Xtreme ji - When did I say that Bangladesh shouldn't get a hard spanking ? Australia should annihilate/demolish BD, If they can.
I only voiced my opinion when some Guppies said that Bangladesh's Test Status should be revoked.
Most people are of the opinion that Bangladesh were given test status too early. Compare them with Sri Lanka who at least could offer decent batting line ups in the early stages.
Yes, even I am of the same opinion, it was a mistake, but taking it back will be another mistake. ICC is much more than granting/revoking Test status and organizing world cups, They should formulate a proper domestic structure in BD with the help of India, Pak and Lanka. Even Holland, Namibia,Scotland,Canada etc were given ODI status early and they cant compete with test nations, but Instead of taking their ODI status back ICC should invest some money in the development of cricket in those countries.
That is my opinion and at the same time I respect your opinion
.
If there are any games at the WACA and the like, they'll be skinned alive.
If anyone deserves test status for their attitude and commitment, it's Kenya. BD only 'earned' the status by hanging around the cricket scene long enough, without showing any promise of quality or an upgrade in performance.
Short odds on Test first](BBC SPORT | Cricket | Short odds on Test first)
Australian bookmakers are offering odds of 17-1 on their side becoming the first ever to complete a Test victory in a single day over Bangladesh.
Steve Waugh’s side, currently ranked top of the ICC Test Championship, take on the tourists, who have failed to win any of their 19 matches since gaining Test status in 2001, in Darwin from Friday.
No Test match has ever been completed in a day, although Australia’s fifth Test against South Africa in 1931/32 lasted just five hours 53 minutes, spanning three rain-hit days.
Several commentators, including former Australia batsman David Hookes, have called for no mercy on a side they do not believe deserves to play Test cricket.
“Steve Waugh should send them in to bat, bowl them out before lunch, bat until tea and declare, then send them back in and roll them again before stumps,” Hookes said.
We expect it to be Test match and we’re going to play as hard as we can
But on his arrival in Darwin, which will host its first ever Test match, Waugh played down the chances of a lop-sides contest.
“It’s exciting, it’s a new venue for us all, we’ve never played Bangladesh in a Test before so we’re looking forward to the challenge of playing up here,” Waugh said.
“At this stage of Bangladesh’s experience to play against the supposed top five in world cricket is important.”
Waugh was pleased Bangladesh pulled off a second consecutive tour victory on Sunday when they downed the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI by two wickets.
“Emerging sides need a lot of match practice. They’ve played a couple of good games and I’m sure their form is OK,” he added.
"We expect it to be Test match and we’re going to play as hard as we can.
“I don’t know what the result is going to be, but we play as if it’s going to be a tough Test match.”
**Waugh can achieve a milestone if he can pass 150, either in Darwin or the following week in Cairns, as he would become the first batsman to do so against every Test nation. **
so here is the most likely scenarios of the 1st match (probably of the 2nd too)
AUS win the toss and bat 35-40 Overs to score nearly 350-1 (remember the WC-Final) or more .... then declare to start the blitzkrieg (i don't see any reason or sign why it should go the other way) then bowl them out twice within 50 Overs ....
I feel for the BD bowlers if Hayden opens with Gilli .....
I feel for the BD batsmen when Lee opens with Gillespie .....
i sincerely hope Mr. " Boring Outside the offstump" McGrath does not open the bowling .....
I hope BD can take the Test to the 2nd day which will be an achievement for them .....
All in all i think both test will last a total lenght of not more than three days ....
This sounds like a declaretion of BLITZKRIEG …
SO BD can Start lick their wounds after a few hours after being on the field in case their something left to lick 
Apart from the mental torture that’ll be inflicted on them I hope they can save themselve from the physical torture (courtesy of Mr. Lee’s bouncer to an Englands bowler in the last Ashes Tour, i’ve forgotten the name, The coulered one) which’ll leave some deep scars … 
Hookes makes Australians look bad, ungracious hosts
Omar Kureishi
I believe in freedom of speech and, therefore, concede the right of David Hookes, former Australian Test batsman and now turned a media pundit to slam Bangladesh in language that went beyond being harsh. It was insulting as it was boorish. He raised the possibility of the Test match finishing in a day, of Australia scoring 1,000 runs and Brian Lara’s record being broken.
Bangladesh makes no claims to being anything else but minnows, a team that has no pretensions. It has a dismal record so far. None of this justifies the ridicule that was heaped on it by Hookes who also happens to be the coach of the Victoria Cricket Association and, thereby, can be said to hold an official position of sorts.
