The Reverse Sweep

All out for 88, 80, 72, 74, 98, 82, 96, 47, 51, 72, 99: Cricket or skittles?

Being bowled out for under 100 used to be commonplace back in the time of Queen Victoria, but until recently instances were few and far between in the modern game and normally (although not always) featured Bangladesh. 

However, since Pakistan visited England in 2010, it is as if the likes of George Lohmann and the Demon have been reincarnated such has been the regularity in which batsmen have been skittled.

In just 18 short months there have been 11 instances of a side being bowled out for less than 100. Pakistan leads the way with four, closely followed by Australia with three and England, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe all with one each.

And with India’s batsmen hardly covering themselves in glory and none of Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies having a line-up that would have bowlers quaking in their boots, we seem to be entering a new era (with DRS undoubtedly playing a vital part). And they say cricket is a game for batsmen?

There have of course been several instances in the same period of batsmen gorging themselves on impotent bowling attacks. For example, India conceded ten individual scores of 150+ to batsmen in their recent tours of England and Australia and most will recall Alastair Cook’s passable impersonation of the great Jack Hobbs in Australia last winter.

In contrast to the 11 sub-100 scores there have been two team totals of over 700 (one each for England and India) and another seven above 600.

Test cricket seems to have become a game of extremes and is all the better for it. The leading teams all have their problems: England struggle against spin in Asia, India against seam and swing outside the subcontinent, Australia’s batting is still suspiciously brittle, Sri Lanka are sliding, Pakistan’s strength is its bowling attack and South Africa seem unable to grasp the mettle despite perhaps having the best balanced side. It all makes for appetising viewing for fans.

It all goes to show that despite some opinions to the contrary, Test cricket is and always will be the most exciting and unpredictable form of the game.

Where next?

Michael Clarke, Lara Bingle and Australia's 47 all out

88 all out & other batting collapses

Geoff Boycott's dose of Yorkshire humour on England's 72 all out

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Flat track bully? Shane Watson hits 185 not out off 96 balls with 15 sixes

 
We don’t care much for Shane Watson at The Reverse Sweep, but he can certainly hit a cricket ball a long way.

It may have come in the most pointless one day international series ever and the Bangladeshi bowling would have left a County 2nd XI shame-faced, but 185 not out off 96 balls with 15 gigantic sixes is impressive in any language.

To put Watson’s achievement into context, Michael Vaughan played 86 one day internationals with a top score of 90 not out – Watson hit the same number of runs in sixes alone in Mirpur yesterday.

Watson’s innings wasn’t as good a knock as his 161 not out against England back in January. That came in a mammoth run chase against a decent bowling attack after his side had been pummeled in the Ashes.

But it was an astounding exhibition of hitting all the same.

Where next?

Shane Watson: No longer the bridesmaid & finally the bride

Openers - an endangered species?

Brett Lee & Shane Watson - not the new Lennon & McCartney

Zeroes: Shane Watson

The most pointless ODI Series of them all?

 
At first we thought it was an April Fool. Then we checked the date.

Just one week after the World Cup had finished, Australia was playing a ODI in Bangladesh. Come again?

Apparently the match on Saturday was the first of three ODI series - the second is currently in full swing as we type.

We cannot fathom the utter futility of Cricket Australia agreeing to this venture so soon after a World Cup on the subcontinent that lasted (or so it seemed) for ten years.

On the whole, the World Cup has breathed life back into the 50 over format and despite the ICC's attempts to immediately sabotage this revival by banning the Associates from the next tournament, there is a pretty good vibe about Twenty 20's big brother at the moment.

But, it is pointless ODI series like these that give the format a bad name and cause cricket viewers to search for the off button.

Michael Clarke may have marked his first match as official Australian captain by scoring a hundred, but even he may be forced to admit that it was a pointless innings in a pointless first match of a pointless three match series.

Thank God for the start of the County Championship season and the lightning starts of young English starlets like Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes.

Where next?

Arrogant ICC takes the magic out of the World Cup by killing the Associates

Tweedledum & Tweedledee made new Australian Cricket Captain & Vice-Captain

Ricky Ponting falls on his sword, but leaves with his head held high

County Cricket Preview - Players to watch: Adil Rashid

County Cricket Preview - Players to watch: Ben Stokes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

What have we learned so far from the Cricket World Cup?

 
Finally, it is over. The Hundred Years War lasted for less time than the group stages of the World Cup; or so it seemed anyway.

But what have we learned so far?

