Story Bangladesh: From Minnows to Tigers! (End of England tour)

[qpeedore]

Dutch - you noticed something I didn't. Mendis did indeed get 10 wickets in the match. I perhaps should have described the final few wickets better if I had picked up on it while playing and writing.

It was something you sort of come to expect from Bangladesh, collapses and low scores. Still it hurts me every time.

Graphics are unlikely. This game is in 2012, and if the story keeps up for a while then computer generated players are going to end up playing. I can't use real graphics for them, of course. And I can't use the game's graphics because they really are poor. Right now I want to get myself into the story itself without worrying about anything except writing. You're not obligated to read it, but I hope you do!

Thinking

I take a look at my team. Have I really picked the best 15? I decide to do some in-depth analysis. Start at the beginning.

Losing the toss was unfortunate, but it happens. The guys should have really exploited the conditions better. It was best for batting early on, but still things were in place for a strong bowling show. It?s impossible to win the toss all the time.

Dolar Mahmud ? Not very threatening on the first day. Unusual for him. Performed way better on the second day, which is more the norm. Bowled very aggressively and got the batsmen in trouble often. He deserves his spot. He stays in the first eleven.

Tareq Aziz ? Really very disappointing. Hardly looked threatening except at the very beginning with the new ball. I was not impressed with him and he?s been going downhill for some time now. Probably needs to be dropped for the next match, giving Shahzada a chance.

Farhad Reza ? Only took the single wicket and scored zero runs in both innings. Hmm. There is nobody to cover him. Poor squad selection on my part. He?s going to stay in the team simply because there?s nobody else I can play. I can?t go in with two quick bowlers. I suppose I can keep Aziz and bring Shahzada in for Reza. But Reza has really only failed in this particular match. Aziz has been going this way for some time. Reza therefore has to keep his spot.

Shakib Al Hasan ? He?s got to stay. As the most experienced spinner in the side and also having taken 4 wickets, he keeps his spot just for his bowling alone. He also made 50 in the first innings. That is more reason to keep him.

Mohammed Mahmadullah ? No wickets from average bowling. But he?s really there for his batting. Scores of 18 and 40. Not spectacular but considering the rest of the individual scores, he keeps his spot.

Tamim Iqbal ? Can?t drop him. He?s been signed by Middlesex for the county season and has been performing well for them. Also scored 49 in the second innings. But he was out to a horrible shot. Chalk that up to a lapse in concentration. Stays in the side.

Shahriar Nafees ? Scores of 0 and 9. Want to drop him but I know he?s been consistent over time. Very tough call. Majumder would want that first Test cap badly. Can he put out a good showing? But Nafees has the experience I need. This is Sri Lanka. Against New Zealand or the West Indies I?d be more inclined to give a guy his debut. This is a tough call. But I have to decide. It really couldn?t hurt to give the guy a try, can it? But the experience?I think I?ll have to stick with Nafees.

Naeem Islam ? A victim to great bowling in the first innings and provided some resistance in the second. Has to stay.

Rajin Saleh ? Got starts in both innings. I know what the guy is capable of and he needs to retain his spot to show me.

Shuvagoto Hom ? Actually, I took a big chance picking him and he delivered somewhat. Mid-30s in both innings isn?t too shabby. Stays in the side.

Mushfiqur Rahim ? Dropped a simple catch that most guys take in their sleep. Batting was nothing to remember either. Swaps spots with Nadimuddin and warms the bench for the next game.

Probable squad
Tamim Iqbal (Bat)
Shahriar Nafees (Bat)
Mohammed Mahmadullah (All)
Rajin Saleh (CAPT - Bat)
Naeem Islam (All)
Shuvagoto Hom (Bat)
Shakib Al Hasan (All)
Nadimuddin (WK)
Farhad Reza (All)
Mohammed Shahzada (Bowl)
Dolar Mahmud (Bowl)

First day of the next Test tomorrow.