It is entirely possible that Test series will be the mother of mismatches but Bangladesh is touring Australia and can be said to be the guests. If you cannot praise the guests, you must not indulge them and not mock them. Hookes makes the Australians look bad, ungracious hosts who could do with a lesson or two on good manners.
**Whether or not Bangladesh deserved to be accorded Test status is immaterial. One has only to visit Bangladesh to see that cricket is a passion and even when their own team is not involved, the crowds flock to the stadium and fill it and when the Test matches are played against Australia, every television set will be switched on.
Bangladesh needs to be encouraged but they themselves must get it right, I don’t think they should be making costly investment in hiring foreign coaches for the national team. It’s a bit late in the day for that.
Rather the investment should be made at an Under-15 level and it is here that talent can be unearthed and a foreign coach can work on it. Bangladesh seems to be too much in a hurry and, as they say, haste makes waste. **
And this brings me to Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan. Shoaib Akhtar has been allowed to miss the series and will be playing for his county, Durham instead. Now we learn that Abdul Razzaq too will miss the series and carry on playing for Middlesex.
We learn from tit-bit media reports that the Bangladesh series provides the opportunity to try out some promising, young players. The principle is wrong. Pakistan must play its best team. One does not experiment at Test level.
A Test cap should not be handed out as a give-away, like a commercial company hands out key-chains and ball-point pens. A Test cap should be earned the hard way. Just look at what the green, baggy cap means to Australian Test players. It becomes their most prized possession.
The wearing of a Pakistan blazer should be seen as a signal honour and it is an honour that must be earned. To play for Pakistan should be the culmination of an ambition. Not the beginning of one. Nor should the Bangladesh series be seen as trial matches for the tougher series against South Africa.
Despite Hookes, insulting remarks, he does not make out a case for playing a second string and Steve Waugh has made it clear that a Test match is a Test match.
The NatWest final was a bit of a fiasco and South Africa was simply blown away. South African batsmen seemed over-awed by the occasion and England’s bowlers were on target. There was some seam movement and a little bit of swing but it was the accuracy that did for South Africa, lack of footwork and poor shot selection.
Jacques Kallis was in no mental shape and was due to fly out to South Africa, immediately after the final, to be with his father who has lung-cancer. So too was Shaun Pollock whose wife is pregnant. Should they have played? Clearly they were distracted by domestic worries. A player is required to give hundred per cent in an all important final.
England will go into the Test series with a huge psychological advantage. After its England tour, South Africa will tour Pakistan. At the moment, South African morale is poor but it will pick itself up for it was clearly stung by the defeat at Lord’s.
South Africa, in some ways reminds me of Pakistan. It is an unpredictable team and when it is good, it is very very good but when it is bad, it is horrid. Once again the question has opened up: Does South Africa choke on big occasions?
We need to follow the South Africa Test series against England with interest. It will help out in our own game plan against them. I cannot say that we will have a home advantage because, historically, Pakistan has not had the know-how to take advantage of home conditions.
I think Pakistan’s bowling attack is better than South Africa’s but Pakistan has no Jacques Kallis, no one who can anchor the innings. Herschelle Gibbs has had a miserable tour so far but it is too much to expect that he will carry his poor form to Pakistan.
It will be a good series, two evenly matched teams and each being brilliant on its day. Bangladesh aside, it will be wonderful to see international cricket return to Pakistan. South Africa gets the credit for dismissing security concerns, something that Australia and New Zealand had hidden behind in not wanting to tour Pakistan.
I will write in detail about the new domestic structure when I have fully understood it. But it’s good to see Hasib Ahsan and Ijaz Butt making a comeback and become officially associated with Pakistan cricket.
Both bring a lot of experience and though the years may have taken their toll, will bring energy to their jobs. Both came into the Pakistan team, more or less at the same time, spotted by A.H. Kardar who was a shrewd observer of talent and picked them and threw them in the deep end. Inspired selections at the time, both know what Pakistan cricket is all about.
Day of reckoning at hand for Bangladesh](http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2003/JUL/217898_AUS_17JUL2003.html)
Lynn McConnell - July 17, 2003
Much as Bangladesh would prefer it otherwise, the attention of the cricket world is going to be focussed on their performance against Australia for all the wrong reasons, when the first Test begins at Darwin tomorrow.
**Questions like “How quickly can Australia win?” and “What records will they break?” are generating the only interest in this out-of-season fixture in Australia’s far north. The world’s newest Test venue - cricket’s 87th, and only the 11th to acquire first-class status with a Test - is going to be the scene for the most searching study yet of Bangladesh’s membership into the game’s elite club.
