Thread: Masri is out
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Old February 17, 2003, 04:51 PM
deshitrader deshitrader is offline
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Join Date: January 24, 2003
Posts: 157
Default Tonight....

Hello guys---

I hope most people have recovered from the Bdesh-SL shock. I watched the match live. I also taped it and watched selected parts of the tape later. Needless to say, it was a painful experience. Still, if you are a Bangladesh supporter, you are probably quite skilled in coping with such pain by now. I trust, therefore, that most of you have recovered somewhat and are looking forward.

As for the lineup for tonight's game, I hope the selectors will at least make one crucial change--get rid of Hannan. As I said, I watched selected parts of the Bdesh-SL tape over and over again...and there was probably no dismissal more pathetic than that of Hannan.

It is too bad Masri is out. I was hoping for Masri, Manju, & Talha, but it looks like we will get Talha, Manju, and Tapash.

Watching the Bdesh-SL match (the first Bdesh match I've seen in a while on the screen) also made me think a little bit about the long run. Even disregarding the embarassing first over, I felt we were completely outclassed...and the degree by which we were outclassed was no less (and perhaps more) than the degree by which we were generally outclassed in the WC99 matches that I had previously watched on screen. This made me wonder whether repeated exposure to the test teams was the best way to improve our cricket.

I do not know the answer to this question. However, a comment by one of the commentators struck a tone--he said that if a team keeps playing substantially better teams and keeps losing, then pretty soon they forget how to win. For example, when we played Canada, it almost seemed as if we did not know how to win, we were not ready to win. I wonder whether Gordon's suggestion that we instead spend a few years playing test country "A" teams might not have been a better route to follow.

In any case, I think these are real questions that the BCB dons should consider. We do not want our emerging young cricket talent to be demoralized as soon as they are initiated. One can argue that this is essentially what has happened to Ashraful. When a promising 16-18 year old kid encounters success on a world stage and then runs into repeated failure because of a barrage of previously unfamiliar superior opposition, his belief in himself can be shattered. After all, we are talking about a 16-18 year old kid!

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