Gatting queries Bangladesh value

[GuruTM]

Gatting queries Bangladesh value

Former England captain Mike Gatting has dismissed the value of having Bangladesh in the NatWest Series.

The cricket minnows will be pitched against England on Thursday and then play Australia two days later.

Each team plays the other twice with the top two heading to Lord's for the final on 2 July.

Gatting told BBC Sport: "I think Bangladesh will be hopelessly out of their depth in the NatWest Series. I can't even see them coming close."

Bangladesh lost both their Tests in England by an innings and face a rejuvenated host and world champions Australia in the one-day series.

They have won nine out of the 105 one-day internationals they have played, the most memorable being against India in Dhaka last December and Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.

And they beat Worcestershire by four wickets on Saturday.

Gatting added: "Bangladesh should do a bit better than in the Test series and have one or two decent one-day players but I can't see there being any shocks in the tournament."

England's Marcus Trescothick said although everyone was already talking about an England/Australia final and dismissing Bangladesh's chances, the minnows should not be taken lightly.

He told BBC Sport: "There is a major job to be done against Bangladesh first, for us and Australia. There's going to be some great games in the middle of that against Bangladesh, who beat Worcestershire, so it's obviously going to be a bit of a challenge for us."

It is the sixth and final year of the NatWest Series and England have won it twice, been runners-up once and failed to make the final on two occasions.

They warmed-up for this year's series by beating Australia by 100-runs in the Twenty20 International at the Rose Bowl on Monday.

Their one-day form has not been great and they failed to make the final of last year's NatWest Series, in which New Zealand beat West Indies by 107 runs, and then lost the ICC Champions Trophy final to West Indies in September.

Tickets for the games involving England and Australia - and the final at Lord's - have already sold out but venues hosting matches with Bangladesh are struggling to sell.

Thursday's opener between England and Bangladesh at The Oval still has 6,000 tickets available, at Sophia Gardens less than half of the 6,000-capacity have been sold and at Trent Bridge 15,000 have been sold but 7,000 are still available.

A spokesman for the club said: "Sales started off slowly but they have definitely picked up in the last week and we will sell on the day of the match too."

On the teams front, England have a fully-fit squad to choose from apart from spinner Ashley Giles who is easing his way back into playing after a hip injury.

Bangladesh have been bolstered by one-day specialists Nazmul Hossain and Khaled Mahmud who took six wickets between them against Worcestershire.

Trescothick will be playing in his 100th one-day international and he was amazed at how much the game had advanced since his career began five years ago.

"The game was played at a different pace then and England have moved on a lot, especially in the last two years," he said.

And he believes England are on target in their attempt to win the 2007 World Cup.

"We're putting in better performances. We have just got to get the consistency of the team now."


Report URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/4095664.stm


Here we go again!! English media started to question our inclusion in the Natwest series one dayers as well now. This really pisses me off!!

But the problem is its only the beginning of the humiliation which is on the way if our players do not perform against them. And that will be even greater.

What do you think fans? How long do we have live with this kind of humiliation as a cricketing nation? How long do we have to suffer? Where is the end of all this? When will our boys perform? Please let me know.

[Locutus]

They have all the reason to question our cricketting ability because we did what everyone expected in the test matches and that is blown away by the English. I am sure we will humiliate ourselves once again.

[Spitfire_x86]

He didn't say anything wrong.

[chyicarus]

what is wrong with my computer?!!!
Apologies for having the same response multiple times!

Edited on, June 15, 2005, 3:53 PM GMT, by chyicarus.

[nas]

mike gatting, former england's captain says bangladesh are gonna get trashed. he can't even see tigers coming close in any match.

[nas]

u guys are genious.
i read it on bbc web and posted it , but guess what, someone has already posted this topic two hours ago.

[Right_Way]

We need some win under our belt and we need it fast. We gotta have to go through with this no matter what. There will always be doubters. We need to make sure we keep our test status next time around and only wins can help no matter what we write here or how many excuses we have.