• No-one seems to want to win the tournament – there is no outstanding side and several mediocre ones
• South Africa look the best balanced team and appear to be marginal favourites – but can they win their first knockout match ever in a World Cup? Or will the ‘c’ word raise its ugly head again?
• England are the most exciting, entertaining and unpredictable side in the tournament – eat your heart out, Pakistan.
• Shahid Afridi has proved to be a much better captain and galvanising force than anyone could ever have predicted.
• Given the batting collapses against England, South Africa and West Indies, India seem to be feeling the pressure of winning on home turf.
• Love him or loathe him, but Ricky Ponting is probably only one defeat away from retirement.
• Two groups of seven was a very bad idea. Keep the minnows and have four groups of four instead.
• England are the only side left in the competition who are unbeaten against the other quarter-finalists – just don’t mention Ireland and Bangladesh.
• Being the coach driver of the victorious opposition is an extremely hazardous vocation in Bangladesh.
• Don’t bowl filth to Ross Taylor and expect to get away with it.
• Ryan ten Doeschate is the next South African on Andy Flower’s wish list.
• George Dockrell is the next Irishman on Andy Flower’s wish list.
• You wouldn’t want a wounded Kevin Pietersen next to you in the trenches.
• Matt Prior is not a good choice to open the batting.
• James Anderson is knackered.
• Bob Willis and Jonathan Trott are not on each others Christmas Card list
• Asking Graeme Swann to bowl with a wet ball is worse than telling him that his cat is stuck under the floorboards.
• Kamran Akmal really is the worst wicketkeeper in the history of cricket.
• This World Cup is very difficult to predict, but here goes. Pakistan, India, South Africa and England (it would be folly to bet against them at the moment and yes, we know we predicted Sri Lanka would win the World Cup at the outset) to make the semi-finals.

Where next?

Check out our Reverse Sweep XIs

Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here

Heroes: Bob Willis

Zeroes: Kamran Akmal

An XI of unlikely World Cup heroes and a not so heroic 12th man

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

The 'real' home of cricket? Not quite, as it turns out...

 
The Reverse Sweep and his brood were back in England last week looking at property and crèches in and around Haslemere in Surrey. Yes, after six years in the South of France the triple realities of a meaningful career, schools and easy access to a support network plus an unhealthy addiction to county cricket mean that we are likely to move back to Albion at some point this summer.

We picked a good week to visit the UK. For once, the weather was better than it was in Cannes, and we also got to miss England’s embarrassing capitulation against Bangladesh in the World Cup – more of which later.

Now Mrs Reverse Sweep is quite keen on living in a picturesque English village, so off we went to Chiddingfold, a quintessential Surrey village a couple of miles outside the town of Haslemere fully equipped with a gastropub, private school, village green, golf course and the all important cricket club.

Bingo!

So having placed Chiddingfold right at the top of our list of places we want to live (yes, it really was that beautiful) we headed north towards Witley.

And then The Reverse Sweep almost crashed the ridiculously cumbersome hire car we were driving.

Not because of a fox, peacock or any other type of suicidal wildlife, but because the road sign said that we were one mile from Hambledon.

Yes, that Hambledon – arguably the real home of cricket and site of the foremost cricket club of the 18th Century.

What better than to combine our twin loves of cricket and history and stop off to touch the hallowed turf.

Or so we thought.

Despite a nagging doubt in our minds that the Hambledon Cricket Club in question was actually in Hampshire and not Surrey, we ignored any negative thoughts and trawled the roads of the small and inconsequential hamlet in a desperate attempt to find the cricket ground.

When we did that nagging doubt turned into crushing disappointment. There was no way that the ramshackle cricket pitch in front of us could be the home of the Hambledon Cricket Club. There was no pavilion. There was no memorial to commemorate the scene of Hambledon’s former glories.

Sadly, this was irrefutably not the real home of cricket.

And at the same time as The Reverse Sweep trudged back in disappointment to the aforementioned hire car uttering more expletives than Graeme Swann to Daryl Harper, Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam were applying the final rites to England’s World Cup hopes in Chittagong.

Double disappointment doesn’t even go near enough.

Where next?

Cricket Zeroes: Daryl Harper

Read about our other cricket heroes and zeroes

Check out our Reverse Sweep XIs

Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

It's time for a mid-World Cup break

 
Given that the World Cup lasts nearly as long as the football season, we've decided to take a mid-tournament break.

Hopefully, by the time we get back the England team will have stopped bowling pies and collectively fielding like a blindfolded Kamran Akmal.

The break couldn't come soon enough. We'd kind of been looking forward to today as it presented the possibility of two upsets. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe left all their batsmen back in Harare and the less said about Bangladesh's efforts today the better.

The only thing we can't quite understand is why the Bangladesh fans stoned the West Indies team bus. Surely, if anyone should have been stoned then it should have been their own team?

Anyway on that note we will depart. Whilst we are away they'll be a few World Cup Heroes and Zeroes post appearing on the site to keep our three readers amused.

Where next?

Read about our cricket heroes and zeroes

Check out our Reverse Sweep XIs

Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

World Cup Team Previews: Bangladesh - Shock & Awe

Let’s hope Bangladesh perform at the World Cup otherwise the 42 match group stage threatens be the most futile preliminary round of any competition since Australia played American Samoa in a World Cup qualifier in 2001. The good news is that the Tigers steady improvement in ODI went into hyperspace with the recent 4-0 home triumph over New Zealand - ok it was only New Zealand, but even so. If Shakib can inspire his troops to reach similar heights then both West Indies and even England could be vulnerable to a shock exit at the group stage.

Strengths

Playing at home is a huge advantage and if the team does well support will be vociferous. Tamim Iqbal and Shakib would get into the XI of pretty much every other team in the competition whilst conditions should suit Bangladesh’s array of spinners.

Weaknesses

Despite the win over New Zealand, Bangladesh is hardly used to winning and as such invariably fall short when the finish line is near. Other than Tamim, their batting lacks class and depth, and players habitually get out between 20 and 50 without pushing on to the hundreds that are needed to win matches. The bowling, although strong in the spin department, severely lacks quality seamers especially with the absence of the clever Mortaza.

