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| June 25, 2005 | Saturday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1426 |
Bangladesh brace for Aussie revival
MANCHESTER (England), June 24: If a week is a long time in politics, it could seem like an age for the Bangladesh team who face Australia on Saturday exactly seven days after shocking the world champions with one of the greatest sporting upsets of all-time.
Last Saturday in Cardiff, Bangladesh beat Australia by five wickets in the Triangular Series one-day international - a match Ricky Ponting’s men had been rated 1/500 to win with several British bookmakers.
But something approaching normal service was resumed when England piled up 391 for four on their way to a 168-run win against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
And Australia, who themselves suffered a run of four straight one-day defeats, got the show back on the road with a convincing 57-run success against England in Thursday’s triangular day/nighter at Chester-le-Street.
However, Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar told reporters at Old Trafford here Friday the party mood in the Asian nation, where many of the 140 million population are fanatical cricket followers, was still very much in evidence.
“We have had a lot of calls since that game last weekend, the people back home are really happy,” said Bashar.
“It was in the early hours of the morning in Bangladesh when the game finished but there were celebrations in the streets,” the 15-year veteran, who led Bangladesh to their inaugural Test win, against Zimbabwe earlier this year, added.
“We didn’t have a good Test series (against England where both matches were lost by an innings). It was disastrous and when these kind of things happen people in Asia expect a lot more of you.
“The expectation is always high; whenever we play the whole country watches, waiting for some good results.
“It is not that they expect us to win all the games but just to play competitive cricket and the victory over Australia gave them plenty of enjoyment,” Bashar added. “That win changed everything, everyone was happy.”
And while many fans around the world will expect the only lightning striking on Saturday will be accompanied by Manchester rain, Bashar remained upbeat.
“If they (Australia) win or lose they are still world champions but we will try to keep up our same level.
“We need to improve our personal skills; if three or four of us all play to our best capabilities we have shown Bangladesh can do anything.”
Meanwhile Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, the former Australia Test batsman, said there was no doubting his old team’s return to form.
“You can almost feel their spark and improvement,” he said.
“Being on top of your game all the time is not easy, especially when you have suffered a couple of losses and we can now expect a rampant opposition team,” Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup before taking charge of Old Trafford-based Lancashire added.
Bangladesh left-arm spinner Manjural Islam Rana could make his tournament bow at Old Trafford where pitches often provide plenty of turn.
However, if overhead conditions are seam-bowler friendly, Bangladesh could stick with their Trent Bridge attack and even retain pace bowler Tapash Baisya whose seven overs against England were slammed for 87 runs.—AFP
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