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Home > Cricket > Report
Bangladesh 32 losses and still counting
Ashish Magotra |
April 17, 2003 22:33 IST
Bangladesh's record losing streak continued as South Africa beat them by 93 runs in the fifth ODI of the tri-nation TVS Cup on Thursday.
The South African performance was adequate, nothing extraordinary, but it was more than enough to overwhelm the hosts. While the Bangladeshi bowling is pretty decent, their batsmen have yet to come to terms with the rigours of international cricket.
Bangladesh's performances have been so shabby that after a point you feel pity for the team and their millions of followers. Experts cannot understand what is going wrong? Neither can the cricketing world. But, for the moment, they are in a downward spiral.
South Africa skipper Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat, giving his batsmen the opportunity to get some batting practice before Friday's game against India. But their innings began disastrously as they lost opener Herschelle Gibbs for a duck with just five runs on the board, Tapash Baisya doing the damage.
Smith and Jacques Rudoplh, then, did the rebuilding job, playing cautiously before unleashing strokes all around the ground. The batsmen were particularly severe on the two Bangladeshi medium pacers, Baisya and Manjurul Islam, the left-arm pacer who returned after missing a couple of matches due to injury.
The second-wicket pair added a brisk 101 runs before Mehrab Hossain clean bowled Smith. The South Africa captain struck a belligerent 67 off 76 balls, which contained eight boundaries and a mighty six.
Mark Boucher and Boetta Dippenaar failed to survive in the middle for long as the visitors were reduced to 174 for four by the 35th over. Kapali, who bowled well, within his limitations, maintained a good line and length and claimed both these wickets.
Jacques Rudolph, who seemed in fine nick, also perished soon after, with Sanwar Hossain, in a lost cause, claiming the prized wicket. The talented right-hander went for a square cut but only succeeded in giving a simple catch to the wicket keeper, bringing to an end his 113-ball 81, which contained eight boundaries.
McKenzie and Pollock picked up the pace of scoring towards the end as the Bangladeshi bowlers, who did reasonably well to slow down the scoring rate in the middle overs, were expensive in the last three overs.
Pollock was particularly severe on home captain Khaled Mahmud, blasting him for 20 runs in the 48th over. The next over from Baisya yielded 15 runs. The former captain finished with 38 off a mere 20 balls, which was studded with two fours and two sixes, to guide South Africa to 261 for 5 in their allotted 50 overs.
But he wasn't finished for the day. Given the new ball for the first time in the series, Pollock delivered again. Not being the captain seems to have relieved a lot of pressure; he seems to be enjoying his cricket once again. He laughs, has fun with the crowd; in other words, it is the Pollock of old we are seeing once again. It can only augur well for the future if the all-rounder can continue in this manner. He claimed two wickets after Mahkaya Ntini made the initial breakthrough.
Bangladesh were reduced to 29-4 in 12.1 overs and were never in the game thereafter. They played out the overs mainly due a sublime knock by Alok Kapali. The right-hander scored 71 and shared a 55-run partnership with Khaled Mahmud (24) in a lost cause.
Only three Bangladeshi batsmen made it to double figures and one only wonders how long they can survive the mental battering before throwing in the towel. They have already asked the ICC for assistance, but will that be enough?
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