Main man

Tamim Iqbal is the left-handed Sehwag and could light up the competition. And can Mohammad Ashraful finally deliver on his promise? Probably not.

Look out for…

An all spin attack – Bangladesh is so lacking in international class quicks that desperate measures may well be required.

Prediction

Victory over the West Indies gets them through to the quarter finals where Bangladesh will be walloped by Sri Lanka. 

Where next?

World Cup Team previews: Part 1 - India: Glory or effigies?

World Cup Team Previews: Part 2 - South Africa: Don't mention the 'C' word...

Our XI to shine at the World Cup

Graduates from the Sehwag School for Batting announced - featuring Tamim Iqbal

Spare a thought for Mohammad Ashraful

Bangladesh star in "If at first you don't succeed..."

Check out all our other Reverse Sweep heroes and zeroes featuring amongst others Yuvraj Singh, Kamran Akmal, Sachin Tendulkar and Imran Khan

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep 

Cricket World Cup 2011: How are the protagonists shaping up?

One World Cup has just concluded with Spain rightfully crowned champions for the first time, so thoughts can now turn to cricket's World Cup, which begins on 19 February 2011 when India take on Bangladesh in Dhaka.

There has been a slew of one day international cricket recently and as such this seems an apt time to look at each of the contenders for the crown. Can anyone wrest the World Cup trophy from Ricky Ponting? Or will Australia lift the trophy for an incredible fourth successive time?

As we've already pointed out (see What cricket can learn from football in how to stage a World Cup here), the competition itself will run for an excessive six weeks and is comprised of two groups of seven, from which the eight quarter finalists will emerge. Thankfully, the dreadful Super Six/Eight stage has been consigned to the history books. The two groups are as follows:

Group A: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the minnows Canada and Kenya.

Having won a series 4-2 in India last autumn soon after retaining the Champions Trophy, Australia are still the team to beat despite the recent Nat West Series reverse to England. A powerful batting line-up (what a luxury to have Michael Hussey coming in at six or seven) will be augmented by Brad Haddin (injured for the games with England). And if they can get their best bowlers fit then it is difficult to see Ponting's side not at least reaching the semi-finals. No one will fancy facing a quartet of Bollinger, Johnson, Tait and Harris even on the slower pitches of the subcontinent. But could the lack of a top class spinner cost the Aussies in the end?

Sri Lanka will also be strong given that they could play at home right up to and including the semi-final. They may have lost the recent Asia Cup final at home to India, but their recent form has been good. Kumar Sangakkara has an excellent and varied line-up of bowlers including Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews and Muttiah Muralitharan who will be determined for a one day swansong as happy as his test exit. Add to that a strong batting line-up including the skipper, Tillakaratne Dilshan, the imperious Mahela Jaywardene and the consistent Thilan Samaraweera, then most observers would back the Lankans to also make the semi-finals.

Although Pakistan were knocked out in the preliminary stage of the Asia Cup, their performances under new (and now only limited overs) captain Shahid Afridi were much improved with the losses to Sri Lanka and India both going to the wire. The top order is a bit shaky and invariably relies on the Akmal brothers and the skipper to get it out of trouble, so a recall for Younis Khan and/or Mohamamd Yousuf must be on the cards. Any side that can name Umar Gul, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Aamer in its XI will be confident of restricting the opposition to gettable targets and then there is the joker in the pack of Shoaib Akhtar. As ever, Pakistan will be dangerous floaters.

New Zealand will be tough to beat as usual, but with Shane Bond retired and some of their more established names past their best, heavy reliance will be placed on (Super)Dan Vettori and Ross Taylor. The Black Caps would seem to be most at risk from coming a cropper against a Zimbabwe side fresh from beating India twice and Sri Lanka once in the recent triangular competition they hosted. When you add in the mix, Zimbabwe's useful complement of spinners, it wouldn't be a massive surprise if they made the quarter finals ahead of Vettori's men. The two minnows in the group, Canada and Kenya can be discounted with the latter a shadow of the side that shocked everyone by reaching the semi-finals in 2003.

Group B: India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and The Netherlands.

Just like the England football team, India will have to cope with ridiculously high expectations from its media and supporters, which will be compounded by the fact that they are playing at home. Will they be able to cope with the pressure? At least MS Dhoni is an excellent captain who has won a major trophy (this year's IPL) on Indian soil (as well as the 2007 World T20). And when you add the skipper to a batting line-up that includes Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, then you begin to understand why most Indian supporters hopes are high; more so if Yuvraj Singh can regain form and fitness. But it is the bowling department where India look short outside of the excellent Harbhajan - even Zaheer Khan has looked out of sorts recently. The recent triumph at the Asia Cup came after a shadow side had been embarrassed in Zimbabwe. Semi-finals at least, but winners?

A lack of quality spin options could cost South Africa dear on the subcontinent, although any team containing the batting prowess of Amla (especially on subcontinent pitches), Smith, De Villers and Kallis plus the pace and brilliance of Steyn will be tough to overcome, even if the proteas have no spinner of note. But then comes the typical South African problem of underperforming (some would say choking) at pretty much every World Cup. They have recently easily beaten West Indies in the Caribbean, but can they overcome the Asian giants, Australia or even England? We doubt it.

