It's not Test cricket
They forced us to forget the success in ODI matches by their poor show in Test cricket. The success in NatWest series has gone into oblivion. Its seems the batsmen don't know how to play Test cricket, they surely forget that Test cricket is played over five days. They don't want to spend much time at the crease!
When they see the red cherry is coming to them they become mad & want to send the ball to the fence. As a result, they fall like nine pins. I don't understand how a Test team could be bowled out in only 28 overs.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. I'm sure there is an unhealthy competition between Bangladesh & Zimbabwe to determine the weakest team in the elite club. Just compare the Ban-SL & Ind-Zim series with the Ashes series, they looked so pale. There was no competition at all. We all knew the inevitable result before the first ball was bowled.
The performance of the Bangladesh cricket team during their recent tour of Sri Lanka was dismal in all respects. The most tragic part of the Test and one day matches was that the players, particularly the batsmen appeared to be desperate to commit suicide and Ashraful was the leader in showing the way . This demonstrated the players' lack of commitment and dedication to the team. Instead of learning from the past mistakes, they seemed to be more eager to repeat the mistakes. It was like "Comedy of Errors". As a result, during the matches, the commentators made fun of the whole team which eventually tarnished the image of the country as a cricket playing nation. I wonder why the Cricket Board is investing so much money for the game which is bringing nothing but humiliation to the whole nation.
However, the blame must not be put on the players alone. The Board should concentrate more on finding out what is going wrong in the series of poor performances, instead of being busy in politics. It should take immediate measures for arranging longer version games in our domestic cricket. Fifty over matches in Corporate Cricket League and Dhaka League are not paying dividends. And also the Picnic League in the name of National Cricket League will not be very different from the 50 over matches since the matches in this event are not at all competitive.
Therefore, I think the following measures are very much necessary to save our cricket:
a. Arrange three/four days match
b. Make the matches competitive.
c. Employ specialised bowling , batting coaches
d. Be impartial in selecting players for the national team
e. Arrange necessary training courses for the psychological development of the players
f. Implement the law of reward or punishment by increasing or reducing the fees in terms of the performance of the players.
h. Above all, dedication and efficiency in the Board management are needed.
i. Improve the quality of the local umpires.
M. Haque Chowdhury Dept. of English Dhaka Collegem
Enough is enough. This is the time to put Bangladesh out of Test cricket. The sooner the ICC takes the decision, the better.
These cricketers are making mockery of Test cricket.
Mamun Ahmed Troy, Michigan