It would hence be of little comfort that the pitch for the game will be different in nature to the one on which Bangladesh beat the region’s Chief Minister’s XI last weekend. That was a low and slow pitch of sandy nature, but the portable pitch that has been dropped into the middle of the Marrara Oval has a concrete base and is made of local clay.**
The only possible impediment - and a remote one at that - to a dominating Australian performance will be the fact that the home players have not had the benefit of recent play in their preparation for the match. But it was only six weeks ago that they were in the West Indies, so technique and confidence should not have evaporated in that time, especially in an outfit as competitive as Australia have consistently shown themselves to be.
The match is just reward for the long-serving administrators of the Northern Territory, who would never have dreamed that they would be hosting a Test match, let alone the agreed four in the next five years. NT chief executive Jim Ford said that Bangladesh’s participation in Darwin’s first Test had not precluded keen interest in the game. The locals will get a chance to be part of history by attending the match and seeing their own team in the flesh.
Ford confidently expects that the audience numbers on Friday or Saturday will give the ground capacity of 13,000 a nudge. “Our administrators started out wanting to foster this part of the world as a winter haven for cricket. We have hosted pre-season camps and have had New Zealand’s team and the Academy side here, and that has helped promote awareness of us and what we have to offer. The ground is looking an absolute treat and there will be quite a carnival atmosphere,” he said.
It’s the last week of school holidays, and local schoolchildren and cricket fans have been making good use of the Australian team being in town at a variety of functions that have been taking place.
Having already admitted that they might struggle to focus to perform against Bangladesh, it is not hard to imagine the effort that has been going into preparation by coach John Buchanan and captain Steve Waugh. For those players who need a focus, there are some individual milestones worth keeping in mind.
**Adam Gilchrist is sitting on 2897 runs, at 59.12, and 183 dismissals. Matthew Hayden is set to crack the 3500 mark on 3475. Ricky Ponting, on 4787, has a chance to go past 5000 in the series, while Waugh’s accumulation of runs beyond his 10,265 will give him a shot at getting his average back over 50 and his total nearer Allan Border’s world record mark of 11,174. If he reaches three figures, Waugh will also have scored a century against every Test-playing nation. **
Apart from the vast reserves of experience the Australians can call on, the Bangladesh’s biggest problem will be that which has dogged their tenure in international cricket - a lack of application. With a background of poor exposure to first-class cricket, the tourists struggle to withstand the pressures of international play for long periods. **It would surprise no-one if they struggle even more in Australia, playing as they will be under the shadow of being the weaker team in what is being called the biggest mismatch in Test cricket history. **
Teams:
Australia (from): 1 Steve Waugh (capt), 2 Ricky Ponting, 3 Andy Bichel, 4 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 5 Jason Gillespie, 6 Matthew Hayden, 7 Brad Hogg, 8 Justin Langer, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Darren Lehmann, 11 Martin Love, 12 Stuart MacGill, 13 Glenn McGrath
Bangladesh (from): Khaled Mahmud (capt), Javed Omar, Khaled Mashud, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Rafique, Hannan Sarker, Mohammad Ashraful, Al-Sahariar, Manjural Islam, Alok Kapali, Sanwar Hossain, Tareq Aziz, Tapash Baisya, Anwar Hossain Monir, Mashrafe Mortaza
Aussies’ victory is on the cards. If Bangladesh were to pull anything out of the series, it would possibly be the biggest ever shock in the history of Cricket, even more so than when Ireland defeated the West Indies in the 80s.
Australia opt for four specialist bowlers in final XI
**Australia opt for four specialist bowlers in final XI **
Wisden CricInfo staff - July 17, 2003
Australia have decided to strengthen their batting for their first Test against Bangladesh, and have reverted to a four-bowler strategy. Or perhaps they’ve decided that they don’t need five specialist bowlers. Brad Hogg and Andy Bichel were both omitted from the side, as Martin Love and Darren Lehmann both got a look in.
The bowling attack remains formidable: Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee will be supported by Stuart MacGill, who will be hoping, given Bangladesh’s recent record, that he gets a chance to bowl.
With Damien Martyn still unfit, Lehmann and Love have both got a chance to pile up some easy international runs. Adam Gilchrist is slated at bat at No. 7.
Australian XI 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Darren Lehmann, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Martin Love, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Jason Gillespie, 10 Stuart MacGill, 11 Glenn McGrath.
© Wisden CricInfo Ltd
i get that same sympathetic, lump-in-your-throat, knots in your stomach feeling that i do right before bakra eid...good luck bengalis, hope you can last more than two days...(gulp). this will be a massacre methinks. bengali cricket will be set back ten years after this series (remember this is a team that lost to Canada (Canada!) in the World Cup)
Allah hi khair karey !!
