly killed spectators, and, to top everything, went at the follow-on mark like an enraged bull. Each time you thought it couldn’t possibly get any better, Ashraful would not only make it better, he’d also give you free ice-cream. I think the word for an innings like this is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

In the overall picture, these bright moments were anomalous. But in more recent years, the bright spots have been markers of a slow and steady upward trend in Bangladeshi cricket.

While this may be parochial, for mine the shift dates back to their defeat of Australia in Cardiff in 2005, on the back of another Ashraful hundred.

It was a win against the best side of the time in totally unfamiliar conditions, and with that, a high-water mark was set. Bangladesh had proved it could be done. It was just a matter of how to keep doing it.

Jamie Siddons’ tenure as coach from 2007 helped take great strides in professionalising the team’s outlook, as did the emergence of the tenacious and thoroughly admirable Shakib.

As captain, he often took the team on his young shoulders, leading with bat and ball while taking every result personally. Having passed the captaincy on, that burden has lightened, and he is free to be his team’s champion without also being its strategist. No man should have to be both Achilles and Odysseus.

Around Shakib, though, a core of modest Myrmidons is assembling. Where the Pakistan collapse belonged to the Bangladesh of old, the India riposte showed a refusal to regress. Bangladesh do not expect to win, but they now truly believe they can.

Yes, the Asia Cup is a big deal to them. Skipper Mushfiqur described it as “the most incredible day in our cricketing history.” But he doesn’t think it’s an accident.

“When you reach the finals of a tournament with three top teams, and you win twice and play pretty consistently, I don’t think it’s an upset. It was a well-planned and well-executed progress.”

These players have pride too. According to Tamim, when Geoff Boycott pronounced that Bangladesh should be ejected from Test cricket, “I felt very bad and could not sleep until 1am. It made me determined to do something to show him in the field.

“They are the senior cricketers whom we respect. We expect them to respect us as well. We are a developing team and we really deserve some support.”

The next day, at Lord’s, Tamim crashed 103 from 100 balls. One more blip on the graph, one more hopeful step. The results against India and Sri Lanka are another, and another. Contesting the final is yet one more. And most important of all is the spirit in which they have got there.

Whether or not they win today doesn’t matter. There is still a whole lot to like about Bangladesh.

Perhaps it’s time we started to give them a bit of respect.

Follow Geoff on Twitter: @GeoffLemonSport

The Crowd Says:

2012-04-06T08:45:32+00:00

Lolly

Guest


Ian, I just looked up the last 2 years for Ireland. England, SA and Australia have played one ODI each against Ireland, and the West Indies and Bangladesh have played series of 3 matches against them, but they play them each year seemingly. Australia will be playing one ODI against Ireland when they go to the jamodi series in England in July. I chose Ireland as they seem to get matches from test playing nations more than the other Associates. What annoys me more than Aussies not playing Associates - not many of the top 4 test playing nations do play Associates very often, and no that's not right but there it is - is that they won't even play the lowest-ranked test playing nations much. It's such a gutless and '**** you' way to run a sport. Countries picking and choosing their schedules in the way they do. Timmuh, I'd love to see Associates nation's touring and playing first class games. But then, in some ways, I prefer first class cricket to the top level. They are properly fixtured competitions with real seasons and end results, if you get my meaning.

2012-04-04T13:17:46+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


Timmuh, Pretty much. Most people who claim to be cricket fans arent - they are fans of a particular cricket side, and they only want to see that side play "the good sides" Its depressed the crap out of me when I see the same attitude from Bangladesh fans, saying they dont want the tigers to play Afghanistan, Ireland etc.

2012-04-04T02:34:00+00:00

Timmuh

Roar Guru


Townsville, Cairns, and something can probably be done with Darwin. The AFL only use it a couple of times a year and the NT Thunder play a lot of their NEAFL home games in Alice Springs. The trouble is Nine pulled out because the games didn't rate. Personally, I'd like to see seven home Tests each summer; with a 5-2 or 4-3 split and the 7th test rotating through Newcastle, Canberra, Gold Coast. That would allow a 2 Test series at least against the teams that currently we never see here, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, etc. With Associtaes, there needs to be more structure in place. Have some leading Associates/Affiliates tour states, counties, etc. (eg One year Ireland could tour Queensland for a couple of ListA games and fist class game, then finish off with a first class game against AustraliaA, the next year they might host Victoria and tour South African provinces. Afghanistan, Scotland, etc could do similar.) Sure, they might get belted once or twice. But they might start being cometitive on a regular basis. If they can be competitiv against FC sides over four days regularly, they can be competitive against the lower ranked Test nations regularly as well - and gain Test status, provided the domestic structures are in place. It takes a lot of money from the big nations (India, England, Australia) to do that type of thing though, so it is highly unlikely to happen.

2012-04-01T23:19:12+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


Lolly - Australia play Associates ? Thats news to me. Oh, and as far as playing in Northern Australia's dry season goes, the AFL has Darwin's main ground booked in the winter these days, but you can probably get Townsville.

2012-04-01T22:46:19+00:00

lolly

Guest


Why just one test? That's the attitude that Ian and Russ are talking about right there. They are a full member but the Aussies treat them little better than an associate.

2012-03-23T02:34:40+00:00

Don Corleone

Guest


Give the Bangers either a single test in Hobart during an Ashes year...or a mid-winter test or some T20s or ODIs in Darwin during winter...why not? Footy keeps encroaching on cricket season. Then again, why not include an associate in a tri-series. I'm sure fans would be interested to see some new blood like Iresland, Netherlands or Canda. Unfortunately cricket has always been run like a cartel and insular, self-serving attitudes prevail. I've been keeping a eye on the World T20 qualifier....it's great to see Afghanistan, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Uganda and the USA battling it out in a cricket contest. Still, they are competing for only 2 places...why not 4 or 6 which would ensure that there would be a truly world event where contiental Europe (Netherlands) and North America (Canada) would likely have representation rather than the usual Afro-Asia-Oceania + England event. Cricket can become the true global bat/ball sport if it pulls it's finger out and shares the love a bit more.

