Two Cricket Matches

On 26th November, 2010, I had the opportunity of watching two international cricket matches, live on TV. To me, these two matches represented the entirely different faces of modern world cricket. One was a test match (the 2nd day), between the oldest rivals in cricket, England and Australia, the other was a T-20 match, between two of the newest members of the cricketing fraternity as the Afghan national team fought against the 2nd string team of Bangladesh, for the gold medal in the men's cricket event in the Asian Games. While the test match saw absorbing cricket, things happened a lot quicker in the shortest version of the game. Even the venues were of contrasting nature. Gabba, the venue of the test match is one of the oldest test grounds in the world. Established in 1895, at the Brisbane suburb of Woollongabba (hence the shortened form Gabba), it hosted its first test match way back in the 1931-32 season (Australia Vs. SA). In the 1960-61 season, the ground saw the most famous test match in history, the tied match between the Aussies and the Windies. In direct contrast, the Asian Games saw the first big cricketing event in Chinese history. However, with ACC trying desperately to popularize cricket in China, the Guangdong International cricket stadium might become a big international venue in the future.

Amidst all these differences, there were a few things in common. Both these games saw twists and turns of fortune over the day; controls passed the hands a number of times in both the fixtures. And of course, as it is the case with most cricket matches, there would be controversies. It is worth mentioning here that a 3rd match, the 4th day of the 2nd test match between SL and WI at Colombo was scheduled for the day; but incessant seasonal rain forced the days play to be abandoned there. In fact, weather, the oldest enemy of cricket, would also intervene at Gabba, to force an early finish. Being a Bangladeshi, I spent most of the time with the game at Guangdong, but I will start at Gabba where Australia was trying to gain an early advantage in their bid to regain the Ashes.

It is often said that the first day of the Ashes series can prove to be decisive. That was not the case this time. The honors were shared after the first days play. The tourists were bowled out for only 260 on the first innings (Bell 76, Cook 67, Siddle 6/54, including a hatrick). Although, the Aussies finished the 1st day at 25/0 from 7 overs, England were hoping to use the new ball well on the 2nd morning. Interestingly, both the Aussie openers, Katich and Watson are middle order batsmen turned into openers. Watson is the more stylish of the two, but he has a bad reputation of not converting starts into a score. His average is acceptable (around 40), but his conversion rate is very poor, 11 fifties and only 2 hundreds. Here he falls to Anderson for 36. The opening pair put on 78, but it was a big struggle. Under pressure Ponting joined Katich and took the score to 96/1 before lunch. It was a frustrating morning for England; they bowled well enough to get more than the one wicket. The luck was not on their side. But their luck would change during the next session.

Immediately after lunch, without any further addition to the score, Ponting fell ct. down the leg side of Anderson. It was an unfortunate way of getting out, but then the Aussie captain is passing through a difficult time. There were signs of the old Ponting during the recent tour of India. But, there he failed to make starts into scores. Gabba had been a happy hunting ground for him before (he averages over 80 on the ground), but not on this occasion. But, for Australia the bigger blow was the dismissal of Katich, ct. and bowled by Finn for 50 to leave the Aussies struggling at 100/3. It was big blow, not only because Katich, despite his unorthodox technique has been extremely consistent over the last two years, more so because his technique was more suited to this type of wicket. It was evident from the 1st day that it was a wicket for grafters, the accumulators, rather than the stroke makers. The success of Cook and Bell (rather than Pietersen and Trott) suggested that. Australia was expecting Katich to really dig in to make his way to a hundred. The Aussies were disappointed, but for young Finn, it was a moment to remember, as he took his first ever Ashes wicket. All of a sudden the momentum was with the English. There were two new batsmen at the wicket, Clarke and Hussey. There were doubts about the fitness of Clarke before the match, and although he was passed fit to play, he looked completely out of touch. He struggled for 76 minutes, (with little or no footwork) for just 9 runs. He did put on 40 with for the 4th wicket, but Finn, in the middle of an inspired spell bowled him (Finn would eventually finish with his team's best figures 6/126, not a bad baptism in the Ashes). North fell for 1 before tea to leave the Aussies 143/5. In less than 2 hours time, the pendulum had swung completely. One good thing for Australia was that Micheal Hussy was looking in excellent touch. After struggling for most of the year, his place in the Gabba test was in doubt. But a century in the Sheffield Shield prior to the test, had helped him regain some of the lost confidence. While Clarke was struggling, he had kept the scoreboard moving, going after the off spinner Swann. The question was can he find someone to support him. The answer was yes.