**And this brings me to Bangladesh's tour of Pakistan. Shoaib Akhtar has been allowed to miss the series and will be playing for his county, Durham instead. Now we learn that Abdul Razzaq too will miss the series and carry on playing for Middlesex.
We learn from tit-bit media reports that the Bangladesh series provides the opportunity to try out some promising, young players. The principle is wrong. Pakistan must play its best team. One does not experiment at Test level. **
What stupid logic. This guy's an idiot.
**Razzaq available for three home series **
KARACHI: **Pakistan’s seasoned all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has confirmed his availability for the home series against Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand in writing to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Reacting to chief selector Aamer Sohail’s recent statement that he (Razzaq) and Shoaib Akhtar had made themselves unavailable for the series against Bangladesh, Razzaq has confirmed his availability in writing to the Board this week.**
Razzaq is presently playing for Middlesex and his contract runs till the end of the English county season.
But sources said he had decided to ask the county to release him from mid August for national duty as a result of which he was willing to forego his earnings for the affected period.
According to PCB sources, **Razzaq had also conveyed his availability to his Captain Rashid Latif who is also in England and he had also conveyed this to the Board.
However there is a question mark surrounding the availability of all-rounder Azhar Mehmood for the Bangladesh series as his contract with Surrey has been extended.
Sources said that Azhar who played in the recent series in England was keen to continue till the end of the season and then make himself available for selection for the home series against South Africa starting from late September.**
The two other Pakistani players who are playing county cricket and who are certain to be considered for the Bangladesh series, Muhammad Sami and Shoaib Malik, will however return to Pakistan by August 10 when their contacts expire with Kent and Gloucestershire.
The chief selector has said that whichever player makes himself available for selection in August would be considered for the national training camp scheduled to commence from August 10, possibly in Lahore.
Bangladesh arrives on August 13 for its three Tests and five One-day Internationals.
Shoaib Akhtar has already conveyed to the Board and got clearance to skip the series against Bangladesh as he is keen to continue playing for Durham.
Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif is due to return home later this week after remaining back in England after the Natwest series.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mr Xtreme: *
**And this brings me to Bangladesh's tour of Pakistan. Shoaib Akhtar has been allowed to miss the series and will be playing for his county, Durham instead. Now we learn that Abdul Razzaq too will miss the series and carry on playing for Middlesex.
We learn from tit-bit media reports that the Bangladesh series provides the opportunity to try out some promising, young players. The principle is wrong. Pakistan must play its best team. One does not experiment at Test level. **
What stupid logic. This guy's an idiot.
[/QUOTE]
I kind of agree with the author, doesn't a player need to earn their spot rather than just get it on experimental basis.
Look at Australia, you have guys like Bichel, Clarke, Love, McGill, who would be dominating the oppositions had they been from other countries.
Pakistan needs to select top 15 players and need to stick with them for a very long period of time, and not to giveup on them.
You can't expect them to deliver in first couple matches.
Trevor Chappell speaks out for Bangladesh
Wisden CricInfo staff - July 17, 2003
Trevor Chappell, Bangladesh's former coach, believes they are capable of becoming one of the world's leading cricket nations, but in the meantime they must overcome several problems.
Chappell coached the team for a year until late 2002, and rated their prospects highly despite their lowly start to international cricket. "From the point of view of talent and numbers playing the game, they could be the next Pakistan," he said. "Kids are playing [cricket] in any vacant land they can find. They have natural flair."
"But the struggle for land is significant. Half the country is under water most of the time, then when its monsoon time that probably goes to 80 percent. There is not a lot of spare ground for building cricket grounds."
The weather, unfortunately, is not Bangladesh's only stumbling block. "Their administrators talk a good game," added Chappell, "but nothing much happens. Every wicket is low and slow. It is hard to learn good cricket on those sorts of wickets. And their domestic competition is not non-existent, but close to it."
Chappell reported that when the team arrived at Allan Border Field in Brisbane, they practiced for four hours because they had never seen facilities like that before in their lives. "You have these sorts of thing in Australia where volunteers and teachers bring lunches and umpire and score," said Chappell. "In Bangladesh most people are more worried about where their next feed is coming from than anything else."
Very much true ..... especially from someone who has seen and experienced everything himself not so long ago
I think the result that we'll see in 1 1/2 or two days or maybe three days (even though this seems highly unlikely) is for sure not only to blame on the player but also officialls + the infastructure behind this team ..... which is almost non-existent ..... then this is one of the poorest country in the world so the ICC + ACC should step in to help this Test child to stand on its own legs ..... India could play an important role in that by letting them (BD nat. side) compete in their 1st class or something similar ..... maybe also Pakistan but here again Pak has to help himself to sort out its problems at this level .....
