Armchair All-Rounder: Match Analysis, BD vs Aus ODI #3

[RazabQ]

Our pacers made sure we were out of the game first and then our batters batted like they ought to when _setting_ a target. Here's my breakdown of the last ODI of this series.

Australia Innings:

Yes Shane Watson is the story but the greater story is still our RANCID opening bowling. It was embarrassing to watch such poor execution of a one-dimensional strategy and then a perplexing inability to think on one's feet. First things first - IF YOU ARE NOT BOWLING 90MPH OR FASTER DO NOT BOWL HALF TRACKERS! That too on a shirt front. Every over there were at least two balls that even club cricketers would put away. Look I get it, the idea was to bowl full and wide of off stump to a) prevent Shane from mowing it to midwicket b) crashing it through cover point. But when you are not executing the plan properly or, the batsman has started to combat it by moving to off at moment of delivery, then time to move to plan B. To further prove my point, in Mash's 2nd spell he did all the things he SHOULD have done on the first spell. As for Shafiul, well he is fast proving that he can be shell-shocked! In fact he's doing his best to remind us of Tapash Baisya!

Shak and the spinners did well to bring things under control but they were let down by horrendous outcricket and lack of intelligence. And there were too few dot balls. Clark and Hussey were always going to at 6 RPO with minimum risk against one dimensional bowling. Plus there were the mandatory leg stump balls from both Shubho and Razzak.

Many, including the commentators were aghast that Kapali bowled only two overs but that was smart captaincy in my book. In those two overs there at least 2 long hops. Two didn't get hit because they were sliders or googlies and gone wrong and the newness of the bowler meant the batsman didn't know what to do. The other two were to Clark who was in goal-ghor mode and he just got himself to the other end. If Kaps had been persisted with, I can guarantee you there would have been a sky-scraper or two off his bowling.

The decision to bring Mash and Shafi back was the right decision but Shafi basically played himself off the 11 by bowling even more tripe. Mash showed all his nous but he just didn't have the juice to go the distance. In fact given the opening overs, keeping them to just 330ish was impressive on our parts.

Overall meta point: at the end of the day Bangladesh does not have the bowling to survive on flat pitches.

Our pacers are not express and do not generate prodigious reverse swing. Nor are the sufficiently skilled at mixing up their lengths and pace to out-think the batter. And they are not tall enough to get the odd lifter either to prevent the batsman from plonking down their front-foot and hitting through the line.

Our spinners do not impart enough RPMs to make the ball do anything but occasionally skid. Nor do they have sufficient mastery of flight (Shakib is the best of the lot here) to beat batsman in the air. Finally the accuracy is not there either against batsmen who use their feet. So unless the pitch is helpful, we are doomed to 350+ scores from the opponent or 25 over games (if chasing).

BD Innings:
Unlike others I'm NOT impressed with Imrul Kayes's innings. He STILL barely rotated strike. He had countless close calls. Yes he hit some clean strokes, but in between those strokes (many of which had a pre-meditated air about them) he still looked like a batsman just trying to survive. Perhaps that's what we get from IK. He's a trier and if told to go for his shots, he can sometimes pull it off, but in between there will be dot balls galore. Nafees for some reason had his timing desert him. But at least he still was attempting to rotate, play the angles etc. Jury is still out on him.

Shak and Mushy got out trying to be over ambitious. They should, with their talent, have let the game come to them before switching gears. Shak looked fidgety from the first ball.

Riyadh, for my money played his most impressive innings in a while. Again, he lookes woefully incapable of switching gears during the PP overs but at least I saw a man trying to mess with the opponents spinners by either coming down the wicket or sweeping them on both sides of the wicket. He looked busy. I do believe he is making the case for the #4 slot in a much stronger fashion than Mushy.

Our favorite comeback hero looked rusty and nervous, as is to be expected. His naturally sweet timing was not on display but in fairness to him, he came into a weird situation where he was expected to go hard from the get-go. Jury is out on him too.

Overall point:

This was a most depressing series as it showed the vast gulf that exists between us and what a top side needs. I'll go through these with where we are:

1) Explosive openers one of whom produces long innings. We have a fat hare and a snail. Fat hare usually gets himself out or is gassed by the 10th over. Snail will play the long innings but eat up so many balls that it kills any kind of momentum
2) A #3 with the gears to build or accelerate/dominate against slower bowlers. SN has the skills - he needs to do it consistently
3) A middle order that can go at 6 RPO with minimal risk and then accelerate towards the end. Shak occassionally, Mushy occassionally can do this. Riyadh can do the strike rotation but not acceleration.
4) Late order capable of brutality or pinching singles. None. Shafi could but his mind is weak, Mash is scared of pacers.
5) Pacers capable of intimidating opponents and getting breakthroughs consistently. Capable of parsimony. None.
6) Spinners, medium pacers capable of suffocating opponents and picking up wickets thus. Only on helpful pitches where opponents are playing from the crease.
7) Match winning spinners. None
8) Consistent keeping. Sometimes.
9) Wold class fielding and catching. Sometimes. Not enough strong arms to throw in from the deep, not enough speed and athleticism. Not enough fitness.

Finale Note:
I think Jamie did his bit and it is time to try something new. In an ideal world, we'd have Jamie as our Academies batting coach but unfortunately he's not gong to accept that and we don't ave that kind of cash. I wish him well.