2012-03-23T00:21:50+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


Lets take cricket's three developing sides of the last twenty years - Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. All of them are remarkably close to a country that Australia regularly tours. All of them have regular contact with Australia by air, and a fair few companies that operate in both. Vaas, I'll ask you - over the last fifteen years, whats Australia's record against Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands ?

2012-03-22T23:42:53+00:00

Russ

Guest


Vas, I'll happily level that charge at all the ICC full members. They have always put immediate profit in front of the wider interests of the game. The difference with Australia is that they have the capacity to do more and don't. As the second most senior nation, and cricket's most successful nation they have a moral responsibility to grow the game; to host and tour nations whatever their strength to use their celebrity to promote the game in far corners; to provide leadership on competition scheduling to create the best possible game, not just the most profitable. And they fail in that duty; they've pursued endless games against England and India, refused consistently for decades to play tests against weak teams; allowed their national captain to deride developing nations, and never defended them against the Australian press corp; put forward programs to make cricket more, not less exclusive. It ought to be an embarrassment to cricket that they've expanded to only 10 full members in the hundred years since the ICC was formed; and it is a black stain on Australian cricket that as one of the two global leaders for most of that period, they hold responsibility. Australia is also responsible for creating the pernicious idea that a cricket team, even a nation, is judged on its performance against England (generally in England). Whereby if it passes the "Test" it is a proper cricket nation, and otherwise not worth knowing. It distorts perspectives on performance, so that Bangladesh, the 10th best team in the world, no less, is terrible, but "developing". You can't develop a team. Bangladesh is playing well now because they have good players, and because many of those players are approaching their primes. You can develop a playing base, within the limits of your population, to raise the probability that good players will appear, and you can develop your coaching and infrastructure. You can't develop, manufacture or produce good or great players; they just appear. And thus, a team's performance cannot be arbitrarily measured but only relatively; At this particular point in time, Bangladesh are relatively bad compared to Australia, relatively equal to West Indies, relatively good compared to Netherlands, and relatively great compared to Singapore. The idea that their unknown future potential should also be assessed against the largest cricketing powers to justify some special privilege is a relic of colonialism, it has no place in ordering the game.

2012-03-22T20:46:40+00:00

Vas Venkatramani

Guest


Ian, you refer to the fact that if Australian cricket helps someone else, it will be the first time. I'm not going to go into a full-blown dispute, but I would like to ask what you mean by "help". Is "help" the notion that Cricket Australia resources are used to subsidise the fortunes of all other Test teams? No, Australia haven't done that, but nor have any other nation. I can't remember the last time the BCCI helped their pauper brothers in Pakistan to make up for their isolation in international cricket at present. Or is "help" when a country does something for the wider good - something that transcends merely cricket. England did that for Pakistan by giving them home status against us in 2010. But lest you forget, Cricket Australia approached the ICC in early January 2005 about hosting a charity match to help raise funds for the tsunami relief appeal. Cricket Australia flew over all of the players (as the event was not an ICC event) involved from all corners of the world on their bankbook and raised over $6,000,000 in the match alone (not to mention all the proceeds from the sales of the shirts). Australian cricket has its flaws, but that should not provide an excuse to ignore its successes as well. If you want to hold Australian cricket as morally bankrupt in the game of cricket, I level that same charge to all other full ICC members...

2012-03-22T16:16:44+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


Nope. Nazmuddin did his job, which was staying in while Tanim scored the runs. It was the 19 run last over by Shahadat - he simply isnt a death bowler, and a slow bowler (Hossain, Riyad) was a better option. That said, the stuffing around in the middle overs didnt help *shrug* thats cricket. This isnt even vaguely close to one of the bad losses for my Tigers. It'll hurt, but they'll get stronger.

AUTHOR

2012-03-22T16:14:51+00:00

Geoff Lemon

Expert


Let's not forget the rehabilitation of Pakistan, who have gone from their lowest lows last year to start playing dominant cricket since.

AUTHOR

2012-03-22T16:13:18+00:00

Geoff Lemon

Expert


Nazimuddin: 16 from 52 Nasir Hossain: 28 from 63 Game won and lost right there.

2012-03-22T16:11:39+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


And Sharapova misses it. Pakistan win by two runs. Good show chaps, darn good game of cricket. Well played to both sides.

AUTHOR

2012-03-22T16:11:17+00:00

Geoff Lemon

Expert


No dice.

AUTHOR

2012-03-22T16:09:21+00:00

Geoff Lemon

Expert


Three runs from an overthrow made it 4 needed from 2 balls, but now Razzak has been bowled from the second-last ball. The No. 10 is going to come in and have one ball to hit a boundary to win. 3 runs to tie.

2012-03-22T16:08:58+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


Razzak's out. Bowled Cheema. One ball left, a four or a six wins it, three runs ties, anything else but a no-ball or a wide loses.

2012-03-22T16:07:49+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


Run, leg bye, dot ball, three. Two to go, four wins it. Razzak on strike

2012-03-22T16:04:23+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


SIngle off the first. 8 off 5. Razzak is facing, Cheema bowling.

2012-03-22T16:01:21+00:00

Ian Whitchurch

Guest


Nine off the last. Riyad to face. This is a cracker of a game of cricket.

AUTHOR

2012-03-22T16:01:15+00:00

Geoff Lemon

Expert


They managed 10 from the second-last over, with no boundaries. Well played. Needing 9 from the last!

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