I think every bashing they get (doesn't matter from whom) will make them tougher if they r willing to survive .... because everyone now they can't go deeper than this (18 defeats from 19 tests) ..... if they stick to Whatmore then hopefully one day we may able to read the followings "BD beats the Pomms (or any other team) in their own backyard with comfort" ..... Whatmore has passion for this game and he gets wild when he sees when things r not going the way he tought .... for those who can remember the scene of the Asia Cup in Dhaka in 2000 where he got furious when he saw 5 lankan player got RUN OUT and he went into the players room while bashing the door to open it .... for sue not the gentlemen way but that tells the whole story about his commitment to this game .....
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mr Xtreme: *
**And this brings me to Bangladesh's tour of Pakistan. Shoaib Akhtar has been allowed to miss the series and will be playing for his county, Durham instead. Now we learn that Abdul Razzaq too will miss the series and carry on playing for Middlesex.
We learn from tit-bit media reports that the Bangladesh series provides the opportunity to try out some promising, young players. The principle is wrong. Pakistan must play its best team. One does not experiment at Test level. **
What stupid logic. This guy's an idiot.
[/QUOTE]
I'd say it's all relative.
If the team's in a transitional or rebuilding phase, then experimenting with upcoming/promising players and slotting them into the XI may pay off divedends. As you're still trying to form some sort of structure or find a combination that works.
But if the team's pretty much set and chugging along well, there is absolutely no need to play a series with ur already decently-performing unit, and then 'experiment' and give young un's a chance on the next tourney that features 'lesser' competition.
The approach should be to choose ur best 11+4 and blast away the opposition, regardless of their competence, or lack of it. You're representing your nation's colors, nothing less than sending the very best will do (the aussies' attitude is a prime example).
Selecting lesser picked players is fine for lesser matches (i.e already having qualified for the final, or sealed a series etc.) is a good approach. But 'resting' established performers for entire series is just messing with a winning combination.
As such, playing upcoming players during the BD series is a good idea in the situation pak cricket is in at the mo. Although some sort of skeletal structure has been made, there's still no established XI yet.
Shoaib is a different story. He should be allowed to play country cricket wherever he wants, and for however long he wants. In fact, pay him to stay there and threatan club-level cricketers with his exquisite bowling. He's brought more disadvantage to pak cricket than he has (his ever-promised) glory.
Bangladesh in Australia, 2003, 1st Test
Australia v Bangladesh
Marrara Cricket Ground, Darwin
18,19,20,21,22 July 2003 (5-day match)
Toss: Australia
Umpires: RE Koertzen (SA) and DR Shepherd (Eng)
TV Umpire: SJA Taufel
Match Referee: MJ Procter (SA)
Man of the Match:
Close of Play:
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Bangladesh 1st innings R M B 4 6
Hannan Sarkar lbw b McGrath 0 17 13 0 0
Javed Omar c Gilchrist b Gillespie 5 47 37 0 0
Habibul Bashar b Lee 16 53 28 1 0
Mohammad Ashraful c Gillespie b McGrath 23 67 52 1 0
Al Sahariar b Lee 0 10 9 0 0
Alok Kapali lbw b MacGill 0 4 2 0 0
+Khaled Mashud lbw b McGrath 11 66 63 1 0
*Khaled Mahmud c Gilchrist b MacGill 21 42 39 3 0
Mashrafe Mortaza c Gilchrist b Gillespie 3 5 0 0
Tapash Baisya not out 0 2 0 0
Extras (b 1, lb 5, w 6, nb 3) 15
Total (9 wickets, 41.1 overs) 94
To Bat: Manjural Islam.
FoW: 1-4 (Hannan Sarkar, 4.3 ov), 2-26 (Javed Omar, 11.4 ov),
3-36 (Habibul Bashar, 16.2 ov), 4-39 (Al Sahariar, 18.5 ov),
5-40 (Alok Kapali, 19.6 ov), 6-60 (Mohammad Ashraful, 26.6 ov),
7-87 (Khaled Mashud, 38.6 ov), 8-91 (Khaled Mahmud, 39.6 ov),
9-94 (Mashrafe Mortaza, 41.1 ov).
Bowling O M R W
McGrath 13 6 20 3
Gillespie 7.1 1 24 2 (2w)
Lee 8 2 23 2 (3nb)
MacGill 13 4 21 2[list]
thanks to nadia its sorted i have done it