 

[Dutchmen]

Haha! pretty long chat about the player (Reza) you had a bad through about him and kept in the playing eleven? he even plays for Middlesex and has been performing well for them, why don't he perform well for his team?

It really couldn’t hurt to give the guy a try, can it?

LMOA!

 

[qpeedore]

It's only a probable team. I may or may not change things around when I get an idea of the pitch and whatnot. And Reza doesn't play for Middlesex in the game. Tamim plays for them and Hom plays for Warwickshire.

 

[qpeedore]

2nd Test ? Day 1

Weather forecast and pitch report

Fair conditions throughout. Some cloud cover is expected around days 4 and 5, but rain is unlikely. Looks like perfect conditions for cricket for the entire match.

This pitch is a very good cricketing wicket. There is help for the seam bowlers early on, but that is only if they put the ball in the right areas. Otherwise, the batsmen should enjoy batting on this one. There should be big scores for whoever bats first. Must win the toss and bat to set a good total to start things off.

Squads
Sri Lanka
Kumar Sangakarra (CAPT ? WKB)
Lahiru Thirimanne (Bat)
Angelo Matthews (All)
Mahela Jayawardene (Bat)
Dinesh Chandimal (Bat)
Chamara Kapugedera (Bat)
Thilan Samaraweera (All)
Saliya Saman (Bowl)
Mangala Kumara (Bowl)
Indika Karunatilleke (All)
Ajantha Mendis (Bowl)

The spinner Karunaratne makes way for the seamer Karunatilleke in this match, evidence that Sri Lanka perhaps feel that there may be more in this one for the seamers than the slower bowlers. Otherwise the winning team from the last match is retained.

Watch out for

Kumar Sangakarra - He was out to a dubious LBW decision in the last match for a low score. No doubt he will be hungry to score runs.

Saliya Saman ? Bangladesh could not handle him when he got going in the previous match, and he will want to stamp his authority on them once again.


Bangladesh
Tamim Iqbal (Bat)
Shahriar Nafees (Bat)
Mohammed Mahmadullah (All)
Rajin Saleh (CAPT - Bat)
Shakib Al Hasan (All)
Shuvagoto Hom (Bat)
Nadimuddin (WK)
Farhad Reza (All)
Tareq Aziz (Bowl)
Mohammed Shahzada (Bowl)
Dolar Mahmud (Bowl)

Naeem Islam is dropped for Mohammed Shahzada for this contest. With both teams playing the extra seamer, it is obvious now that they feel spinners might struggle in this one. Nadimuddin also comes in for Rahim, who had a poor showing last time.

Watch out for

Shuvagoto Hom ? He showed in the last match that he can get some runs. He has to carry on and make a big score in this one, and certainly he is more than capable of it.

Mohammed Shahzada ? The young fast bowler has had a good start to his Test career, and he will want to carry that good form into this match and make a strong showing once again.

The toss

The two captains are out in the middle. Sangakarra tosses once again, and Saleh sticks to his ?Heads? call. The coin lands head-up and Saleh decides to bat first. He says that the pitch looks great for batting at the moment and they want to get a good score on the board before they have to come out into the field. Sangakarra smiles and says that they took 20 wickets in a short time in the last match, and they are looking to do that once again.

Play ? Day 1

Tamim and Nafees made their way to the middle. If any nerves were present as a result of the previous match, they showed none. Tamim took first strike and got off the mark off of the third ball of the innings with a pushed single to midwicket. He survived a loud shout for a catch behind the wicket, but the umpire made the right decision of not out.

The openers went about their job very cautiously. Only 26 runs were scored in the first hour of play. But more importantly, no wickets fell. There were some plays and misses, but Bangladesh would say that the edge was not found and that is the important thing. As the opening bowlers tired, Tamim and Nafees took advantage of the few loose deliveries and got themselves the odd boundary or two. The fifty partnership came up with about half an hour to go until lunch.