England's one day fortunes have taken a sudden rise in the last nine months and their supporters will be dreaming that Andrew Strauss' men can repeat their World T20 success and win the World Cup for the first time. Most of the side is settled and with Ravi Bopara announcing himself in the final game of the series with Bangladesh as the answer to the number six conundrum, only one or two doubts remain. Does Andy Flower stick with Michael Yardy as Graeme Swann's spin twin or does he twist with the precocious Adil Rashid? The only other doubt concerns the new ball opening pair. James Anderson has been out of sorts, but probably has enough credit in the bank. Tim Bresnan however, is clearly not an international bowler of sufficient class so Ajmal Shahzad who impressed against Bangladesh, the great survivor Ryan Sidebottom or Steve Finn could join Anderson in the XI. Whether England can actually win is debatable especially given their poor recent record on the subcontinent, but they have their best chance since 1992.

With Bangladesh playing at home and the West Indies increasingly in turmoil, Chris Gayle's men could suffer the ignominy of failing to get out of the group. Bangladesh have some talented players and if they can have more days in the sun like they did at Bristol against England (rather then the subsequent defeats to Ireland and Netherlands), then more familiarity with the winning habit could make them dark horses on home pitches next year. West Indies were humiliated by South Africa 5-0 at home recently and a huge improvement is required before the main event starts in just over seven months. Don't discount the most dangerous of the minnows Ireland either, who will be spirited opposition for anyone. The Netherlands though can expect to be the whipping boys of this group and certainly won't repeat the success of their footballers by reaching the final.

For now, we predict that the winner will come from one of Australia, Sri Lanka, India and England, with Pakistan being the dark horses.

Bangladesh star in 'If at first you don't succeed...'

Now that we've wiped the egg off our face after we moaned only two days ago that England versus Bangladesh duals were becoming a little bit boring and unpredictable, we can now offer hearty congratulations to Bangladesh for finally managing to beat England at cricket. The celebrations at the end of the match were wonderful.

20 defeats in 20 matches were fairly daunting odds coming into the match at Bristol, but this Bangladesh side doesn't lack spirit and despite only posting 236 for seven from their 50 overs, they bowled with intelligence and some bravery at the end to win a nailbiting encounter by five runs.

In truth England, Jonathan Trott excepted, batted appallingly with a number of the dismissals having a slightly hubristic nature about them. Having reached 49 for nought in the eighth over, England should have sauntered to victory even without the David Beckham injury copying absentee Ian Bell. Hopefully, the defeat will give England a wake-up call following success in the World T20 and Nat West Series.

But England's malaise should not detract from Bangladesh's triumph, They have got themselves into good positions several times against England over the last few months but always conspired to throw any initiative away. They nearly did the same yesterday allowing England to get within sight of victory from 166 for seven (effectively eight with Bell's injury), but for once they held their nerve.

We thought that their celebration of the wicket of James Anderson, when they hadn't realised that Ian Bell would come out to try and help Trott see England over the line, might come back to bite them on the bum. But thankfully for Bangladesh it didn't. Even as an England fan, part of me was pleased to see Bangladesh triumph.

It's all set-up for an interesting final match of the series at Edgbaston tomorrow.  

Ian Bell - King of the playground bullies

Ian Bell doesn't look like your average playground bully but he has certainly proved adept at stealing sweets and obtaining money with menaces  from little Bangladeshi kids when ever he has come across them on the school cricket field.

Not content with having an astronomical test average of 158.25 against the Tigers, Bell opened his one day account against the same opposition yesterday with an effortless 84 not out as England strolled to victory at Trent Bridge.

In test matches, Bell has scored 65 not out, 162 not out, 84, 39 not out, 138, 17 and 128 against Bangladesh. That is a lot of sweets, so no wonder these tigers have lost their bite when faced with the man Shane Warne nicknamed the Sherminator.

Is Ian Bell tellingPaul Collingwood what he did to the Bangladeshi seamers?  

Rumours that Bell was responsible for holding each of the Bangladesh seamers heads down the loo in the Trent Bridge away dressing room prior to his side's innings have been strongly rebuked by the England management team. 

A sense of deja vu for England and Bangladesh

England and Bangladesh have obviously played each other too often over the last few months, as it is all becoming rather predictable now.

The first match of the one day series at Trent Bridge confirmed a number of observations made since the sides first faced each other in Bangladesh in February. The sense of deja vu is overwhelming.

1. England are running a bit scared of Tamim Iqbal and set negative fields far too early to the swashbuckling opener.
2. James Anderson is wasting the new ball on an alarmingly regular basis.
3. Tim Bresnan is a wholehearted trier, but a test or ODI opening bowler he is not. Two late wickets does not hide the fact that after Bresnan's one for 255 series against Australia, Ryan Sidebottom or Ajmal Shahzad deserve a run out.
4. Bangladesh lose momentum as soon as Tamim Iqbal is out.
5. It doesn't matter how good a position Bangladesh get themselves into, they will always find a banana skin to slip over. The 250 they scored yesterday was at least 40-50 runs below a par score.
6. Ian Bell likes playing against Bangladesh. By the end of this series his one day average may even surpass his test average against the toothless Tigers.
7. Bangladesh's seam bowling is on a par with a county 2nd XI attack.
8. Cricket is a game of two sides, but when England and Bangladesh play the former always wins comfortably (with the only doubt being when Tamim Iqbal is at the wicket).

