Atapattu defends Bangladesh's Test status

[loyalfan]

September 14, 2005

Marvan Atapattu, the Sri Lankan captain, refused to join calls for Bangladesh to be stripped of Test status despite the thrashing his team handed out at Colombo."True, it was a two-and-a-half-day match, but we do not want to insult the opposition and deprive them of competing with the big boys," Atapattu said. Bangladesh were beaten by an innings and 96 runs in the opening Test of the two-match series.

Trailing by 182 runs, Bangladesh were shot out for 86, their lowest-ever total, in the second innings to suffer their 34th defeat in 39 matches since gaining Test status in 2000. The loss was their 23rd by an innings margin. Bangladesh's previous lowest total was 87 against the West Indies at Dhaka in 2002. They have won just one Test, against a depleted Zimbabwean side at home early this year.

Atapattu said Bangladesh, the lowest-ranked team in international cricket, needed to be tolerated and allowed to play against the best sides. "We have also suffered similar defeats in our early years," Atapattu said. Sri Lanka were granted Test status in 1981 but gradually forged into a powerful Test side and won the one-day World Cup 1996.

"We honestly did not think the win would come so easily after the way they batted and reached 155 for two after lunch on the first day. Then, one bad shot changed everything and allowed us to come back," Atapattu said. He was referring to the Bangladeshi collapse in the first innings following an irresponsible shot by Mohammad Ashraful, who was caught in the deep while attempting a big hit off spinner Rangana Herath. Bangladesh lost their last eight wickets for 33 runs to slump to 188 all out.

Muttiah Muralitharan triggered the Bangladesh collapse in the second innings, finishing with 6-18 off 10.4 overs. "It was a spinner-friendly track," Muralitharan said after his 47th haul of five or more wickets in an innings in 94 Tests. "The pitch was two paced, with some deliveries keeping low. There was also plenty of spin and bounce. I did not bowl particularly well in the first innings, but got my rhythm back in the second."

Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh's coach, was disappointed with his team's batting performance on the third morning which saw the tourists lose seven wickets for 50 runs in less than 19 overs after resuming at 36-3. "I am upset with the lack of resistance," he said. "Sri Lanka were going to win the match and there is no question about that. I am disappointed that we did not fight hard to delay the inevitable."

Edited on, September 14, 2005, 5:51 PM GMT, by reverse_swing.
Reason: mod.action: Thread moved to Bangladesh Cricket.

[Tigers_eye]

That shows the class and patience. Even I have reservation on our boys performance. May be two tier system is good. Bangladesh, Zim, India, West Indies, Kenya, and the Scots.

[prasad]

india???????oh plzzzzzzz.my pot bellied tummy is full and my pants r tight.simply put...........not in a position to laugh

[mhferdaus]

Dude it seems some people do not want the game of cricket to be distributed to the world, I think they would like to go back playing tests only where they would bore someone to death and want to make him attack their countries :, ( eangland australia match, hitler seen one match and felt disgust about test match and banned cricket in his nation ).

[Padosan]

hahahah well said prasad, obviously Cats_eye has no idea of what he is talking about.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally posted by Padosan
hahahah well said prasad, obviously Cats_eye has no idea of what he is talking about.

I guess I don't.

Aus or Ind?
Eng or Ind?
SL or Ind?
SA or Ind?
NZ or Ind?

-----------------------
Now Pak or Ind? that is a toss up. If we look at the past ind is safe. Pakis go to bottom tier.
but the present form hard to tell.

This is just my humble opinion. And you may not like it and disagree with it. by the way, i would hate that to see it happen, if it happens, hope it doesn't happen. hope Dal mia has enough string to pull to stop that. We are ever debt to Indian board for our test status.

[rohitha]

Atapattu was just being diplomatic I think. Surely you wouldn't expect him to say anything bad about BD would you? In private however, he may have his personal opinion about this.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally posted by rohitha
Atapattu was just being diplomatic I think. Surely you wouldn't expect him to say anything bad about BD would you?

Correct! Captains always has to be diplomatic. Currently we are not good enough to beat a development squad, let alone an "A" team or the national team. bowling - missing our two pacers hurt did alright as we had a debut one rusel. batting - pathetic. our avg is 200+ and we manage 132. can't explain what happened. were steady at 155/2 at one point.

[Padosan]

well said rohitha. Atappatu is not really aggressive at the media and he is a very level headed guy, i have read his interviews and comments, as diplomatic as you can get. Same as his batting style

Cats_eye, good observation. but you are being too harsh buddy, give'em a break. India is just going through a rough patch now, they will come up, just a series or two will do it. The same Indians were No.2 just 2 years before and unfortunately the team just fell apart.

I always believe that class is permanent and form is temporary, Indians dont lack class, they just lack form. The 2nd tier thing wont happen for sure given Dalmiya still got a say in ICC.

But i should agree with "current form" thing you pointed out. I still have doubts that other teams will all do well in India to beat us home. Lets wait for 2 more home series and see what comes out.

cheers !
Padosan

[Tigers_eye]

Out of frustration of our teams futile performance I mentioned the 2nd tier system. I know this type of performance has no room in the test cricket. And it was pure ""hypothetical"". Not attacking india or their performance. but last couple of series they are also performing below Par. They are one of the best in the world at home. they have a very good domestic structure. So there will be no short of talent supply. They will rise in due time (WC07).

