Selection policy for national cricket team

[GuruTM]

Courtesy: Shahidul Azam of BDKhela
Shahidul Azam's yahoo


If the performance in the domestic league is not the main criteria to be selected for the national team then we cannot expect better performance in the international arena as well. I have noticed that the performance of our "talented" national team players in the 2004 domestic competition was very mediocre and didn't impressed me at all. On the other hand few of the neglected "skilled" players were lot more consistent performers than our "talented" ones. And so far this season those same players are performing on a consistent basis. I am not advocating that these players should get a call by just by performing on e or two seasons. However, my point is, on how many seasons our national team's "talented" players performed on a consistent basis in the domestic arena? Mashrafee got a call to the national team only having six List-A and four first class match experience in the domestic arena. Except for the "old" players almost all of them had about 2 years of playing experience in the domestic matches which means a handful of List-A and first-class games. As the current domestic season wears it is clear that the national team players are going to participate in almost all the matches if not all of them. So we have all the players on a level playing field on a battle for selection for the national team. Should the selectors be brave enough to use the scissors? Should they just be another on-looker?

[Tigers_eye]

Before the domestic season started didn't the selectors mentioned that they would keep a close look on how everyone would perform?

I agree, I am really dissappointed with Ash/Aftab's performance. Ash has had a high of only 20 with a 11.75 ave in NCL so far. Even Enam Jr. has higher runs, better average playing less innings. Can someone remind him of his own statement of trying to have a 40/40 in Test and ODIs. Looks like he wants to be a bowler rather than a batsman.

[GuruTM]

We all know that our U-19 team is beating our imagination by a fair margin against English and Lankan team. They also won against Pakistan, Zimbabwe, SA recently. However its no fluke. If we can perform in the U-19 level why can't we do so in the national level? I know that there are flaws in our current domestic structure. But are we helping ourselves by not picking up the best from what we have in our cupboard?

Edited on, December 5, 2005, 3:42 PM GMT, by TeamManager.
Reason: Spelling.

[sadi]

The problem with our team is that standard of our domestic cricket is really poor. So when we pick a player to play for the national team, he does terribly bad and it shatters his confidence. So when he does come back to domestic cricket, he cant even score runs there.

[Fazal]

Selection policy for national cricket team should be well defined and applied uniformly. This is a very good topic by S. Azam.

I always felt that they never uniformly applied the section criteria to all players.

[GuruTM]

So when he does come back to domestic cricket, he cant even score runs there.

Well that is why is domestic cricket is for. To get back the confidence! Ganguly is a prime example on how to get your confidence back by playing domestic matches. If they cannot get the confidence back in the domestic matches then how on earth they are going to get the confidence back by playing in the international arena. If they don't get the confidence back in the domestic competition that means they are just not good enough.


If you look at the list of the players of touring England U-19 team they are all players from good county teams. They are regular players in their team, not side benchers. I have a fair idea of the strength of the Srilankan domestic structure as well. So if our players are performing against them we cannot just say we don't produce enough talents, however we cannot nurture them.

I read on today's amardesh that chief selector Faruq Ahmed is planning to get two teams from each division so more young players get the chance to show their talent. Well, Better late than never.



Edited on, December 5, 2005, 4:20 PM GMT, by TeamManager.
Reason: Add content

[sadi]

Well definately its a good idea..... maybe what he can do is create a system like a minor league.... so every second team of the divison plays a different league... and if someone does well there, they can promote him to the divison team....

[Rubu]

stopped reading S Azam's columns l-o-n-g time ago. can't believe this one is worth reading. is it?

[TheWatcher]

If consistent performance in NCL matches is the main criterion for national team selection, then the selectors have to choose Ehsanul Haque and Faisal Hossain over Ash and Aftab- does not it sound ridiculous? We all know that those so called consistent performers against weak attacks will turn clueless against quality attacks in most cases. Thus the selectors don't have much choice but to follow their gut feelings to pick talented but yet inconsistent teenagers. Otherwise we would not have a talented player like Mashrafee in our team. Our domestic leagues at this point can produce another Habibul Bashar or Hasibul Hossain at best.

Athahar Ali many times mentioned that stats in the domestic circuit are not necessarily the selection criteria for the national team, the techniques and fighting qualities of a player are the things they look for. It is not the bulk of runs that may get you selected, rather it is the conditions under which those runs are made are the criteria.

This post is not meant to justify Ash/Aftab's inconsistencies, their failures bug me as much as they do to you. Also, I would love to see Ehsanul and Faisal getting chances again to prove their skills at a higher level, but this time it should be the A team as the first step.

Edited on, December 5, 2005, 5:44 PM GMT, by TheWatcher.

[AsifTheManRahman]

There are many flaws in the article. The first paragraph itself is full of crap. While he does make some valid points at times, I had the feeling that he resides too much in the past; he should wake up and come to learn that things have changed.

Domestic cricket cannot be the only criterion for inclusion in the national team. There are several processes that a player should go through before making his debut. There are the age groups, club teams, divisional teams, A teams and board XI's that someone should be able to do well for before getting a call. i would never replace bashar for faisal just because the former didn't live up to expectations in domestic matches against poor opposition.

[Dhakablues]

True it is, Ashraful gets auto selection for his one in 11 innings performance.. However, this time selectors will have a tough job I think after 6 months of performance show... it will be hard for them to ignore any major performers. I hope they dont jump on the U19 team for answers

[Dawah]

Ashraful is an ODI player, should NOT be selected for test matches.

[sadi]

well I don't think they will look for answers in under 19 anymore.... looks like our selectors learned their lesson and rather wait till someone is ready before throw him into the main action..... atleast I hope they learned their lesson...

