Signs of improvement

[Mahmood]

As Siddons repeated over and over, his goal is to improve match by match. I must admin, in this series, I do see that improvement. The first match was lost badly due to idiotic team selection. But the second match was ours, untill rain came and handed it to Pakistan. I still believe Pakistan would have had a hard time chasing 240 in 50 overs.

Last game was awesome, I dont care we lost. I loved watching it, seeing the tigers put up a fight gave the precious enjoyment I seek everygame. Honestly, if we can play like this every match, I wont complain.

In conclusion, I see what Siddons is doing, and I have become a believer in him.

[crikfreak]

siddons has brains.. after the first game.. and the way he was showing signs of negetivity after the sa series.. i thought he was a bad coach.. but i realise now that i was jumping to conclusions.. this series.. has been very good till now.. 1st match was ridiculous.. 2nd match was much much better.. and the last match.. was AMAIZING!! seriously.. i don't give a damn that bangladesh lost.. the way the guys played yesterday was amaizing.. even while bowling.. they managed to contain pak after their flying start.. and the batting was really really good.. the way we are going.. i reckon a win against a big team is not far away..

[nsd3]

I remember some were furious when Siddons said that BD was 2-3 years away from what they need to be in int'l cricket. Some were even heard saying the word 'moron' about JS! Let's just wait and see what happens on the field. I believe there are more to come. Go BD go!!!!

[Russell2k7]

I knew he wanted to make us like a mini Kiwi team filled with all rounders. Too bad we dont have palyers like Jacob Oram and what not. Our batting is certainly improving, but at the expense of poor bowling and bad fielding.

You are underestimating Pak batting lineup, they would have definitely chased 240 even in those conditions. Remember, Pak lost to Saffies only 3-2 and to Ind 3-2 as well, and these twos are of strongest batting sides. So, we never really had any chance in 1st or 2nd ODI. Third ODI we could have won if Tamim wasnt run out followed by Aftab's stupid dismissals.

[Protic]

Russel ..i disagree..All the venues we played in..had awesome batting pitches..in hard sub continent weather.. JUST NOT FOR THE BOWLERS.. fielding was bad yeah.. but bowling.. some of them did bad..but i dont think it was overall bad.. mashrafe,reza,sakib ..they bowled well..throughout the series. Big disappointment from razzak though!

[ahaque]

it's good to see that we are improving. it's important to win the toss in the next game...or else it will be a trip down memory lane (a bad one to be precise).

[Protic]

If we can bat first and score 250 +.. whatever the pitch is like..whoever we are playing against.. we are always up for an upset! Simple as that.. Bangladeshi players plays on confidence..

[Kabir]

When Siddons got hired, the first thing I posted in the forum was - GIVE THE TEAM TIME AND DON'T EXPECT EVERYTHING TO FALL IN PLACE RIGHT AWAY.

Teams take time to grow...and their understanding takes time too. I am ready to give the team 2 years of time - if they are able to do the job.

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by Kabir
When Siddons got hired, the first thing I posted in the forum was - GIVE THE TEAM TIME AND DON'T EXPECT EVERYTHING TO FALL IN PLACE RIGHT AWAY.

Teams take time to grow...and their understanding takes time too. I am ready to give the team 2 years of time - if they are able to do the job.

Some of the decision making that we saw that involved him and the selectors has no merit. Childish at best. For him we should be a better batting team. But in that process we should not lose focus on bowling and fielding. All three department is needed to challenge the top teams.

I like Siddons. I loved him when he walked out in the field to protect his players.

[Umar]