[Ishtylish cricketer]

Yeah if we win one they will say it was fluck so Bd needs to win two matches so the English media will shut up but I too agree with Gatting that Bangladesh will get thrashed by both Englad and Australia.

[GuruTM]

Originally posted by Right_Way
We need some win under our belt and we need it fast. We gotta have to go through with this no matter what. There will always be doubters. We need to make sure we keep our test status next time around and only wins can help no matter what we write here or how many excuses we have.

I agree with you 100%. We will have to stop giving excuses(i.e. Uthan baka). We need our boys performing.

[BanglarBir]

This is another front in the pshycological warfare. BD team should not be foolish enough to take ony notice of this kind of CRAP comment from a English player who was given a bloody nose by the mighty West Indies.
If you do not believe then check the history of English Cricket.
DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS KIND OF CRAP.
It is about time BD team show the world that they have got some pride in Bengali race and nations just like the other nations.
How long do we have to suffer this kind of humiliation?
If I was a BD player with some pride and patriotism I would go out on the pitch tomorrow to show the world what we can do. What I have seen so far is cowardice and chicenery from the BD team.

Time to wake up an settle few old scores (if you are man enough that is). So what will it be another humiliation or revenge? Only time will tell.

[Sam]

But, in my opinion, Trescothick have shown quite respect to us. Calling us minnows - a fact. But, at least he expressed that there will be some decent fight with Bangladesh, who has defeated Worcestershire.

"...There's going to be some great games in the middle of that against Bangladesh, who beat Worcestershire, so it's obviously going to be a bit of a challenge for us."

[CricPagol]

I did not see any thing wrong with Gatting's words. Like a lot of you are saying - we need to perform.

[GuruTM]

Originally posted by BanglarBir
It is about time BD team show the world that they have got some pride in Bengali race and nations just like the other nations.

How long do we have to wait for it?

Originally posted by BanglarBir
If I was a BD player with some pride and patriotism I would go out on the pitch tomorrow to show the world what we can do. What I have seen so far is cowardice and chicenery from the BD team.

I think thats what we lack from our players. Fans does have a lot of pride and patriotism but that does not help.
we need players to have some pride and patriotism.

Originally posted by BanglarBir
Time to wake up an settle few old scores (if you are man enough that is). So what will it be another humiliation or revenge? Only time will tell.

Lets see.

[chyicarus]

What Gatting said maybe somewhat true- but the words he used are not at all appropriate. Yes, we are a weak team in Tests but we have shown a fighting spirit in ODIs. This is mainly becoz in our domestic competitions we don't play as much 3-day, 4-day games as we play 1-day games.
Also I question Gatting cricketing character and his batting prowess (i,e- his first ball against Warnie). Also it seems that he had a bad experience with the curry tasting competition and was spending his last few days in the potty!
Marcus said positive things about BD team- he mentioned that we are lagging behind, that is becoz the game has progressed, but didn't blow us off! Complacency brings surprises!
I'm looking for a better performances by our team and as Whatmore says- we need couple of good individual performances (consistent i must add) and thats the only way we can respond to our critics!

[TheWatcher]

Someone please tell Gatting that we are trying our best to catch up with countries that are playing Test cricket for more or less a century. It is England who is making farce of this game by throwing us infront Australia in this difficult season.

England need to get out of their selfish mindset and need to help newcomers to bring up the standard of the game worldwide. Give us the same opportunity, as players of WI, SA, or Zim get, to play in county crickets, then we will show that our players have enough talents to stop all those media bitching.

Anyway, just wait Gatting, after two years we will be beating WI and Pakistan on regular basis, your day will also come oneday.

Edited on, June 15, 2005, 6:22 PM GMT, by TheWatcher.

[GuruTM]

I want to protest against mike gatting using some rough words. We should have some self respect. Every now and then some pundits come along and say something rude. I think this is not fair.