Brad Haddin was entrusted the thankless job of replacing Adam Gilchrist in the Aussie team. But, he had proved himself to be more than adequate for the job. He doesn't possess the brilliant attacking game of his predecessor, but his technique is solid, and technique was important in this situation. The two started slowly, but they gathered momentum after tea. England perhaps missed a trick by starting with Swann immediately after tea. Admittedly, he did dismiss North before tea, but Hussey had looked completely at ease against him. More importantly, like most England spinners since Underwood in the 70's, Swann is steady without being penetrative. His test match average of less than 28 is not bad, but he lacks the killer instinct of Harbhajan. At a time, when England should have tried to force the matters, they waited for things to happen, even trying some gentle medium pacers of Collingwood. Before bad light (and subsequent rain) forced an early end, the 6th wicket partnership had taken Australia to 220/5, Hussey playing brilliantly on 81, Haddin looking rock solid on 22. Despite the progress the Aussies had made after tea, Strauss, the England captain, looked extremely reluctant to come off due to bad light. He reckoned that one more wicket, and it would be England's day. Soon, however, light drizzle started ending any chances of resumption play on the day.

Less than 200 runs were scored on the day for the loss of 5 wickets. It doesn't appear to be exciting cricket, but it was absorbing. One has to understand the game deeply to enjoy test matches like this. Over the day, the Aussie supporters saw Watson play some delightful strokes, Katich bat in his usual fashion, and finally Hussey looking completely at ease in the test arena after quite a while. England supporters saw Anderson and Finn lead their charge. But, perhaps they would have liked a bit more aggression from their team after the tea break. Overall, the honors were shared. (Eventually, the match would end in a draw, with the batsmen from both sides dominating the remaining 3 days play).

Over at Guangdong, most of the crowd was Chinese, most of them possibly watching this game for the first time. There were a few Bengali, and even fewer Afghan among the crowd. The event had lost some of its luster after the with-drawl of India. The period October-February can be described as the peak season for cricket in the sub-continent. With almost all the major sides of the region having international schedule, Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh all sent their 2nd string sides hoping to give the youngsters some exposure to international cricket. This however, didn't mean that there was no interest in the final. In fact, this match provided both the teams with their only realistic chance of winning a gold medal in the 16th Asian games. Also, there was the added incentive of going into the record books as the first winner of the men's cricket competition in the Asian games, as the royal game was making its debut in the Asian games. With the situation already heated, the Pak coach, Rashid Latif, the former WK of the Pak national team, decided to add fuel to the fire. After his team upset the formbooks by beating Pakistan by 22 runs in the SF, he refused to join in the celebration because he is a Pakistani. He, however, added that he had reserved his celebrations for the Final victory over Bangladesh. For the Afghan team, this was a great opportunity to enhance their growing reputation as an emerging cricketing nation. For their opponents, individual performances were equally important as the team success. For players like the skipper Ashraful, all rounders Naeem and Shuvo, and the medium pacers Nazmul and Shahadat, this event provided a chance to enhance their claims for places in the Bangladesh team for the WC early next year. So, despite the relative weaknesses of the participating teams, and the absence of a genuine cricket star, plus the unfamiliar surroundings, there was everything to play for in the final.

The Afghan captain, Nabi won the toss and decided to bat first. This gave me an opportunity to take a good look for the first time at the Afghan batting line up. I have heard a great deal about the tremendous progress Afghan cricket had made over the last decade or do, despite all the political troubles within the country. Geographically, Afghanistan is close to three important regions of the world, The Middle East, The Indian Subcontinent, and Central Asia. (Of course, any student of history would tell you that this unique proximity to the 3 great regions is the main cause of the troubled history of the country). Afghanistan's cricketing relations however, is only with the subcontinent, especially Pakistan. In fact, just as many people in South Asia consider Cricket to be the only good thing to come out of the British Colonial rule in the region, many Afghan consider the development of cricket as the only positive aspect of their recent political troubles. Most of their first generation cricketers learned this game in the refugee camps in Pakistan, learning the arts of batting, bowling and fielding in almost sub-human conditions. In fact, watching them bat, one could easily see the effect of Pak influence. Their top order batsman Karim Sadiq resembles Afridi, not only in batting technique, but also in temperament. A number of their batsmen reminded me of Injamam, not for their batting style, but more for their running between the wickets. In fact, this deficiency in running would hurt them greatly in the ultimate count; but more about that later. The Afghan skipper's decision to bat first was based on the knowledge that the wicket tended to get slow in the latter half of the match. Just on the previous day, the Afghans had successfully defended a modest total of 125 against the mighty Pakistan. 5 minutes after the resumption play here, he, however, might well have been regretting his decision. WK batsman. Mohammad Shahzad was out for a golden duck, edging a gem of delivery from medium pacer Nazmul. This was a big blow as In the SF against Pakistan, Shahzad and Sadiq had given the Afghans a solid start with an opening stand of 35.

