Road to Semis - is it possible?

[One World]

^This should be Australia, now or never. With schism in team morale Aus of Finch is nowhere near the point where they can topple the world. More likely they would try to bank on individual performance. This can be a sweet memory for Coach Rhodes as he is an English and to gloat on that ancient rivalry.

Get motivated from below insulting comments,

"I am sitting in a cafe in Dhaka hotel at the conclusion of the first Test loss ever to Bangladesh. I am personally embarrassed and take accountability and happy to accept any criticism that comes our way," Howard wrote. "For some of you sitting here in Dhaka you are fully aware of how poor a result this is and you have a material opportunity to address in the next few days.

"Rightly the system is often judged on the outcomes of the national team. As you can imagine there are many questions being asked of us, and I think they are fair. I am reasonably confident that many of the players that have just beaten us would not get a run in any of the state teams.

"To the CA Team Performance - When you go home at the end of the day, does what you do actually make a difference? CA spends over $100m on players' wages and teams, all in the effort of producing great national teams. We have failed, you have failed and I have failed and it is not good enough."

New Book Reveals How Cricket Australia Undermined Bangladesh Players After Loss in Dhaka

[RealSports]

I don't think the team will be thinking about that. At this moment, all they will think about is playing good cricket and enjoying the occasion. They know they have nothing to lose, and can play with freedom. Keep expectations low. But this tournament is very hard to predict, even though India and England are certain to go through.

[Tigers_eye]

@ One World: If we lose to Papua New Guinea in a 5 day match at this point of time, what would be your reaction? How would BC react? For every Congratulations to PNG, there would 1k negative comments on the current BD team.

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
@ One World: If we lose to Papua New Guinea in a 5 day match at this point of time, what would be your reaction? How would BC react? For every Congratulations to PNG, there would 1k negative comments on the current BD team.

With due respect, we were NOT Papua New Guinea and can’t be compared. We have had tasted success at international level before that match.

[Jadukor]

Originally Posted by Miraz
With due respect, we were NOT Papua New Guinea and can’t be compared. We have had tasted success at international level before that match.

Australia is a side that has hardly wanted to play us, invite us or tour us. Not a surprise their image of our team is from the Ashraful, Aftab era. We need to play well against these guys this time.

[Jadukor]

I am more keen to see how the younger cticketers play in the two warmups, especially Soumya.

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
I am more keen to see how the younger cticketers play in the two warmups, especially Soumya.

Warm-ups don't mean anything in terms of results. But yes, it will be important to get some runs and wickets against high quality opponents even if they are only going at 50% intensity.

[cricket_king]

Yeah need to really beat Australia this time round. Gonna be hard though. Great side.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by Jadukor
I am more keen to see how the younger cticketers play in the two warmups, especially Soumya.

I predict they will go gun ho and hit some boundaries and then get out in their 30s or 40s. All four. Soumya, Liton, Mosaddek, and Mithun.

[One World]

Very unlikely

[adamnsu]

Even though it was a practice match, I very much doubt it.

There is not much planning by the batsman, bowling isnt threatening and fielding lapses.

[roman]

Dont think we have what it takes to be in semi. Many players are injured as well. Would be happy if we can beat Sri Lanka, Afg and WI. Any other win/wins will be bonus.

[Tausif]

Sure we can do it. Let's believe lads!

[Tiger Manc]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
vs Afg 4 - 3
Last 5: - W L W L W

vs Aus 1 - 18
Last 5: - L L L L L

vs Eng 4 -16
Last 5: - L L W L W

vs Ind 5 - 30
Last 5: - L L L L W

vs NZ 10 - 24
Last 5: - L L L W W

vs Pak 5 - 31
Last 5: - W W W W L

vs SA 3 -17
Last 5: - L L L W W

vs SL 7 - 36
Last 5: W L L W L

vs WI 14 -21
Last 5: - W W W W L

Managed to win at least 2 out of our last 5 matches against all teams except ind and aus. That's a good stat.

[Tiger Manc]

I'm more concerned with us just winning a match, never mind reaching the semis!

[imtiaz82]

Bangladesh has a strong squad this time around but other teams are also quite balanced.. we may even end up loosing against AFG and WI due to our weakness against wrist spinners and hard hitters. If Amir and Wahab are in song, Pak will be tough also.

[Jadukor]

We need to win the first game against SA. Winning toss batting first and scoring 285-300 would be the way to go imo. SA's middle order doesn't look as strong and we should be able to put them under pressure. The top order of Amla and Quinton and Faf are the real threats. Their bowling is worldclass. The way they restricted England was amazing to see. If they put up more than 280.. i dont think we can chase it down against Rabada Tahir and co. If we bat second the key should be to save wickets and attack their first change medium pacers.

[Gowza]

Markram can play some mammoth innings if he gets going, hasn’t done it in ODIs yet but he has showed his class in tests and recently in domestic cricket he destroyed some attacks so don’t sleep on him.

[Rifat_02]

Originally Posted by Gowza
Markram can play some mammoth innings if he gets going, hasn’t done it in ODIs yet but he has showed his class in tests and recently in domestic cricket he destroyed some attacks so don’t sleep on him.

That's in test cricket though , some players are just good in different formats like Mominul for example. Markram still has to prove himself in ODIs with an average below 30 after 19 matches, even Soumya has done more than him in ODIs

[Gowza]

Originally Posted by Rifat_02
That's in test cricket though , some players are just good in different formats like Mominul for example. Markram still has to prove himself in ODIs with an average below 30 after 19 matches, even Soumya has done more than him in ODIs

His recent domestic scores I referred to were is list A cricket. I wasn’t saying he has proven himself in ODIs but I do think it’s naive to underestimate a talent like markram.

[adamnsu]

The "Road" to Semis seems to be made by the Bangladesh Roads and Highways Department with lots of potholes and cracks on the way.

[Rifat_02]

Meanwhile

[adamnsu]

Originally Posted by Rifat_02
Meanwhile

Flintoff was singing the same tunes........Freddie seems to think Afghanistan are going to shine

[Night_wolf]

I dont blame freddie or these guys..they dont follow BD cricket so they remember BD team as they last saw it. BD's picture 10 years ago was not good

on other hand Afg had a fairy tale story which attracts people, Fairy tales also sometimes hide the ugly truth so these kinds of comments are not out of the ordinary

[NoName]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't McCullum in the team when they got Banglawashed both times?

He also witnessed NZ get sent home from CT17 by us as well, even if he was retired.