Not many sights in cricket are as uplifting as Bangladesh on the hunt. When they are in the game, when they have a sniff, there is just so much to celebrate: the joy of an impending underdog upset, the ebullience with which their batsmen, physically so small, go about playing such a big game. Conversely, there are also few sights as deflating as Bangladesh fluffing it up.
That is what they did today, for they were in the chase for much of it, the flame only really dying out when Shahid Afridi struck twice in an over very late on. Until then, their batsmen had chased so audaciously that you couldn't help but admire it. Tamim Iqbal's beautifully upright strokeplay, Aftab Ahmed's madcap improvisation and Shakib Al Hasan's handy mixture of both deserved more than the narrow loss, but here at last was some spine.
Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh's coach, drew some positives from Faisalabad, so naturally you would expect him to draw some more from here. Not quite. "Yeah I guess there were some, but there were negatives too, like we let them score over 300 again," he hesitantly concluded afterwards. "Two positives are that we got our highest score against Pakistan and our highest against major opposition. So things are starting to come together in that sense. Our batting is getting together well. Sides have to make 280-plus against us now to feel safe."
The real regret, you suspect, was that the wounds were again self-inflicted. The run-outs of Tamim and Mohammad Ashraful, and Aftab reverse-sweeping once too often were game-breaking moments, handed to a nervy Pakistan on a plate with free condiments to boot. Shoaib Malik all but acknowledged that Bangladesh's lack of experience in such run-chases played against them as much as Pakistan's bowling.
"We had a poor patch from the 30-40 overs and there were a couple of overs where we lost the game," Siddons agreed. "Those run-outs didn't help us because otherwise we were running them close."
But Siddons knows there were positives elsewhere as well. Pakistan's start suggested a total of 400 was on the cards, but Bangladesh came back well to restrict them to 308. Shahadat Hossain's inclusion, on numbers alone, doesn't seem to have made much of a difference but one wicket for 58 masks a solid opening spell. They also don't speak highly enough of his contribution to the death overs in which along with Mashrafe Mortaza, he restricted Pakistan to 72 runs in the last ten.
The popular complaint is that he is too one-dimensional for ODIs, that he only has pace, can't bat or field and isn't quite the cerebral machine that a Dennis Lillee or Richard Hadlee was; admittedly he pitched short far too often for anyone's good, but for a strapping, enthusiastic young fast bowler, hungry to make up for a couple of missed matches, how much can you really blame him? Three-hundred they conceded, but not with a whimper.
Above all, Bangladesh might as well have adorned an alternative kit altogether for they looked a different side to the one that played the first game at this stadium only a few days ago. "Consistency is the key," Siddons said, feet firmly grounded as always. "We want to continue to keep making competitive totals. We need to be consistent. In the past, we've dropped back after good performances and become bad again. We can't keep doing that."
It is understandable, if maddening, for a run of defeats does little good to the psyche. "No one likes losing at the end of the day. In our team meeting, I told the guys to go out and achieve a record and we did, but they are a bit down. If we start winning, we might start singing again."
When they do, make sure you're listening for it is unlikely you will have heard something so beautiful.



THESE ( in bold) are some things that siddon said after then match.. i think he is doing it RIGHT!

[mali007]

Definitely we are improving. Under light 285 score is very commandable. Pakis has realised that we are not a weak team -------- so they have recalled their main strike bowler Asif for the 4th ODI!!!!

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Some of the decision making that we saw that involved him and the selectors has no merit. Childish at best. For him we should be a better batting team. But in that process we should not lose focus on bowling and fielding. All three department is needed to challenge the top teams.

I like Siddons. I loved him when he walked out in the field to protect his players.

I wouldn't call that childish...may be a little less well-thoughtout. Lets not forget that he's a new coach...meaning, a curious mind. It depends on his personality really. May be he wants to see the players in a real-life situation first...and only then bring in the major changes.

I guess we're still not in a position to put too much blames on him yet. Like I said, a 2-year process with gradual improvement is something I'm looking for - there's nothing called a Silver-bullet.

[Shobha]

i'm just waiting when we start getting humiliated in matches again and people open the "siddons must go" threads.

[Fazal]

"siddons must go" ?

Where?

[MohammedC]

More Singles = Big Total


ODI 1 : 50.4% run came from singles (11 boundary) Boys did not turn up for this match

ODI 2 : 38% run came from singles(23 fours 1 Six) Mahmudullah and Dhiman showed what we could have achieved if batted more sensibly

ODI 3 : 58.2% run came from singles (25 Fours) We were in the chase all the way, we just did not realise few more singles in the middle overs could have taken us over the winning line.

[Eshen]

Batting has definitely shown improvement, but at the same time bowling and fielding have shown significant degradations. Remember Pakistan team has scored above 6 runs per over for 3 matches in trot. In past our bowling and fielding departments had shown occasional off days, but they have not been continuously bashed like this for years. Ashraful, with his poor bowlers rotation and field placement, is not helping the situation at all.

[BANFAN]

Not yet sure about improvement basing on an extremely batting friendly pitch. Would like to see more.

