Down with a Bang
I’m not so sure that any of the people involved with the Bangladeshi squad read this site, but either way, Bangladesh have done a spectacular job in making me look very silly. No sooner had I said that Bangladesh were running out of steam and they’ve pulled their socks up and caused yet another “upset” in beating world number 1 South Africa. I’m not sure why “it” is an upset, since, as a Bangladeshi, you’re presumably not at all upset. Maybe if you’re South African. I’m English, and I’m definitely not upset. Except maybe at the state of the headlines used to describe the victory, the most predictable of which being “Tigers maul Springboks”. I prefer Bangers Mash South Africans. Hmm, maybe not.
Did Bangladesh catch South Africa on a bad day? Maybe. But they made no mistake of the defeat they handed to the Proteas. Asked to bat first, it looked like business as usual as they limped to 40 odd for 4. But Mohammaed Ashraful had other ideas in spearheading the fightback. His 50 came off a rather modest 64 balls, modest compared to the 19 balls he needed to club the remaining 36 of his 87 run innings, the highest score a Bangladeshi batsman has made in a world cup. He was helped there with useful runs from Aftab Ahmed and Mashrafe Mortaza. The Bangers were 251 for 8 when they ran out of overs, a feat in itself. South Africa’s bowling was horrificly one-dimensional, who could only serve up medium to fast paced bowling. Shaun Pollock was economical in his 10 overs, but every other of the 7 bowlers used were expensive.
South Africa’s reply never really got going, with openers Smith and De Villiers needing 63 balls to score their 27 runs. Jacques Kallis ironically batted second quickest with 32 from 36 balls. Only Herschelle Gibbs got to 50, but it came too late after being forced to bat lower down the innings for spending most of the first half off the field with a calf injury. He finished not out on 56, but it was of little use as wickets tumbled around him. The biggest issue were the three slow left armers as each of the Saffers batsmen illustrated a complete lack of ability in playing slow bowling on a slow wicket. By the time they were bowled out in the 48th over, Graeme Smith had presumably locked himself in a dark room somewhere.
Bangladesh are keen to shrug off the title of minnow. They won’t have to take down many more sides before that happens, following their defeat over India earlier in the competition. Certainly they shouldn’t be bracketed in with the likes of the other minnows of this contest, such as Kenya or The Netherlands. Their performances to date have more than justified their place in the contest, contrary to the opinion on many commentators. (Ireland have done a good job in the vindication stakes as well.) The consequence of South Africa’s loss is that they now sit on 4 points and must win all of their remaining games if they are to go through to the semi-finals. They will remain confident against England and the West Indies, but New Zealand will be a tough ask of a team that can’t beat Bangladesh.
Tags: bangladesh, Its-a-Funny-Old-Game, south-africa, south-africa-loseRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Cricket
1 opinion for Down with a Bang
BDeshi
Apr 8, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Nice entry!
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