How Bangladesh can crack test cricket

Nobody was expecting Bangladesh to present much of a challenge to England on this mini-tour, and the results suggest that they didn’t. The scorecards don’t reflect the story of the series entirely accurately, however. Bangladesh did have periods where they were able to dominate England, particularly with the bat. Unfortunately for them, when England got on top things tended to go very wrong very quickly.

All of that said, they are improving, especially when compared with their previous tour in 2005, when it was hard to see where any improvement was coming from.  There is now very little justification in calls to remove them from Test cricket, but there is still some way for them to go before they can compete on a level.  So how can they do it?

Persist with the opening pair

Tamim Iqbal is easily the Tigers’ best batsman, and it is fair to say that he is genuinely test class.  For three of the four innings here, he attacked England with Sehwag-ish ferocity.  This is always a cue for English bowlers to start spraying the ball around and at times they seemed fairly helpless against the onslaught.  He ended the series as the leading run scorer from either side with 268.

His opening partner, Imrul Kayes, is a complete contrast.  With an average in the low teens before this series, nothing was expected of him, yet he managed to produce three dogged performances in support of Tamim.  Partnerships of 88, 185 & 126 were far better than anything Strauss and Cook managed for England, and the one occasion they failed induced a complete collapse in the 2nd innings at Old Trafford.

So it’s fair to say that the opening partnership offers Bangladesh their best chance of making a competitive total.  Junaid Siddique at 3 also offered dogged resistance and the top order at least looks reasonably solid.

Replace Mohammad Ashraful

Once the great hope of Bangladeshi cricket, and the youngest player in history to score a test century, Ashraful has since become Crashrafool, a cruel parody of himself.  He comes in, he plays a few shots, he goes back out again.  Despite being second on the all-time Bangladesh run-scoring list for tests, he has still only passed fifty on 12 occasions in 107 innings.  Habibul Bashar, who leads that list, has passed fifty 27 times in 99 innings.

Of those 12 innings of 50+, only one has come outside the sub-continent.  The result is that Bangladesh’s middle order is very soft, and lacks the kind of player who can dig in and prevent a collapse after early wickets have fallen.

It is, quite simply, time to move on.

Gain exposure in county cricket

Shakib al Hasan has already been signed up by Worcestershire, and Tamim Iqbal cannot be far behind.  A lack of experience in conditions outside of the sub-continent is holding back Bangladesh’s development, so it is important that their best players get the opportunity to learn whenever possible.

Their batting lineup looked reasonably comfortable when overhead conditions were good, but as soon as there was cloud cover and a swinging ball they suddenly looked clueless, hanging their bats out to try in a procession of mediocrity.

In many ways, a place in a competitive county team (i.e. not Surrey!!) would be more beneficial than being regularly thrashed as part of the test side.  Many observers have pinpointed the lack of exposure to county cricket to be one of the symptoms behind the West Indies decline, whilst the Australians are always keen to see their young players gain that experience.

Don’t overburden Shakib

It’s a hard enough job to play as a test all-rounder, let alone as captain as well – just ask Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff.  Shakib al Hasan is Bangladesh’s best bowler by some distance, and is currently 3rd in the ICC Test All-rounder rankings.

With such a young team it is vital that the captain leads from the front, being as he is without senior professionals to call upon, but Shakib himself will need continued support from the coaching team.  There was much criticism amongst commentators for some of the field placings, both for their tactical naivety and defensive nature.

Whilst defensiveness is completely understandable for a team so used to heavy defeats, their fielding and tactical plans are one area that they can compete in more easily with more talented opposition.

Don’t underburden Mahmadullah

Mahmadullah appears to be a good quality all-rounder, offering an off-spinning contrast to Shakib and capable enough to have scored a test century.  Indeed, his batting average is superior to many of the top order batsmen.  It was therefore a mystery to see him bowling only when Bangladesh were under the cosh and being neglected a number 8.

This led to Bangladesh playing 3 spinners at Old Trafford, although that is also in part due to the ineffectiveness of their pace attack at Lord’s.

Be patient with themselves

In some cases it can take decades for a nation to start competing at test level.  Our modern era does not lend itself to patience but Bangladesh, and the rest of the cricket world, must allow time for their domestic structure to grow and develop.  With a large population they have the raw talent to work with, but perfecting scouting and coaching systems is an inexact science.

With some cricket boards around the world tinkering with their domestic setup like an amateur racing driver does with his car (yes, ECB, I’m talking about you), the Bangladesh cricket authorities need to ensure that they resist the temptation to change for the sake of change.

Clearly there are areas to improve on – such as producing higher quality fast bowlers (see below) – but above all it will take time.

Produce better fast bowlers

If you main new ball bowler has a test average of 45 after 29 matches, you know you have a big problem.  Whilst Shahadat Hossain did manage a five-for at Lord’s it was mostly through persistance against batsmen trying to hurry the scoring along than any great incisiveness.  Shafiul Islam bowled a good spell on the 1st day at Old Trafford, but that was about it.

Bangladesh wouldn’t be the first sub-continent nation to struggle to produce world class fast bowlers, but both India and Sri Lanka have improved somewhat in recent years.  Bangladesh need to find some faster, more accurate bowlers who can ask questions of the batsmen rather than always having to provide the answers.

That’s easier said than done, but they must find a way.

Learn how to attack the opposition

There were several occasions where Bangladesh had England on the back foot or at least had them thinking about being on the back foot – at 289/2 in their 2nd innings at Lord’s, the first morning at Old Trafford when England were 153/4 with Pietersen out – but they never looked willing to take on the challenge and press home the advantage.

Many weaker teams get struck by a sort of cricketing vertigo where they get into good positions and then find a way to lose – remember England in the 1990s?  Bangladesh aren’t exactly getting themselves into good positions, but they are getting themselves into not bad positions.

The next trick is to learn to not release the pressure on incoming batsmen by removing close fielders and placing them on the boundary, or by bowling floaty half-volleys at 80mph, or to prompt a batting collapse by chasing wide deliveries and nicking them behind.  Again, a bit like English sides of the 1990s, they tend to do daft things when what they really want to do is bowl a good length on off-stump or work the singles.

Perhaps what they need is Nasser Hussain…

Get into the winning habit

Obviously.