Mendis, who had come on first change, was the man to break the partnership after a few overs, getting Tamim to play at one that came off of the edge and went to the slip for a good catch. He went for 37 with the score on 67. Mahmadullah and Nafees took the score to 73 at lunch. A slow session, but with only one wicket falling, Bangladesh would have been the happier team.

The slow but steady progress continued after lunch, with both batsmen being as cautious as possible. That at least preserved their wickets and Nafees brought up his fifty off of 152 deliveries a good hour into the session. Mahmadullah was comparatively the faster scorer, but his strike rate was only in the 50s.

Nafees perhaps realized this and he went about increasing his scoring rate, taking the bowlers for some boundaries and even a flat six over extra cover that would no doubt be in all the highlight packages for a long time. He carried his score into the 90s by tea, with the team score at 181 for 1. Bangladesh had the better of the middle session by far.

After tea, Mahmadullah brought up his 50 with a wonderful square drive to the boundary. In the next over, the guys in the dressing room got to their feet once more, as Nafees pushed one to mid on and scrambled a quick single to bring up his third Test ton. The 150 partnership came up two overs later. The Sri Lankans looked deflated.

It was Karunatilleke who finally broke the partnership with a great display of reverse swing. The ball came back into Nafees so late that he could not get his bat down in time and he lost his off stump. He went for 115 with the score now at 221. Saleh gave him a quick hug as they crossed in the outfield.

Progress continued to be steady and by the time the new ball was due, Sri Lanka took it immediately. The new hard ball just disappeared to the boundary faster than the old ball, and Mahmadullah got to his century with an off drive that the man halfway to the boundary just could not get to despite his frantic dive. Saleh was not afraid to play his shots as well, and by the close of play Bangladesh were in a strong position.

End of Day 1 ? Bangladesh 308/2, Nafees 115, Karunatilleke 1-86

One of the men of the day, Nafees, was interviewed after play ended. He said that a Test century is always something special and the pitch was great for batting once the batsmen get set. There was some movement early on but once you got adjusted to it, everything just fell into place. He wanted Saleh and Mahmadullah to carry on tomorrow and together with the rest of the team he thought that 450 at least had to be a good score.

 

[Chewie]

Wow a great day's play for you there! Only two wickets down for that many runs is quite exceptional for Bangladesh

 

[6ry4nj]

That's a phenomenal start to a Bangladesh innings? Is that a record in your game? It would be in real life, surely!?

But then, ICC games are terribly weak on realism...:sarcasm

Great writing.

 

[McLOVIN]

Damn. When was the last time they batted like that?

btw your seam line up is WEAK.

 

[Chewie]

In ICC some players are rated better than others so I'm guessing through trial and error those are the players he's found to work.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Wow, man that is fantastic. Nafees is someone who has immense talent and it showed. I'm high hopes on Tigers for this match.

 

[Dutchmen]

'wow' that was what Bangladesh were hoping about. they'd start pretty slow in the first session but then the runs flowed. the second wicket partnership was incredible, they kept things moving and at the end of the day, won't believe. 308 which looks....

 

[harrisb]

I've just read the whole of the story so far, and it's been great. I don't mind the fact that you've not had any pictures or graphics so far because you're writing compensates for it.

Hopefully Bangladesh can continue the great batting they have shown on day 1 and might level the series.

Keep up the great writing, i look forward to reading the next update.

 

[qpeedore]

McLovin - It's a couple years into the game and the guys who perform in the real world for Bangladesh (Mortaza, Ruebel, etc) just don't end up being that good in the game. These guys really are Bangladesh's best in my particular game. It may be different for someone else.

That actually isn't the record for the 2nd wicket for Bangladesh. Tamim and Junaid Siddique made a 200 partnership against India at the start of this year in real life.

I'm happy about taking the chance on Nafees, and he repaid me immensely.

Let's go to the action. As a side note, after this Test I'll take a few days off from daily updates and get to reading some of the other stories around here. Can't be too selfish.