Despite this early success, this was not to be Nazmul's day. With Sadiq and others going after him he would finish with 1/31 from 3 overs. Sadiq hit two huge sixes, yet, his 20 runs took 30 deliveries. The problem was with the short game. Like some of his other teammates, Sadiq was pretty reluctant to look for the quick singles. With both the medium pacers, Nazmul and Shahadat proving very expensive early on, Ashraful had to rely on his spinners to clam things down, and they did an admirable job. Left arm spinner Shuvo was the hero of the SF victory over SL with the remarkable figures of 4/6. Here, it was Naeem, the off spinner who stole the show. (Interestingly the two are fighting for the same place in the Bangladesh team for the WC, the role of the 3rd spin bowling all rounder behind Sakib and Riad). The Bangladesh spinners bowled intelligently exploiting the conditions well; but some of their figures (like Naeem 2/8 from 3, and skipper Ashraful 2/3 from 1) were a bit flattering. Left arm spinner Fasial perhaps was the luckiest, he bowled 3 overs for 15 runs, highly acceptable for 20 over game. Yet, he actually bowled a number of long hops outside the off stump, but got away with it due to the tendency of the opposition batsmen to try to hit everything over the mid-wicket region.

After the spinners had slowed down the proceedings, Ashraful brought back his fastest bowler Shahadat, hoping for some quick breakthroughs. And Shahadat responded immediately, not once but twice. He, however, was distinctively lucky with the 2nd decision. Samiullah was given ct. behind for 1, but the replays showed that his bat was nowhere near the ball. Here, perhaps the gamesmanship of the much more experienced Bangladeshis played a part. They all went up in unison, and that possibly confused the umpire. At 66/6, the Afghans were at deep trouble. Yet, the lower order showed excellent courage. Not only did they defy the Bangladesh bowling, they in fact went after the bowling providing a late increase in the run rate. Asghar remained unbeaten on 38 (of just 36 delivereis), while Noori made 25 of just 19 deliveries. Their efforts meant that the Afghans finished their 20 overs with 118/8.

 Despite the late flurry in the Afghan innings, Bangladesh with their greater experience was the favorites. Indeed, in the 1st half of the Bangladesh everything went according to the plans for them. Although, big hitting Nazimuddin perished early, WK batsman Mithun contributed a quick-fire 22 (of 22 balls) before being run out; Naeem, batting at no.3, and skipper Ashraful looked completely at ease. Ashraful, often described as the most naturally gifted batsman his country had ever produced, has a poor record of converting starts into scores. And, here, yet again we saw a similar story. His dismissal for 10 started a mini collapse, which saw the favorites slump from 65/2, to 75/5. After, going along nicely for more than a run a ball for the first 10 overs, Bangladesh could only muster 19 runs from the next 5 overs, that too for the loss of 3 crucial wickets. As the wickets fell, the required run rate increased and suddenly the Afghans were in with a big chance.

Yet, ironically, one feels that it was during this period, Bangladesh showed their supremacy over their rivals. Earlier in the day, we saw the hit or miss approach from the inexperienced Afghans. There was little attempt on their part to run the quick singles. In contrast, during these difficult, as the boundaries became a rarity, the Bangladesh players ran for everything; leg byes, attempted drive ending up at the Short Fine Leg region etc. These singles kept them at the hunt and the big hitting came in the last 4 overs. With Naeem still batting solidly at one end, he left the big hitting to his partner, Sabbir. His 33 of just 18 balls took his side home to a 5 wicket victory. The 19th over, bowled by Sadiq proved to be the decisive one in the match. With 19 runs required of 12 balls, Sabbir hit two towering sixes, as 17 runs came from the over. The last over, bowled by Hamid, became a formality. Naeem completed a superb all round effort with a measured 34 of 41 deliveries.

So, the experience of the Bangladesh side at the end proving a big factor in the match. But, I have seen enough of the Afghans to very confidently predict a bright future for them in the royal game. They may be beaten here, but I am sure they would be looking for an opportunity as soon as possible to take revenge against us. Perhaps a rivalry has started at Guangdong. Who knows? May be 100 years from now it would be Bangladesh and Afghanistan (Not England and Australia) who would dominate the limelight in the world of cricket.