We can't wait for the next two matches at Bristol and Edgbaston. Can you guess what is going to happen?

If cricket was at the football World Cup...

Earlier this week we wrote a post comparing certain cricketers to some of the footballers on show at the World Cup. For example Kevin Pietersen's ability to divide opinion as a love and hate figure whilst being vain and a bit of a mincer we judged as a deadringer for Cristiano Ronaldo.

So, to coincide with the start of the World Cup quarter finals today, we turn our attention to the teams. If cricket's nine test sides were at the World Cup, which footballing nation would they be?

Pakistan are France - Bit of an obvious one this one. The football world was amazed by the dysfunctional, disloyal and mutinous French, but thanks to Pakistan and the PCB, cricket is familiar with having a crazy team and an even crazier administrative board within its ranks. L'equipe de France is only an apprentice in controversy compared to the old hands of Pakistan.

India are England - Both full of richly talented performers but who continually fail to deliver on the big stage that is the World Cup to deflate the huge media expectation at home. 44 years of hurt for the England football team is nearly equalled by India's 27 year gap since they won the cricket World Cup in 1983. However, at least India are the number one ranked test side; the England football team have done nothing as good.

England are Spain - Until recently, both sides had failed to deliver on the big stage for a very long time. England had a false start with winning the 2005 Ashes, but since the introduction of Andy Flower as coach have regained the Ashes and now won the World T20. Spain finally broke their quarter final hoodoo in the 2008 European Championships and now both teams dream of the ultimate success of a football World Cup and an Ashes win in Australia. Both have a really good chance.

Australia are Germany - England's biggest foe in cricket and football respectively, both are now rebuilding after long periods of success. Whilst both are not quite the side they were in days of yore, both tend to raise their game for England and like nothing more than rubbing the nose of St George in the mud. It is a fool that would ever rule out the Australian cricket side and the German football team.

South Africa are Portugal- Consistently strong teams that never seem to win anything and have a tendency to choke. South Africa have stumbled with the victory line in sight in so many competitions, but the 1999 World Cup particularly sticks out with the two games against Australia and Herschelle Gibbs dropping the World Cup. Portugal too had the ultimate opportunity for a trophy when they played obdurate Greece at home in the European Championship Final of 2004, but contrived to lose 1-0 with Ronaldo finishing the game in tears (ha ha).

Sri Lanka are Holland - Continually punch above their weight, limited resources and a small population, and do so with a huge degree of style whilst even managing to win things. For Sri Lanka, it was the 1996 World Cup and strong subsequent performances plus colourful players such as Jayasuriya, Da Silva, Sangakkara, Vaas and Murali. Whilst for Holland, read the 1988 European Championship victory, two World Cup finals and some of the greatest footballers ever in Cruyff, Gullit and Van Basten.

West Indies are Italy - Fallen champions. Italy unbelievably finished bottom of a weak group containing Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia just four years after winning the World Cup. West Indies have been on a downward spiral ever since Australia won their elusive series in the Caribbean in 1995. Italy will rise again though, but will the demoralised West Indies?

New Zealand are Paraguay - Always seem to qualify for the second stage, but are then found wanting due to a lack of stardust and strength in depth. Dependable, tough to beat but ultimately boring. Finally, with South America having a history of dictators, Daniel Vettori would be right at home.

Bangladesh are Cameroon/Nigeria - Despite continuous stories saying Bangladesh are getting better they continue to lose and rank at the bottom of the pile. Whilst African football is reasonably strong and has a number of the best players in the world, the predictions of many (including Pele) that an African country would win the World Cup has failed to materialise and only Ghana made it past the group stage in South Africa. So it may be a bit of an unfair comparison to Cameroon and Nigeria, but for failing to even win a match in this year's World Cup, for now they are Bangladesh.  

Is it time to revoke Bangladesh's test status?

Following Bangladesh's defeat at Lord's there were the usual calls for their test status to be revoked. Indeed, Tamim Iqbal used a typically blunt comment from Geoff Boycott on this very subject as inspiration for his brilliant hundred on the Sunday.

When you consider this question in purely cricketing terms, it doesn't look good. Since their first test match in 2000, Bangladesh have played 67 tests and only won three. Two of these victories came against a third choice West Indies side and the other came against a Mugabe decimated Zimbabwe. Furthermore, Bangladesh have only drawn six tests (three against Zimbabwe), so the accusation that the Tigers lack bite and are perennial losers is an unanswerable one.

Progress has been painfully slow and even though in their test matches this year at home to India, away to New Zealand, and now home and away to England they have shone intermittently, the sorry run of defeats has continued.

Good players have emerged. Tamim is undoubtedly a world-class batsman and captain Shakib Al Hasan is a very good all-rounder. Others like Mahmudullah and Mushifqur Rahim also appear to have the talent to flourish on the international stage. However, the sad truth is that until Bangladesh produce a couple of decent seam bowlers (especially now that Mashrafe Mortaza's body can not cope with five day cricket), they will continue to struggle. The climate and conditions in Bangladesh are not conducive for fast bowling, but nor are they in the rest of the subcontinent and India, Sri Lanka and especially Pakistan have unearthed some real gems during their cricket histories.

