The Lions Rule
Published on February 13, 2007
Bangladesh has passed only five years and they have to go a long way.Sri Lanka forced tigers another eight-wicket defeat in the first Test of the GrameenPhone series at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium on Friday. Perhaps 41 Test matches is not enough to bridge the imperceptive errors out of the Bangladeshi cricket team. I do agree that Test cricket needs to be about the best playing the best. Does Ricky Ponting knowNew Zealand got their maiden Test victory in their 45th attempt? The history of cricket Test match inBangladesh is more than half century years old. InJanuary 1, 1955 ,Dhaka became the 39th Test venue of the world as provincial capital of formerEast Pakistan .Bangladesh gained its independence in 1971, many other things having priority at the beginning, though cricket has continued to grow. All the cricket fans ofBangladesh were anxiously waiting to see cricket Test match again inBangladesh . Our dream has come true whenBangladesh was given the status of the 10th test playing nation onthe 26th June, 2000 . It was a splendid achievement and recognition in the history of our sports to remember.Our body language had been changed and momentum begun in 1997, whenBangladesh won the ICC Trophy inMalaysia , qualifying for its first ever world cup appearance. Soon after,Bangladesh was granted full ODI status by the ICC. Eventually in 2005 our cricket team beat world championsAustralia in a Natwest series ODI match. RecentlySri Lanka was beaten for the first time byBangladesh in the second ODI at Bogra. We do not expect them to win every game; however, can�t we deserve a certain level of consistency. At presentSri Lanka is not the best team in the world. They have been losing matches quite frequently toAustralia ,India ,New Zealand andSouth Africa . Mahela Jayawardene toasted a 2-1 ODI series triumph and looking forward to win Test series againstBangladesh . We have to save the Test series againstSri Lanka . It saddens me to see most of the timeBangladesh performing badly. Our team and few players have very high level of skills and why these can�t be reciprocated on the international sphere. How long Ashraful will entertain us, again he is terribly inconsistent.Without a good batting performance a test match cannot at least be pushed towards a draw. Our batsmen need to work on their footwork with extensive practicing basic, accurate and modified stroke making. It needs to have a unique technique or take help for batsmen to adopt their technique right.Bangladesh never had any problem producing promising talent youngsters. Recent performances of the U-19 teams might be used as a general indicator. I don�t have any idea about the international credibility of our selectors. BCB needs to some serious thought into it to keep our high hope for the national pride.In 1990West Bengal visitsBangladesh in February. An unknown batsman Saurav Ganguly scores a century and a half-century to helpWest Bengal �s accomplishment in both matches. Not many people know that the great former Indian captain originally fromBangladesh . It is not about the people, just shortage of experience and training. If the brain doesn't work properly, then you can't expect the hands or the feet to show best possible performance. What more can do Whatmore?
Momtaz Ahmed
Toronto ,Canada