A view from the Gully (19 May 1999)

19 May 1999

A view from the Gully

Tawfiq Aziz Khan

Bangladesh made a painful debut in the Cricket World Cup 1999 at Chelmsford on Monday. Very few expected a miracle from the team but there were supporters around hoping against hope, or day dreaming may be, for that to happen. It is not a sin or crime to wish for the best to happen to a nation that has very few positive achievements in the field of sports. Bangladesh provided the lowest scoring match of the tournament, so far.

Not that there had not been upsets in World Cup Cricket in the past. In 1983, Zimbabwe, the qualifiers and rank outsiders, brought off the most spectacular upset defeating Australia by only 13 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. It was not a low scoring match either. Zimbabwe scored an impressive 239 from 60 overs and losing 6 wickets and then restricted the Australians including the likes of Border, Wessels, Marsh and Wood, to 226 for 6. And then again in 1992 they beat the England side in Australia that eventually made the finals against Pakistan. Why, only in the last World Cup the Kenyans subdued the mighty West Indians.

So, instances are there, we only wish to set an example by ourselves. The big question is whether we are mentally upto it. Dreaming is one thing, achieving is another. Nothing will fall on our lap from the heavens unless we achieve it with our intelligence coupled with the sweat of the brow. The selection of the team has come up for some criticism which, we hope, will be answered by the team management in due course. But the so-called specialised batsmen must admit the responsibility for such a dismal performance by a team that has done well in the warm-up matches. The two most experienced batsmen Aminul and Akram displayed the kind of temperament and approach to the match which can be compared to the school back-benchers trying to sneak out of the class only to be caught by the teacher: They perished because of their impetuosity and took the team down with them. True, Allott and Nash were bowling well and the team was partially on the ropes. But there were plenty of overs left for consolidation. Instead both these batsmen played pompous shots and perished. If the seniors become restive without provocations what can the juniors do? Imagine, on a perfect wicket Gavin Larsen running away with 3 wickets for a paltry 19 runs. With such a score to defend the bowlers, I must admit, had stuck to their job valiantly and brought respectability to the defeat as well as to the score of Bangladesh.

The result of the match is not as important as the manner in which the top players committed themselves. There was hardly any drive to do well in the historic appearance.

But all is not over yet. Four more matches are still to be played and we will look forward to better days, hopefully.

Source :: The Daily Star