But there is more to this story than  cricket. Bangladesh is the seventh most populous country in the world, and the ninth most densely populated. She is no stranger to natural disaster and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones, and poverty is rife. One only needs to have seen the news this morning about the devastating fire in Dhaka to see that misery and the Grim Reaper visit this country on a regular basis.

As such, cricket is a beacon of hope to the many Bangladeshis living in the slums of Dhaka and Chittagong. Despite the flood of defeats, the Bangladesh cricket team is well supported and their victories in limited overs and Twenty 20 internationals against the likes of Australia and Pakistan cause the kind of celebrations normally reserved for when a country wins the football World Cup. We only have to look back a few months to remember the noise and joy of a capacity Bangladeshi crowd when it looked like their side were going to beat England in a one day international in Dhaka before Eoin Morgan spoilt the party. 

When you consider this, surely it wouldn't be right for the ICC to remove Bangladesh's test status and condemn it to second tier matches against the likes of Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan? But the ICC is not supposed to be a philanthropist and the endless run of defeats is not doing Bangladesh or cricket any good. So what can be done?

At the Reverse Sweep we believe there is something that the ICC could do to help Bangladesh whilst maintaining their test status and it would be a very simple move. Why not limit Bangladesh's test matches to four days? New Zealand only played three day tests in their formative years as a test playing nation, and whilst their win record was the same as Bangladesh in their first 67 tests, they actually drew 32 matches (the same as they lost). It would hardly be surprising if New Zealand took some solace from these draws and used it as a basis for their eventual improvement.

If Bangladesh only played four day tests, they certainly would have drawn their last two matches with England at Lord's and Dhaka. Losing becomes a habit, so if Shakib and his men had a real chance of at least earning a few draws, we believe there would be an undoubted improvement in their performances. And with the opposition having to take a few more risks in order to win in four days, more opportunities for the Tigers to actually win test matches will emerge. Surely, this would be good for cricket as well as Bangladesh and its fervent supporters? Then we would see more Tamim's, Shakib's and hopefully Mortaza's emerge.  

Toothless England fail to contain Tiger Tamim

The late wickets of Mohammad Ashraful and Shahadat Hossain may have swung the test back into the home side's favour but that does not hide the fact that England were pitiful at Lord's yesterday.

The bowling attack, Steve Finn apart, was powder puff and toothless, Andrew Strauss was uninspiring as captain, and one can just imagine the smile emanating from Ricky Ponting's face when he woke up in Australia this morning. On this display, the Aussies will hardly be quaking in their boots ahead of the Ashes.

Bangladesh on the other hand were marvellous. Tamim Iqbal, who we have long admired at the Reverse Sweep, hit one of the best test hundreds seen at Lord's and he was ably supported by Imrul Kayes, who finally reached fifty in his 12th test. Compared to their dismal performance in the field on the first day, this was a tenacious and whole-hearted performance from the Tigers.

But England's four men bowling attack were extremely poor. Using the new ball well in Australia is absolutely critical, but in both innings James Anderson and Tim Bresnan have allowed Tamim and Kayes to give their side a flying start. Anderson is just coming back from an injury lay off and was left twiddling his thumbs in the Caribbean, so perhaps can be excused. And at least he bowled better later in both innings. 

Bresnan on the other hand is not a test match opening bowler and never will be. At best he is a third or fourth seamer and on this showing was neither. Unless England opt for five bowlers, Bresnan should not be in the side and even then it is highly debatable he is good enough to bat at seven against the top sides.

For once Swann has not soared for England and even had the chastening experience of being smashed for six twice in an over by Tamim as seventeen came off his first over after lunch. Swann though is allowed a bad day at the office after being England's star man for so long. He will bounce back and should have a good summer on more helpful wickets.

Finn has been the one positive in the bowling department. His height and bounce have caused the Bangladesh batsmen problems and six wickets (so far) in your first home test at the age of 21 is a good performance. Whether he is ready to be part of the XI for the Ashes we shall see. It will be interesting to see how he fares against Pakistan later in the summer.

But the final word should be reserved for Tamim. Earlier this year we compared him to Virender Sehwag and named Tamim as one of the first two graduates from the Sehwag School for Batting. In six tests in 2010, Tamim has now scored 727 runs at 60.58 and in scoring a fifty and a hundred on his first test at Lord's, has surely confirmed that he is Bangladesh's first genuine world class batsman. And lest we not forget, he is only 21 years old. His innings yesterday was an exhilarating adrenalin rush and a joy to watch and it would seem there is plenty more to come. 

Spare a thought...

...for Mohammad Ashraful.

Ever since becoming the youngest man in test history to score a hundred when he hit 114 on debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo, Ashraful was considered Bangladesh's most talented batsman. Until Tamim Iqbal came along that is.

Since his stunning debut there have been the occasional flashes of brilliance such as an unbeaten 158 against India in 2004. But the overwhelming sensation has been one of intense disappointment as an obvious talent fails to live up to his initial promise. His pre-Lord's average of 22.78 from 53 tests goes some way to explaining the burst blood vessels on the face of the combustible Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons.

Sky reminded us how talented Ashraful could be when during the time before the eventual rain delayed start they showed the infamous Australia-Bangladesh Nat West Series match from Cardiff in 2005. This was the match that Andrew Symonds missed because he had a few too many sherbets the night before. Bangladesh won thanks to a brilliant innings from Ashraful who hit a run a ball 100 to make many an England fan smile ahead of that tumultuous Ashes series.