Sorry loyalfan for stealing your thread. Hope you have the heart to overlook my short coming.

[BangladeshFan]

attapattu is a gentleman cricketer and as expected he defended bd's test status. but he made an interesting comment
"We honestly did not think the win would come so easily after the way they batted and reached 155 for two after lunch on the first day. Then, one bad shot changed everything and allowed us to come back,"

i ve never seen a captain saying "a bad shot" by opposition batsman letting them win the match. in effect he is actually scolding ashraful for that reckless shot in the 1st inning

Edited on, September 14, 2005, 4:47 PM GMT, by reverse_swing.
Reason: mod.action: Thread merged.

[Fazal]

Originally posted by prasad
india???????oh plzzzzzzz.my pot bellied tummy is full and my pants r tight.simply put...........not in a position to laugh

Then please do not torture youself, go and finish your potty, that may help you a little-bit. Because if we talk about two-tier and split the teams into two equal half: the way India is playing right now, they are not out of the bubble.

[DJ Sahastra]

While Indian team has indeed been pathetic and lousy and (fill in all possible adjectives) in recent times, guys, let not confuse test matches with ODIs.

I doubt if Indian team has done anything bad in Tests in past 2-3 years, recent times included. 2-1 loss to australia is teh only one that comes to my mind. And that ain't bad.

Pakistan did walk away with honors even (1-1) but then again, it was a series dominated by the Indian team whether you look at session by session or through any glasses, finally tally notwithstanding.

Now, ODIs have been a different ballgame. And they are. And i am inclined to believe that even scots are better than Indian in the ODIs.

[rohitha]

To be very very honest there are actually 3 Divisions in Test Cricket today.

Div 1 Australia, England
Div2 South Africa, New Zealand, Pak, Sri Lanka & India
Div3 Bangladesh, Zim

Right now India may be knocking on Div 3 but still they are good enough to be in Div2 ( I think)

The gap between 1 & 2 is big, and the gap between 2 & 3 is massive. 2 is definitely closer to 1 than to 3. This is the reason behind this debate of debate of Test Status !

[BangladeshFan]

take murali out and the home pitches, sl will be very much be on div3. india is actually better than sl and pakistan in test cricket i think.

someone made a comment about scots. scotland is emerging, they may surprise quite a few teams in ODIs or 20-20 in near future.

[abherath]

Originally posted by BangladeshFan
take murali out and the home pitches, sl will be very much be on div3. india is actually better than sl and pakistan in test cricket i think.

someone made a comment about scots. scotland is emerging, they may surprise quite a few teams in ODIs or 20-20 in near future.

All countries play on home and away basis. All teams have stars.

So cannot take Murali and home pitches away.

For example, take Flintoff out of England, Warne out of Australia and those teams would find themselves elsewhere. But can't take them out as they have grown out of the systems of the respective countries.

[cricketboy]

I think in our 6 years of test cricket we lost a lot of season campaigners who were at their old age and probably not in the peak of their career like Aminul Islam and Akram khan. Good players like Minhajul Abedin, a perfect test player was too old. Players like ROkon, Biddut, and Opee mysteriously vanished. Therefore we had to try absolutely new players who will take time to develop. 6 years back we would have thought our team now would be:

Biddut/Opee
Golla
Sumon
Ashraful or newcomer(mind you Ashraful was not in the pool that time)
Rokon
Dujoy
Pilot
........bowling attack

But we now see 4 out of top 6 who are very vey yooung.






Edited on, September 16, 2005, 6:54 AM GMT, by cricketboy.

Edited on, September 16, 2005, 6:54 AM GMT, by cricketboy.

[fwullah]

Lets not see too much into it. This is how all the Sri Lankan captains in the past have not 'underestimated' us in the past or even now; so there goes our chance of a surprise win (or test match draw) in this whole tour.

[rudro]

None but us can defend our test status! If we can show that we are capable of playing test cricket, then we do not need Attapatu's counsel. It is more like asking for kindness instead of respect.

[6alltheway]

Originally posted by rudro
None but us can defend our test status! If we can show that we are capable of playing test cricket, then we do not need Attapatu's counsel. It is more like asking for kindness instead of respect.

true

more anything i think is pateince that we are lacking very much, if you saw the ashes and saw the way england played, its through careful selection of shots and taking your time. bangladesh needs to learn that even if we make 100 runs in over like 80 ot 90 overs, that is much better than maikin 250 runs in 30 overs with 4 or 5 wickets gone. coz test is all bout saving wickets. and technically being sound with the bat coz in that way you know you have a fighting chance near the end.

i know my previous msg was diff for bangladesh pateince is the key. if BD score 200 runs in 2 or 3 days and keep wickets i will be more than pleased. Thier aim should be to aim to bat for as many days as they can, then declare or something.

[Dadababu]

Attapatu does not lose anything by defending BD's test satus.

He can have a few more innings defeats and centuries under his belt by doing this.

Just like some off form Indians gained by playing against Zimbabwe.

BD needs to salvage some prestige by showing some better performance in the field.

[syedmahm]

Surprised to know that still you've HOPE ! Please forget it.

Originally posted by fwullah
Lets not see too much into it. This is how all the Sri Lankan captains in the past have not 'underestimated' us in the past or even now; so there goes our chance of a surprise win (or test match draw) in this whole tour.

Edited on, September 18, 2005, 5:36 AM GMT, by syedmahm.