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F Waliullah
What happened? One match Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field first and restricted the West Indies batsman to just 244 runs for 9 wickets in 50 overs. And then rain comes to the rescue of the shaky Bangladeshi batsman. We all see a glimmer of hope that may be, just may be Bangladesh would be able to get some pride back in the next game.
What actually happens in the next game is that Bangladesh loses the toss, the opposition captain, Pollock of South Africa choses to bowl first. And all on a sudden we see a repeat act by our batsman. After getting bowled out and exposing our batsman's weaknesses scoring 108 runs in 35.1 overs, our fielders, bowlers showed that they were just not the same people on the ground like they were against the West Indies.
This is the second time in the tournament that we lost by 10 wickets. Previously, we lost to South Africa by 10 wickets and broke our record of losing by 9 wickets countless number of times earlier. After the good bowling and fielding performance against West Indies, the best that we could have done was to take at least one wicket if not two.
So, just what is going on? Is this the reason that skipper Khaled Mashud has requested for Akram Khan - a leader in batsmanship? May be to help out the captain in planning what the batsman are going to do on the field against different oppositions? Because according to Australian Jeff Thompson, there was no planning whatsover when Bangladesh team went into bat today after losing the toss and were put in by South Africa.
I just wonder how that would help the batsman, since according to Australian wicket keeper Ian Healy, when we are stuck for 3 to 4 balls, our batsman try to play an expensive shot and get out. And when the opposition batsman are trying to score at a better than run a ball like Gibbs and Kirsten were doing today - on their way to score 109 runs in 12 overs or so, the bowlers, the captain, the fielders - they all panic and thus give more chances to the batsman for playing shots.
The way that our players just showed no spirit, no determination at all proved that we would be better off if rain comes in the next two matches of Bangladesh against New Zealand and also against Kenya and spoils the game of cricket. Because we just cannot continue on losing this way.
For the record, 108 runs scored today against South Africa in the 2003 world cup is the lowest score for Bangladesh in any world cup match.
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