Wilted
Co-hosts Bangladesh bowed out of cricket's 50-overs World Cup with a whimper. Embarrassing defeats, caused by abysmal batting displays against the West Indies and then South Africa cost them dear. England required a favour from South Africa to ensure their progress, but the Tigers did them a favour too. South Africa thrashed Bangladesh.
The Tigers' skipper Shakib al-Hasan knew that expectations would be high. “As we are playing at home we have great expectations from our home supporters, but we have a realistic chance to go through to the second round if we played well and then we'll think about from there,” he told us exclusively.
Al-Hasan is still learning the art of captaincy. He is in charge of a young team with exciting talents such as flamboyant opening batsman Tamim Iqbal. However, they failed to reach their objective, being the only co-host in this World Cup not to advance to the second stage.
Unrealistic Expectations
Expectations were high in the country, yet Bangladeshi cricket is used to being judged by unrealistic demands. Condemned as not being good enough during last year's mini-tour of England by several commentators a history lesson shows that when India, New Zealand and the West Indies gained Test Match status, they were awful on the biggest stage. It took several years for any of them to win their first series, let alone be competitive on the world stage. Sri Lanka was no different. Why is Bangladesh being judged so soon and by different standards?
“Bangladesh has very poor resources really,” former Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) President John Barclay told us. “I’ve been there a couple of times prior to them coming on board as full members. These different areas, MCC has targeted and done their best through the affiliate and associate countries of ICC to go out there take small tours, give coaching and umpiring courses – coaching for youngsters, I’ve done lots of that and its been a large measure of success. Of course you could say what about follow up? How does all this lead on and the answer is 'I don’t really know exactly,' but the fact is that it does something. It is a little boost to morale. It makes a lot of difference all around the world.”
Bangladesh has a comparatively small pool of talent to draw on and has to contend with grinding poverty in the midst of a global financial crisis. How can they be expected to become world-beaters overnight. They have disappointed in terms of the expectations – wilted under tremendous and unfair pressure on them. The home of their captain was stoned and the West Indies' bus attacked by mistake. Despite such pressure they defeated England and had a chance of reaching the quarter-finals until their last match.
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Luck of the Irish
Australian captain Ricky Ponting outlined his thoughts on the development of Irish cricket last season. Joyce welcomed his contribution. But while Joyce doesn't see Test cricket as an option in the foreseeable future, and limited overs cricket as a better option, how does Ireland get to the next stage if they lose their best players to England. Funding and opportunities are important as that leads to exposure, which creates funding opportunities and the opportunity for Irish players to test themselves against the best in the world while wearing the green of Ireland.
“I think it’s important that we keep getting into the big tournaments,” Joyce told us. “That’s the most important thing. Exposure’s important at home, because it’s one of the lesser games. There’s obviously three or four sports much bigger than cricket, so we’ve just got to keep trying to get to the big competitions – the World Cups – and keep performing and keep getting games against the big teams and putting in decent performances, because I think that’s the key to keep the exposure there. All the young players will come up and hopefully the standard will improve and there’ll be a bit more money coming in and it becomes a virtuous circle where everything starts improving.”
Developing Associates
Last year, the then President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), John Barclay gave us an extensive interview. “For years the MCC has given the majority of its support to associate and affiliate members of ICC not the main Test Match playing countries, but to those beneath them such as Kenya and some of the African countries – indeed some European countries and South America,” he explained. “They really put their heart and soul into coaching tours in particular, so that has been the main thrust.”
Sadly Kenya seems to have regressed after the triumph of the last World Cup in the West Indies. An embarrassing thrashing by New Zealand in their opening match sent them back to the drawing board. They were dismissed for just 69 and the Kiwis knocked off the runs in just eight overs without losing a wicket. Nevertheless, the Dutch put up a respectable show, narrowly losing to England.
“I think Dutch cricket is a different subject really,” Barclay told us. “They’ve quietly thrived for quite a long time, being much more at the centre of things – produced some very good cricketers and cricket teams and the fact that they’ve done so well isn’t so much of a surprise, but it’s very commendable.”
So what should be done to take them to the next level. Even now they remain part-timers. Captain Pete Borren wants to see investment. They need funding to move to the next level. Without it Dutch cricket will eventually stagnate and an opportunity to spread the game will be lost.
“I think when ICC come to consider and this is really an ICC matter as opposed to an MCC matter, although MCC will support wherever it can, I think all consideration is given by ICC to how best the game can be developed and players of countries can be encouraged and it’s encouragement that’s so important, so your point is a very valid one,” Barclay said. “If it is considered an encouragement to see where different nations can take their game forward, then that is something that ICC will look at very closely and wish to try and help if they can.”