If we analyze the wickets of BD, we might see a different picture:

1. SN - Thrown away - Caught-Lousy Pull
2. Tamim - Thrown away - Lazy - Run Out
3. Aftab - Thrown Away - Silly Shot - C/Behind
4. Ash - Thrown Away - Silly - Run Out
5. Riyad - Thrown Away - Bold
6. Farhad - Thrown Away - Lazy, watching, even didn't try to be back - Stumpped
7. Sakib - Thrown Away - Funny shot too many times, Ball on the stump - Bold

Not a single wicket is genuinely taken by the bowlers. Well at some later stage probably it was necessary to make some shots, but most of the shot sellections also were wrong. Some chances were not taken by pakis.

So, once we talk of learning, rathar than winning as a sign of improvement; one would expect players to get genuinely out, not throw away wickets. They were never playing to win anyway. So I can't say, if they have really made any improvement yet.

But considering some runs made by a few players, would like to see a few more matches to say, if they have improved or not.

[Beamer]

Originally Posted by Eshen
Batting has definitely shown improvement, but at the same time bowling and fielding have shown significant degradations. Remember Pakistan team has scored above 6 runs per over for 3 matches in trot. In past our bowling and fielding departments had shown occasional off days, but they have not been continuously bashed like this for years. Ashraful, with his poor bowlers rotation and field placement, is not helping the situation at all.

We no longer have ten solid Rafiq overs and Raj is literally going through the worst phase in his post come back career. I don't remember ever Raj not finishing his quota! In the recent past, we also had the services of Rasel who rarely gave anything away in his 10 overs and took wkts regularly. You combine all those factors, and it is pretty clear that our bowling is not as good as it was in ODI's even six months to a year ago. Its up to the plethora of part timers in the squad to pick up the slack. I am happy to see Shahadat in the fold. I would also ask Ash to bring Raj a lot later, after the PP's are over.

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by BANFAN
1. SN - Thrown away - Caught-Lousy Pull
2. Tamim - Thrown away - Lazy - Run Out
3. Aftab - Thrown Away - Silly Shot - C/Behind
4. Ash - Thrown Away - Silly - Run Out

True.

5. Riyad - Thrown Away - Bold

Couldn't judge it. Game was getting tight. So he wanted to slog. Nothing wrong with that. May be a bit more watchful eyes would've been better.

6. Farhad - Thrown Away - Lazy, watching, even didn't try to be back - Stumpped

Did you see where he was? He came 3 steps forward. Backing up would've saved him? It was against a spinner...and the keeper isn't Dhiman Ghosh. It was a loppa stumping to say the least. And in that situation, I wouldn't mind that aggression if that added some more runs in the scoreboard.

7. Sakib - Thrown Away - Funny shot too many times, Ball on the stump - Bold

Not really. Sakib isn't a strokemaker. He scores with gentle touches...by finding the gaps. The alternatives to that are little...and he was capitalizing on one of them only. Yes, could've been better if he could utilize some other formula...but he was doing great at what he was doing. His 75 really deserves a 100 recognition. He scored 50 at a SR of 70ish...but when he got out, he was 75 from 74 balls!

What's unfortunate is, if Ash and Aftab could do SOMETHING more...we would've been celebrating with 30 OH THEY'RE SO GREAT threads.

[Fazal]

Originally Posted by Kabir
What's unfortunate is, if Ash and Aftab could do SOMETHING more...we would've been celebrating with 30 OH THEY'RE SO GREAT threads.

So you are saying they are not so great?

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Fazal
So you are saying they are not so great?

Yes they are...in foolishness.

At least, Ash is.

[WarWolf]

One of my post from another thread...

A good positive curve is being noticed.

First Match: Huge humiliating defeat
Second Match: Little bit of resistance
Third Match: Good competitive match to loose in the end
(Predictions for next two match. Inshallah it will be true)
Forth Match: Good competitive match to win in the end
Fifth Match: Humiliating defeat for Pakistan

[akabir77]

too early to say in batting. if they can bat out next two games 50 overs and score 220+ then i would say definitely they have.

Bowling: no comments as these r batting pitches...

Fielding: they r going down... not sure whats the reason... too much games? but they r all under 30.

[Fazal]

Originally Posted by akabir77
Fielding: they r going down... not sure whats the reason... too much games? but they r all under 30.

Who were the culprits for last games? I need name for the record.

we need to know who are the lula ( no I didn't mean lala...) in the team

[sadi]

Originally Posted by Fazal
Who were the culprits for last games? I need name for the record.

Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Shahadat Hossain to name a few.