So when Ashraful came to the wicket yesterday it wouldn't have been a surprise if fate had enabled him to do well. He got off the mark with a lovely square drive, but then got an absolute stinker from umpire Asoka de Silva when he was given out leg before to a ball from Steven Finn that was clearly missing leg.

Ashraful is still only 25, so may yet be able to justify his talent more consistently than he has done to date, but with the luck he had yesterday he could be ducking from flying cricket bats thrown by an irate Siddons for some time to come. 

Who will be the Lovers & the Shaggers of the World T20?

Last week we introduced you to two categories of T20 batsmen - the Lovers and the Shaggers. 

The warm-up matches and the opening match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka has taught us that the pitches in Guyana, Barbados and St Lucia are slower than an arthritic tortoise who has had a particularly heavy night on the sauce. This means that the shaggers may not be as prevalent as they were in the IPL where Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan and Kieron Pollard in particular shagged themselves silly around India for six weeks.

I always had Tillakaratne Dilshan down as a shagger; and an unconventional one at that, but to see him struggle today to score only three off 19 balls suggests that he won't put as many notches on his belt as he did in England in last year's World T20.

So predicting the Lovers that will aim to provide pleasure all night, be chivalrous with their foreplay and then maintain a steady and patient momentum with the occasional shout out loud moment. Similarly, trying to fathom who will be the Shaggers that are too selfish for foreplay and start banging away from day one looks like it is going to be more difficult than we thought. But, to the hell with it and here goes.

The Lovers - Looking to give some lurve will be the following: Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene, Paul Collingwood, Michael Clarke (if anyone can manage to stay awake), Gautam Gambhir and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The Shaggers - Warming up with Robin Uthappa's medicine ball will be: David Warner, Bangladesh (yep, the whole team are testosterone fuelled sex maniacs), Eoin Morgan, Murali Vijay, Shahid Afridi (who is probably a bit kinky), Albie Morkel, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Elton Chigumbura.  

  

World T20 preview and predictions

Just five days after the end of the IPL season, international cricket resumes with the World T20 in the Caribbean. Although, it will be a less frenzied affair with no DLF maximums, no timeouts and praise be to God, no Danny Morrison, it is not exactly an example of good scheduling by the ICC. And coming under a year after the last World T20 in England, no-one could argue that cricket in general is adopting a less is more approach to the youngest form of the game.

The competition itself is structured in the same way as a year ago with four initial groups of three being whittled down to two groups of four in the Super Eight stage, before the semi-finals and final. Group A sees holders Pakistan up against Bangladesh and Australia, and with Shahid Afridi captaining pretty much anything could happen. Shorn of Shoaib Malik, Rana Naved, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan through the mismanagement of Ijaz Butt and one of the best T20 bowlers in the world in Umar Gul through injury, Pakistan may even struggle to get past unpredictable Bangladesh.

Despite losing a warm-up match to Zimbabwe and Brett Lee to injury, Australia has to rank amongst the favourites for the trophy; though the decision to leave Doug Bollinger at home could come back to haunt them. We'll take the Aussies to top the group and Bangladesh to get past Pakistan and cause more match-fixing allegations from their oh so wonderful politicians.

Group B sees last year's runners up Sri Lanka take on New Zealand and Zimbabwe. King Kumar's boys should do well on the expected slow pitches of the Caribbean and New Zealand don't generally get beaten by the minnows, so despite the boon of beating Australia, the ever-improving Zimbabwe are likely to miss out here.

The wonderful story that is Afghanistan qualifying for the competition is likely to end abruptly with India and South Africa the opposition in Group C, and the hosts West Indies and England will have too much firepower for Ireland in Group D.

Then the real business will start with the Super Eight stage although the bizarre way in which those groups will be constituted is confusing to say the least. By our reckoning, assuming Australia, Sri Lanka, India and England win the preliminary groups, the two Super Eight groups will be Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa and England in Group E, and Australia, Sri Lanka, India and West Indies in a much tougher looking Group F. But we could be wrong and we're already on the phone to Professor Stephen Hawking in order to get a better understanding of how this works.

Anyway, taking for granted that we are correct; and for England's sake we hope we are, then the Reverse Sweep's belief that 2010 is going to follow 1966 and 2003 in the annals of English sporting glory looks a distinct possibility. With T20 being a great leveller, the selectors finally picking the right squad and England having a good balance between bat and ball, Paul Collingwood's men should be right up there in contention for the trophy. We take them to go through to the semi-finals with South Africa from this supposed Group E.

If Group F looked like this then it would rightly be called the group of death. All four teams look strong with India led by the excellent MS Dhoni and Australia the two favourites for the competition. But don't rule out the hosts who will be looking to make up for their disappointing performance when hosting the World Cup in 2007. With Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, West Indies have the impact players that win a T20 match in a five over spell. And with T20 having that element of unpredictability we go for the hosts to join India in the last four.

With South Africa likely to choke in the semi-final and the West Indies probably running out of steam, we at the Reverse Sweep are predicting an India-England final with the absence of Sachin Tendulkar meaning that England will finally break its duck of having never won a limited overs ICC world trophy. But we won't be massively surprised if we get it wrong.