[TheWatcher]

It is not that I want to see another seventeen years boy prematurely getting baptized into international cricket, but something is telling me that one of the left hand bats from the current U/19 (my preference is Saqibul Hassan) may get dragged into the national team during the home serieses against Sri Lanka and Australia.

[aosaif]

Ash is so immature. "I want to avg 40/40" pah! I'd only keep him for the ODIs. Too bad no one is helping ash. I dunno what Watmore's plan with him is, but ash should really seek help from javed whose painful patience has made a dramatic turnaround in his fortunes. Even lara was saying the other day, you've got to survive around 40 balls (in a test match) before you start playing your natural game and making shots. Eddie Barlow mentioned that bd players probably watch too much indian and pakistani cricket, and seeing their cricketers blast from ball #1 was probably affecting bd batsmens' game.

Anyway, bashar is guilty of the same. He's probably blaming captaincy for taking away his batting charm, but what he must realize is that that purple patch is gone. Its what you do when you hit a bad run of form that defines you're character as a batsmen, and ultimately you're success. Although bashar has more patience than ash, he still doesn't have enough of it.

Look at javed and rajin. Their patience is paying dividends in the current national league. No doubt they will outshine bashar and ash when it comes to the international arena. Many of you may argue that bashar and ash are trying to find the kind of hitting form that it takes to win matches, but you can't run before you walk. They've got to spend some time at the crease, whether its a one-day game or a test match.

[sadi]

agreed

[TheWatcher]

Originally posted by Dawah
Ashraful is an ODI player, should NOT be selected for test matches.

Is not he the only other Bangladeshi batsman who got more than one Test hundred besides Bashar? I mean look at the stats, from career averages and striking rates, he does not look any less of a Test batsman then JO or Pilot, if not more. If you want to be so picky, Bangladesh is not good enough to play Test cricket.

Ashraful's inconsistency as a cricketer is really irritating, but trying to judge him based on his performances in three rounds of NCL is really immature, even for Bangladeshi cricket fans. Remind you, he did fine in the last NCL, smacked two hundreds and two fifties in four matches he played. This year, I guess, he is taking his time to get used to the burden of captaincy.

Edited on, December 5, 2005, 11:51 PM GMT, by TheWatcher.

[AsifTheManRahman]

Watcher, I agree with you. As much as one we would like to diss at Ashraful for his inconsistency, we should keep in mind that he's one of the best that we have got, and that failures in the domestic league don't mean much. The problem with Ashraful is that you never know when he will score big; and when he does, it is very likely that that will turn out to be a glorious moment in Bangladesh's cricket history (e.g. youngest test centurion, win against Zimbabwe in their backyard, win against Australia).

[CricTiger]

Originally posted by Dawah
Ashraful is an ODI player, should NOT be selected for test matches.

Stop bsahing ASH ,he has proven himself in both form of games.

Have you seen HIS 158 n.o against INDIA ?????

[nsd3]

Selection of a team can be based on various factors, not only on NCL performance. If we go for Australian tour, we might focus on having quite a few good swing bowlers not many spinners (Rafiq and Rana or Enamul might be picked). Even though some outstanding spinners perform highly in the league, they might have to wait for the next series. So I partially appreciate S Azam for putting up this issue in his article, but I'd expect more in depth view on selection criteria (cuz NCL is not one and ONLY criteria).

At the end of the day, it's the consistency in the league every year, that should be counted as well. As I cited the example of M Clarke before, he waited for 1.5 years scoring heavily continually in the domestic league before getting a call from the Nat'l team. We should have a vision like that where players earn it with hard consistent work over 1/2 years in several league or local tournaments.

[GuruTM]

stopped reading S Azam's columns l-o-n-g time ago. can't believe this one is worth reading. is it?

I know what are you trying to say, but there is some truth behind this article.

[cricman]

Ash Recent Domestic FC Stats

Partrons Trophy 03-04:
Innings: 5
Runs: 181
Avg: 36.20

ZIM A vs BD A 03-04
Innings: 2
Runs: 83
Avg:41

NCL 04-05:
Innings: 6
Runs:400
Avg: 66.00

BD vs Eng XI's and SL XI
Innings: 7
Runs:241
Avg:40.6(Note 1 not out)

Total
Innings: 20
Runs: 905
Avg: 47.63

He's been performing in First Class Matches consisitently for the last 2+ years, Believe Me if you look up Habibul Bashar,Javed Omar,Sharier Nafees, Aftab Ahmed and Yes the Practice Match King Himself Tushar Imran. Their Stats will look very Similar to Ashraful's and they've been doing it just as long or Longer than Ash.

[GuruTM]

If consistent performance in NCL matches is the main criterion for national team selection, then the selectors have to choose Ehsanul Haque and Faisal Hossain over Ash and Aftab- does not it sound ridiculous?

How come some of the members rate Aftab so high? For two 50+ knocks? Trescothick is a player who don't know what footwork is, yet he is making loads of runs. Technique is a vague idea, if not converted into performances is utterly useless.

[GuruTM]

There are many flaws in the article. The first paragraph itself is full of crap.

Agree that. Care to let us know what do you think on selection policy in a more detail way?

[Rubu]

The only reason people are not happy with ash is becaues of 'expectation threshold'.

the expectation from ash is too high, and therefore it is not met most of the time. hence people think about him as underacheiver and hence throw him out of the team!

beside that, he has no reason to stay out of national team for 'next 10 years' (i am repeating this phrase, given he does not get injured).

Edited on, December 6, 2005, 2:47 AM GMT, by Rubu.