Wishing good luck to Bangladesh fans

Our trip was fraught with potential difficulties relating to (among other things) language, and the fact that none of us had visited your country before. The fact that few of these difficulties materialised was entirely due to the help we received from people everywhere we went. Those locals who went out of their way to show us the best value places to eat and drink deserve a special mention. They know who they are!

A special mention must also go to the Bangladesh supporters we sat with in Dhaka and -- despite the efforts of the M A Aziz Stadium authorities who wanted to segregate us in an overpriced section -- Chittagong. It was good to meet so many knowledgeable supporters with such enthusiasm for the game.

Bangladesh supporters deserve a winning team. Under Dave Whatmore and with lots of hard work by the BCB in improving the structure of cricket at the lower levels, I'm certain that this will happen eventually.

Please be patient though, and understand that these things will not happen overnight. Good luck for the future and hope that next time we visit, the two teams will be vying with each other for top place amongst Test-playing nations.

Faulty selection dogs cricket performance

Sulav Barua, Criminal Justice and Criminology, Middlesex university, London, UK

The omission of Habibul Bashar Sumon from the BD squad of the 2nd ODI against England has proved erroneous. It was a wrong strategy too. I do not get the point as to how Jamal Babu got into the sqad and on what basis. The inclusion of Nafis Iqbal in the one day squad has not also given any sign of selection maturity. How on earth did Maniruzzaman get into the best eleven while the morale of the team had been on a low flow after a thrashing defeat in Chittagong? Wasn't it imprudent enough to send a talent like Moni on the pitch to win over all the adversities?

Well, the multi-skil theory introduced by coach Dave Whatmore is consistent with the strategy of ODI, but when uncapped and inexperienced player like Jamal Babu got preference to Durjoy, Sumit and the likes, it spelt trouble.

We understand that Sumon is not as much good in ODI as he is in the Test. He is a talented stroke maker. He plays ODI and yields poor run show. My point is why he is not being included for number six slot in ODI which demands aggression alongside patience? I think he must be successful at this stage, given his style of playing. Moreover, if we are under pressure to omit someone else from the team, it should be captain itself who is nothing but a captain. Bangladesh can not show off the luxury of bearing a player only on consideration of having the capability to lead the team.

Another thing is the non-consideration of Shahriar Hossain Bidutt for the opening slot. He's experienced, aggressive and a proven performer. One should have considered him before paying much attention to Nafis and Moni.

Cricket is more a psychological and tactical game. A cricketer has to show character, determination, girt and resolve to stay put in the international level. But it is the responsibility of the selectors to scout out who holds real potentials to succeed.

We hope the selectors would bear sign of their cricketing maturity and wisdom and select a team that will yield good performance to make us proud. If they continue making wrongs, we must say we do not need a selection panel with such a poor standing.

Batting blues

Nazmus Saquib, Mayakanan, Dhaka

I am always very hopeful about our cricket team, but, at the moment, I am very depressed over our selectors as well as the batters. Habibul Bashar is definitely our no 1 batsman and though his ODI performance is not impressive, his exclusion is not acceptable at all. Also, our batsmen should have played more sensibly.

Anyway, we will have to wait and see for the 3rd ODI whether our batting blues continues or not.

Making history in cricket too

Faiz , Dhaka

I watched recent matches between England and Bangladesh (the So-called Tigers...meeoow). It's really frustrating to see that there is still no significant improvement in the Bangladesh team. The only good thing that happened to the Bangladesh cricket recently was, probably, the appointment of Dave Whatmore as the team coach.

Bangladesh has already played 25 Test matches and some ODIs, but hasn't won a single test/one-day so far. I get scared whenever I think what would happen if Bangladesh keep losing like this. It will be history no doubt, but a palatable one.