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Competition and Progress
Bangladesh is in a period of transition and development with a young team. They need time and more according to al-Hasan. He has already set notable achievements before his 24th birthday. Last season he became the first Bangladeshi international to play in county cricket. We witnessed his demolition of Middlesex at Lord's where he took 7 for 32. “It's very special for me,” he told us. “I got seven, so it's quite a memory for me.”
Others are likely to follow him and he hopes to return. “I'd love to play,” he says. “I love the atmosphere and the grounds here, so I enjoyed my time in Worcester – all over actually – so the two months I've been in England it was really good for me. I had a great experience, so I'm hoping to come back.”
Experience
Experience of different conditions can only help, but English counties have their own needs and quite rightly put those first, so Bangladeshi cricketers need another solution. “I thought we learned a lot from England, especially at the Test Matches and then we came back to play the ODI series,” he said. “We won a game, so that was a great experience for our boys and I thought we adapted to the conditions well and more we play, the more we will learn in these sort of conditions, because at home we'll get slow and low bounce wickets, but here [England] it's different, so we have to address it and I think we had a great experience this time.”
Al-Hasan boasts the best single-innings bowling analysis for his country in a Test Match. Two an a half years ago he played in the first Test Match at Chittagong against New Zealand. They lost, but his bowling gave them a real chance, 7 for 36. With typical modesty he doesn't even know his own exceptional figures. “I got seven wickets in an innings against New Zealand,” he says. “I don't know the bowling figures exactly, but I got seven wickets against New Zealand.”
Competitive?
So what will it take to help them compete? “Lots of touring to places like England and Australia and South Africa, although we are not playing much cricket over in those places, so we're playing in our home conditions more often than not,” he says. “I think it will be a great experience for all the boys there if we come to England or South Africa every year or every two years, so that will be a great experience for us rather than after five years or ten years.”
While they beat the West Indies on their recent tour there, the West Indies Cricket Board contributed significantly to that loss by fielding a sub-standard team during a contract dispute. A win is a win, but it provided a false measure, so how long before they turn into a team able to hold their own against any of the top teams on merit?
“I think the way we are playing, the guys are still inexperienced as far as the Tests are concerned,” says al-Hasan. “We're doing very well in our home conditions, but we need to improve when it comes to South Africa, England or Australia, so we need to improve on those areas. If these guys play for another five years we'll be a very competitive team.” |
Development
Cricket's 50-over World Cup has a unique selling point. It guarantees the development of minnows at the premier event. The Associate Nations are a step below the elite cricketing nations, but if cricket is to develop into a worldwide sport, then minnows must be turned into competitive cricketing nations. Cricket achieves this during World Cups. The best of the Associate Nations can qualify for these tournaments and further their development.
Canada is in the Indian sub-continent for experience – they have a long way to go – and Kenya seems to have regressed, but Ireland is a good test of the intentions of the International Cricket Council (ICC). They are among the better Associate Nations. The Dutch are a good measure as well. England captain Andrew Strauss agrees. When Ireland turned down the chance to play in the CB40 tournament, the Netherlands seized their chance.
“They’ve shown they are very capable at short forms of the game, so I think they’ll be a competitive side,” Strauss told Empower-Sport Magazine exclusively last year. “The more sides that are competitive at international level the better it is for the game. It’s as simple as that. We need sides to be competitive and probably the only way that sides like Holland will become more competitive is from having more exposure, so I suppose in that sense it is a good thing that they are getting that exposure.”
Pom-Bashing
Ireland found an unlikely champion last year. Australian captain Ricky Ponting championed their cause, bemoaning the fact that Ireland's best players ended up playing for England, thereby depriving the Irish of their best talent. Ed Joyce sees it from both sides. “I thought it was good from Ricky Ponting, because he only said positive things about Irish cricket and the development of it,” Joyce told us.
But Ireland needs those players to reach its potential. “[Eoin] Morgan’s obviously making his way for England at the moment and obviously I did the same thing,” Joyce said. “You know I can never criticise that. You know the opportunity’s there for people, but hopefully in a few years time that option is that Ireland is playing good cricket and there’s enough money there to pay these guys professionally, which isn’t the case at the moment.”
Ponting was accused of Pom-Bashing, but Joyce doesn't see it that way. “I thought it was quite positive from Ponting because he didn’t just go and play the game in Ireland, he actually went and he got involved in interviews and really said some positive things about Irish cricket,” said Joyce. “Obviously I think he made comments about Irish players coming here and that they should stay and play for Ireland and that it would be good if the ICC helped that out. That would be ideal.” |
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