Bangladesh completely outplayed

Sri Lanka maintained their one hundred percent record of wins by outplaying Bangladesh completely in the first of three tests at the S.S.C. grounds. The visitors were utterly inadequate in both the batting and bowling departments. The concerning factor of world cricket is their lack of technique.

Basic techniques must be grasped early to become successful at this game. There are some who possess unorthodox methods and get to the top. They are extremely naturally talented and so get away by being unorthodox. Bangladesh have No1 players in that league. They must go back to working on developing their basic techniques. They also have to play much more three and four day cricket and learn to play long innings. This test match was done within the very first session of day one. No team can survive a test match when they lose seven wickets in the very first session of the game. The Sri Lankans managed to bowl twenty four overs in that two hour period and the opposition just crumbled after the openers put on twenty eight runs for the first wicket and batted for forty minutes.

It was Dilhara Fernando who was most impressive and dismissing Habibul Bashar and Mohamed Ashraful created the collapse. Fernando bowled quick and was accurate too. He also used the bouncer and the yorker effectively. His bowling in both innings was heartening. Although he went wicketless in the second innings his fifteen overs only cost twenty eight runs.

Lasith Malinga bowled well in the second innings. On day one he struggled for accuracy. His best spell was on the fourth morning when he picked up three wickets. He bowled aggressively and was accurate too. In addition, he was able to get reverse swing with the old ball. That supported Mahela Jayawardena’s decision not to take the second new ball after bowling eighty overs in the second innings. This enabled Muttiah Muralitharan to operate from the opposite end.

The two plus points for Bangladesh was the batting of Javed Omar Belim and Rajin Saleh in the second innings. They played soundly, but again, they were tired mentally after batting for a couple of hours. They obviously lack practice in playing long innings. It has to be a regular occurrence from a young age for it to become a habit.

Mohamed Ashraful is the most talented batsman in the side. If only he works harder on picking the correct delivery to play the attacking strokes, he will score many more runs. The other two senior players Bashar and wicket keeper Khalid Mashoud must also put their hands up and score more and score consistently if the team is to succeed.

In the Sri Lankan camp only Malinda Warnapura failed to cash in. He will have to shake off the nerves and come good in the next test. This is weak opposition and he could not have asked for an easier introduction to test cricket. His opening partner Michael Van Dort made the most of the opportunity he got. His batting has improved overall and he was solid and well organized. He must be played in the test side regularly as an opener.

The best thing that happened for the Sri Lankans was the centuries scored by Chaminda Vass and Prasanna Jayawardena. That innings rubbed off on Jayawardena’s wicket keeping too. He kept much better in the second innings than in the first. As for Vaas it was a reward for being such a committed work horse.

Muttiah Muralitharan had yet another productive match grabbing nine wickets. In the first innings it was all very easy. In the second innings he had to work much harder, bowling 36.1 overs. Captain Mahela Jayawardena continued to make runs. He is stroking the ball extremely confidently. He led the side tactfully too, with clever field placing and astute bowling changes.

For Bangladesh it will be two very tough games. They are not equipped to play five day cricket. All they would hope for is to learn something from the mistakes made and improve by some percentage.