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Delving into a defeat

By Zayd Aimer Khan
This time they truly outdid themselves.
At least five dropped catches, several missed run-
out opportunities and horrendous ground-fielding. At the rate Bangladesh was mis-fiel-ding yesterday, they could have been playing a school eleven and still lose the match.
After their ignominious defeat to Pakistan on Wednesday, most thought that It could not get nay worse. Well, it just did. Bangladesh continued their .defiant consistency in playing outrageously sub-stanaara cricket as they lost to the Sri Lankan A team yesterday.
It was not the defeat, however. that triggers such harsh words, but rather the shameless insistence with which they courted disaster.
It was a classic case of grasping defeat from the brink of eminent victory. Being in the driver's seat at some point during both innings, the hosts voluntarily handed over the leash to their opponents time after time, running a dagger through the hearts of napless spectators.
Defeat to the second eleven of the world champions, regardless of the fact that we had not lost tp them in two previous.enr' counters, is in no way an embarrassment. But what is dis-
heartening is our team's consistent failure to make most of the resources and talent available to them. At least in this tournament so far. they definitely have not played upto their optimum potential, leading to questions asking if they ever will.
Manager Gazi Ashraf Lipu. in his team’s defence, said that at the ICC-level we will not have to face such high-quality opponents. But that is no excuse to play so much below par. And let us remind Lipu that the BCB has. and very proudly at that, declared that Bangladesh is most likely to get one-day status this summer. If we do go on to achieve that ostentatious goal, will the gentleman still venture to make such a feeble excuse?
Coming back to the match. Bangladesh's batting showed some signs of improvement on Wednesday to start with but wilted away as the innings progressed.
Sanwar Hossain, making his debut for Bangladesh, showed both class ana courage in making a laudable half-century. He looked comfortable on the drive and the soft nudges-but seemed to be a little wanting square,of,the. wickeL
Regardless. Sanwar proved the pick of all the batsmen to
have walked to the wicket yesterday. Akram Khan, the skipper. provided some fireworks to add to the total and Athar Ali Khan looked his comfortable self Both were out unfortunately. Athar to an outstanding catch by Ruwan Kalpage off his own bowling.
These three aside, the rest of the outfit was in shambles. Especially towards the end of the innings, the batsmen were not able to capitalise on the momentum provided by Akram and Sanwar.
The dismissals of Javed Omar Belim and Jahangir Alam cannot go without mention. Both went caught at slip to deliveries just outside off-stump. Their consistency at poking good deliveries should by now nave prompted coaches to instruct young cricketers to keep their eyes shut when matching these to batting.
One observation about the batting was the over-cautiousness. especially in the initial stages. The top and middle orders’ watchfulness can be appreciated. but not at the expense of having unnecessarily slow starts that puts pressure on the later batsmen. Perhaps one should keep in mind that a bad ball is a bad bail — be it in the । first over or thejast over—^md-they hdVe tb be pounced oh.
When it came to bowling, the hosts fared bo better than in their previous match. The evidence — the 24 wides conceded. In all fairness. Hasibul Hossain Shanto bowled with greater control than he did on Wednesday and Zakir Hossain proved a better choice to Anisur Rahman by far. But on the whole, the bowling was wayward, biteless [ and mediocre, at best.
Saiful Islam Khan, our most consistent bowler in the international arena in recent years, bowled a total of eleven wides. unforgiveable for a bowler of his experience. Enamul Huq Moni sent down successive long-hops outside leg-stump to a batsman facing his first ball. In general, short balls dominated the scene, despite continual reminders to the bowlers that it is difficult to drive on an artificial turf.
The lack of a specialist off-spinner was again badly felt. Of the spinners, Moni was erratic and Naimur Rahman Duijoy, although bowling well, never looked likely to get a wicket.
As far as fielding was concerned. it was a display of un-savourly incompetence. The team simply needs to be retrained in holding on to simple catches and hitting the stumps more often from close distance.
Actually, yesterday's poor show prompted suggestions that the Bangladesh team go back to camp for some basic training. From what it seems. Gordon Greenidge has his job cut out for him. He may have to go as far back as to teach his team how to cup their hands together or. even, how to grip a ball. If does so immediately, we may still have hopes of making the World Cup. But for now, those dreams Iook a long way ahead.