In terms of the cricketers to look out for, here are our tips (one per country) as the likely stars: England - Kevin Pietersen, India - MS Dhoni, South Africa - Dale Steyn, West Indies - Kieron Pollard, Australia - Cameron White, Sri Lanka - Angelo Mathews, Bangladesh - Tamim Iqbal, New Zealand - Ross Taylor, Pakistan - Shahid Afridi, Zimbabwe - Elton Chigumbura, Ireland - Niall O'Brien, Afghanistan - Mohammad Shahzad.

Let the festivities begin, and then roll-on quickly so we can get some test cricket...    

How competitive are Bangladesh?

A while back, I wrote a post refuting the general view that Bangladesh are getting better. On the evidence of the test series with England, I was wrong. They are getting better but how competitive are they? And how close are they to actually winning a test match against anyone other than Zimbabwe or a West Indies third XI?

First the positives. Whatever the outcome of the 2nd Test, Bangladesh have done reasonably well in this series. They have taken both games to five days and certainly in this test they have at times been on top -like on the first morning when Tamim Iqbal's blitzkreig batting had England in temporary disarray. They've also had the worse of the umpiring decisions in this match with Tony Hill in particular making a number of howlers in England's 1st innings.

Bangladesh have also finally produced some decent players. Tamim Iqbal looks a special batsman and at 21 can only get better, especially if he quells the recklessnessthat saw him lose his wicket in the 2nd innings yesterday at such a crucial time. Shakib seems to be growing into his captaincy role and is a genuinely good all-rounder. Mahmudullah is a classy batsman and he was Bangladesh's most dangerous bowler in the 1st test. And Mushfiqur Rahim also looks good with the bat even if his wicketkeeping leaves a lot to be desired. Junaid Siddique has also done well and could have a future as Tamim's opening partner.

So things seem to be improving and doubtless, on their own pitches, Bangladesh could give New Zealand, West Indies and even Pakistan a run for their money. But there are some fundamental problems too. With Mortaza injured and unlikely to play test cricket again, the seam attack is extremely weak, which doesn't bode well for the early summer tests in England. They also lack strength in the batting department and seem to rely on the same players each time. What price would Jamie Siddons pay for Mohammad Ashraful to finally realise his undoubted promise?

They have alsodeveloped an unerring ability to lose the initiative in matches just when it looks like they are getting on top. Yesterday, they knocked off the 1st innings deficit for the loss of only one wicket before imploding on a docile pitch. Similarly, Bangladesh failed to step up to the plate at crucial moments against India and New Zealand in recent test matches. At the moment they are a team that can have a good session or even a good day, but over five days they lack consistency and concentration.

Bangladesh's record since playing their 1st test in 2000 is atrocious with only three wins and six draws in their 65 tests before the current match in Dhaka. That record will undoubtedly improve as the team is young, but there is a long, long way still to go for Bangladeshi cricket.   

Fearlessness, impetuosity and Tamim Iqbal

Now we at The Reverse Sweep are big fans of Tamim Iqbal. Along with Tillakaratne Dilshan, we nominated Tamim as one of the first two graduates from the Sehwag School of Batting. And we lauded his batting on Saturday, when but for an umpiring error he probably would have scored a century before lunch in the 2nd Test in Dhaka.

Why do we like Tamim? Because he stands and delivers, is utterly fearless and is truly Bangladesh's first world-class batsman now that Mohammad Ashraful has sadly been revealed as a flash-in-the-pan impostor. He turned 21 on Saturday and he certainly has the impetuousness of youth.

Unfortunately, fearlessness and impetuosity can sometimes get you into trouble at the crease. And so it proved today. A slightly more circumspect Tamim had reached his fifty, and with Bangladesh having recovered the first innings deficit for the loss of only one wicket, there was a real chance for his side to post a challenging target on the final day. If he had stayed in that is.

Considering he had already been dropped three times, Tamim should have resolved to make England pay but his luck finally ran out when he attempted a horrible slash off Graeme Swann to Stuart Broad at point. Given that Swann was supposedly suffering from Dhaka belly, Tamim had provided the immodium on a plate.

Fearlessness is good, but only when combined with a good dose of common sense and awareness of the match situation. Let's hope Tamim learns from this.  

Tamim Iqbal's 'come and get me' plea to the IPL

A while back I wrote that Tamim Iqbal had successfully graduated from the Sehwag School for batting. That was after his brilliant century 151 against India in January.

Today he decided to take his PhD and secure a spot in the IPL with his batting in the second test against England in Dhaka. And unlike Matt Hayden he did it without using a Mongoose.

Tamim treated Tim Bresnan with the disdain he deserves as perhaps England's least threatening opening bowler of all time. And then he took a shine to Graeme Swann, newly installed as the second best test bowler in the World. Tamim treated him like a club 3rd XI occasional bowler. Steve Finn was carted for 22 from his two overs.

He reached his fifty off only 34 balls and had reached 85 (off 71) before he got a diabolical decision being given out caught behind off his arm to give James Tredwell his first test wicket. This prevented him from getting a 100, and who knows a 150, before lunch. It would have been as deserved as it would have been memorable.

If the shadow of his former self Damien Martyn can get an IPL contract then Tamim can expect his Blackberry to be buzzing soon.