Testing times for Bangladesh
Still in learning curve of Test cricket
The ultimate goal for a cricketer is to play Test cricket. Bangladesh cricketers are lagging behind in the longer version. The Independent Sport has made an attempt to assess all the pros and cons so as to find out improvements in Test cricket in a three-part series report. Following is the first instalment.
Syed Mohammed Pithu
Part I
Although Bangladesh has achieved considerable success in One-Day Internationals and Twenty20, Test cricket still remains a puzzle for the nation. Since its elevation to Test cricket in 2000, Bangladesh is yet to beat any top-ranking opponent in the longer format.
As of now, Bangladesh has played 93 Tests, winning only seven all against much weaker teams. It has beaten Zimbabwe five times and scored two wins against West Indies that fielded its second string side following the star players financial spat with their board.
The team has been more successful in ODIs, having won 98 of its 312 matches. It has also played 62 Twenty20 Internationals, winning 20 of them. Bangladesh is currently ranked ninth in Tests, seventh in ODIs and 10th in T20s by the ICC.
Bangladesh holds the record for most consecutive losses in Tests (21, between 2000 and 2002) and ODIs (23, between 2001 and 2004). After gaining the status of a full member with the ICC, Bangladesh had to wait until 2004 for its first ODI win since the 1999 World Cup. The team on the losing side on that occasion was Zimbabwe, which also participated in Bangladeshs maiden Test victory in 2005. In 2009, Bangladesh toured the West Indies for two Tests and by winning both, thereby securing its first overseas series victory.
A total of 36 among Bangladeshs 71 defeats in 93 Tests came at innings margins. It has drawn 15 Tests, 10 of which came thanks to the blessings of the weather. These stats clearly indicate how vulnerable the country is as a Test team, a version which demands utter skill, determination and fitness in all departments.
The stats look horriblefor which the players could easily be blamed. But at the same time, the question arises as to how many Tests they have effectively played. On paper, they have played 93 Tests in 16 years, almost six Tests per year, a not-so-bad opportunity for a new Test nation. But what has hurt Bangladesh cricket in the longer version is that the country did not get opportunity to play Tests consistently. In fact, apart from some individual flashes of brilliance, the country has nothing to show in the Test format.
It has played 64 Tests in its first 10 years after getting Test status during which playing the longer version was indeed akin to riding the learning curve. But when Bangladesh attained maturity at the international level and started winning ODI matches on a regular basis, it lost the opportunity to play more Test cricket. It was the time to play Test cricket consistently, but lopsided cricket diplomacy and the elite Test nations reluctance to play against Bangladesh badly hindered its progress.
While India remained a regular visitor to this country, it never hosted Bangladesh. Australia never played a Test series against Bangladesh after 2006, while England last played a Test series against Bangladesh in 2010.
Weve always lacked a proper cricket calendar and a long-term goal regarding what we want to achieve in Test cricket, said Gazi Ashraf Hossain, former Bangladesh skipper and a long-serving director in the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
When we started achieving considerable success in ODI cricket, our performance in Test cricket should also have gone on an upward spiral. Unfortunately, we couldnt demonstrate any success at the Test level. Lately, we have started playing good cricket in Tests. But were expected to win some Test matches against quality teams, which we still havent been able to do. Our relationship with the other boards has always been good, but we couldnt realise more Tests from them, he said.
Our lacklustre performance at this level is one of the reasons why the other boards always consider playing Test cricket against us to be commercially unviable. At the same time, we also couldnt devise any strategic plan for ourselves, Hossain explained.
In the first decade of Tests, Bangladesh cricket saw a rush of Test players, which never helped the team form a settled Test team. The Test cap was given with such ease that it that seemed playing at this level was very easy. Some 59 players made their Test debut in Bangladeshs first decade in Tests, easily the highest number among all cricketing nations.
At the same time, the structure of domestic cricket was substandard. The National Cricket League (NCL) was termed a picnic league because no player seemed to be serious. The BCB then started franchise-based Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) in order to make NCL competitive and a path to achieve Test caps was set. The BCB sent a clear message that if you do not play well in NCL, you cannot play in the BCL, and if you do not play in the BCL, you will not be considered for Test selection. The board also increased the remuneration and, from that point, the league seemed to have captured the players attention.
First class cricket should have been made competitive after we got Test status, but we had lacked vision, as I said earlier. But the good thing is that a plan was set. And when the domestic first class cricket league started being competitive, the standard of Bangladeshs Test cricket began improving. You need time to succeed. I hope that Bangladesh will start getting results in the near future. The team was unable to stretch a Test match to the fifth day just some years ago, but now we can play up to five days at a stretch against any opposition, Hossain said.
The board has also shifted its focus to gain overseas success in all formats of the game. Since most of the wickets outside the subcontinent are seaming tracks, the BCB emphasised the need to prepare pace-friendly wickets. The grounds committee was advised and it duly did so. This encouraged our pacers, as evidenced in the rise of our pacers, said Cricket Operations chairman Akram Khan.
But what is needed badly is that Test cricket should be played consistently. If West Indies had not decided to tour Bangladesh next May or if India had not decided to host Bangladesh for the proposed one-off Test in August, the country would have to play its first Test of 2016 in October, when England is scheduled to visit here. It means that Bangladesh would have to play a Test series after 15 months since its last Test against South Africa.
Such a large gap in playing Tests certainly isnt going to help Bangladeshs cause, observed Naimur Rahman, the chairman of the tournament committee.
Test cricket is the prelude to the success of other forms of cricket. So you cant deny the importance of Tests. You can play T20 tournaments, but you must manage time for Test cricket. Otherwise, your skills wont develop, and you are bound to get a nosedive in other formats at some point, said Rahman, a BCB director and also the first Test captain of the country.
Hossain pointed out the need to divide Cricket Operations operations for domestic cricket and operations for international cricketin a bid to run both domestic first-class cricket and Test cricket smoothly.
For improving Test cricket, youve to continue first-class cricket and International cricket at the same time. If you split the cricket operations committee, it will impart diversity to the work. The chairman may co-ordinate these two sections. The operations for International cricket will work exclusively to increase the number of Tests, while the operations for domestic cricket will look after the standard of domestic cricket and ensure that all players take first-class cricket seriously.