Pitch report ? Day 2

As Bangladesh showed yesterday, this pitch is superb for batting. The bounce is true and predictable and if the bowlers don?t get it right they will be punished.

Angelo Matthews is interviewed. He says that they had a hard day in the field yesterday but today they want to dismiss the team as quickly as possible and be batting by the middle session, if not earlier.

Play ? Day 2

Mahmadullah and Saleh started things off much like they ended the day yesterday. They went for sharp singles to put the fielders under pressure and hit the bad balls to the boundary when necessary. Saleh brought up his fifty with a pull through midwicket off of Mendis. At the other end, Mahmadullah quietly went on to tie his previous highest Test score of 138 and together the two had beaten the all-time record of 130 for the third wicket by Bangladesh against any team.

Kumara finally got the breakthrough when Mahmadullah edged one to the slip fielder. He went for the same 138 and the partnership was finally broken for 145. Saleh kept going, but a short ball from Karunatilleke proved to be too much for him. He did not drop his hands down and the ball took the shoulder of the bat before flying to first slip, who took an easy catch at chest height. Shakib and Hom took things to lunch without doing anything too drastic. Bangladesh were 426 for 4.

After lunch, Karunatilleke continued his good spell, getting Shakib to edge one to the keeper before Nadimuddin did the same thing a few overs later. Mendis then had Reza well caught at silly point for a duck, his third score of zero in succession.

Bangladesh seemed to be collapsing when Hom was bowled by Saman, but Aziz showed that he has some ability with the bat by scoring an 18-ball 21 before he was bowled by Mendis. Mahmud was no batsman, however, and he was bowled by Saman a short while later. The final 5 wickets had gone for only 43 runs, but Bangladesh still had a good score on the board.

End of Bangladesh 1st innings ? 491/10, Mahmadullah 138, Karunatilleke 4-116

Sri Lanka had a tough 30 minutes or so until tea and Bangladesh went about things very aggressively from the outset. It paid off just three overs in, when Mahmud had Sangakarra caught plumb in front to a ball that would have hit middle and leg.

Thirimanne chose to counterattack, and he dealt in boundaries only. By tea, he had raced to 26 off of 19 balls and Sri Lanka were 38 for 1.

After tea, the two batsmen continued to frustrate Bangladesh and they both brought up half centuries in quick time. The quicker bowlers had no answer to them and soon enough Shakib was brought into the attack. It took him one over before he struck, removing Thirimanne in his second over to a simple LBW decision. He went for 62.

They kept things tight until the close of play, and the Sri Lankans were more than happy to just bat out until stumps.

End of Day 2 ? Sri Lanka 141/2, Thirimanne 62, Al Hasan 1-6

After an eventful day, there were no interviews, instead the analysts sat down and looked at some of the highlights. Mahmadullah and Saleh?s partnership was highlighted before they went on to show Karunatilleke and his great bowling spell.

 

[6ry4nj]

Love your writing, no criticism, just a suggestion.

When you do interviews and analysis sessions, you MIGHT like to report in dialogue form on what was actually said, rather than summarising it for us.
This would give you a chance to choose a commentator or sports personality to do the interview, and have them come out with some of their quirks of speech or whatever. Similarly, if you know of any odd turns of phrase that the interviewee was well known for, you could use them. Or, you could drop in some of the cliches that pre- and post-match interviews usually contain, the one example that springs to mind is "we need to give 110% out there".

Even if you included 'in' jokes ie. allusions to things I don't know about, I would still appreciate it. But again, it's only a suggestion to do if you like the idea.

 

[Varun]

Actually Bangladesh can win this, or even draw it, provided that they bring out a collapse out of the Lankan lineup and then don't get collapsed themselves.

Brilliant writing mate.

 

[Dutchmen]

the writing is brilliant, they played brilliantly, and now bowling pretty good. good knock from Mahmadullah and that 5 wickets collapse for only 43 runs set them down but it's competitive.