Bangladesh's Achievement in the World Cup Cricket 2007

Bangladesh vs South Africa, Super Eights, Guyana

Bangladesh bring the Super Eights to life

Utpal Shuvro in Providence

April 8, 2007

"On [Mohammad] Ashraful's day, no team is safe. Not Australia, and now, not South Africa" © AFP

Rankings? Tear them up, throw them away. That's what Bangladesh can say now, with some justification, after South Africa, the world's No 1 side, was comfortably dispensed with by the a team ranked ninth.

The two teams are relatively new to each other, and their previous mutual history is the story of Bangladesh's helpless capitulation. In seven previous matches, only once had Bangladesh crossed 200; their best performance saw them lose by 83 runs. South Africa had acquired the status of a spectre; on Saturday, the tables were effectively turned.

Saturday's match, the Guyana Epic, may well be considered Bangladesh's best-ever one-day performance. Not just because it was their first-ever win over South Africa; not because South Africa are the world's top-ranked team; nor even because this result has thrown open the Super Eights, and brought this tournament to life. This was Bangladesh's best-ever result because they reduced South Africa to the same shambolic mess that they would usually find themselves in.

Over the past three years Bangladesh have acquired the reputation of being giant-killers; Australia, India, Sri Lanka - and India again during the World Cup - but in none of these matches was victory so emphatic. In none of these matches was the conclusion just a ceremony, as it was on Saturday.

Bangladesh has stunned this World Cup - stunned the world. Maybe even itself. Yes, Bangladesh had threatened a couple of upsets soon after ascending to the Super Eights. But the first two matches against Australia and New Zealand had caused some of the confidence to evaporate.

Before the South Africa match, though, Bangladesh was singing its familiar tune. At the press conference on Friday, Habibul Bashar, the captain, was asked directly: What did he expect from the match, a win or a fight? Habibul had said he wanted to fight. There wasn't much of a fight yesterday - but Bashar wouldn't have been complaining. Bangladesh are now a dangerous side; predictions involve playing with fire.

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, wrote on the eve of this match in his column for Prothom Alo that his team would not repeat India's mistakes. But it wasn't enough for South Africa not to want to make mistakes. Bangladesh compelled them to go wrong. The opening pair scoring 42 runs in 13.4 overs; losing three wickets by the 20th over with 69 on board; just 92 runs in 25 overs - Smith could not have imagined this match would be the biggest embarrassment of his captaincy.

It goes without saying that the credit for bundling out South Africa - who have successfully chased 400 - for 184 goes to the bowlers. Yet the edifice for the win was built by the batsmen. Instead of batsmen, we can say Mohammed Ashraful. His 87 off 83 balls is a reminder that on Ashraful's day, no team is safe. Not Australia, and now, not South Africa.

Utpal Shuvro is sports editor of Prothom Alo, a Dhaka-based daily

© Cricinfo

Bangladesh's Achievement in the World Cup Cricket 2007

South Africa v Bangladesh, Super Eights, Guyana

Mauled by the Tigers

Dileep Premachandran in Guyana

April 7, 2007

The dismissal of Jacques Kallis signalled the end for South Africa © AFP

How many times in your life will you watch the No. 1 side in the world comprehensively outclassed by one ranked eight places lower? This match, three weeks on from that epic triumph against India at Port-of-Spain, will linger long in the memory for the manner in which a young and vibrant side embarrassed one that appeared to rest on its laurels. Had the South African cricket board not changed their crest to the Protea, the headline-writers would have had a field day with variations on "Tigers maul Springboks".

And it really was a mauling, with South Africa never even remotely in the game once Jacques Kallis' attempt to heave the super-slow Syed Rasel fell safely into the hands of mid-on. When the spinners came on, each left-arm and each so very different in their methods, the old gremlins against slow bowling resurfaced. The third Powerplay produced three wickets and just five runs, with Justin Kemp and Mark Boucher swishing and wafting at thin air.

It was the sort of performance that vindicated those who insist that South Africa are still not on the same ball park as Australia. The Australians work the slow bowlers around far better - it helps to have one or two of your own to practice against - and they certainly wouldn't have succumbed without a semblance of a fight. Between them, Abdul Razzaq, Saqibul Hasan and Mohammad Rafique bowled 29.4 overs for combined figures of 6 for 96, even better than what they managed to push the Indians on to skid row.

"I guess that conclusion has been around a while," a dejected Graeme Smith said, when asked if the result highlighted South African frailty on slow pitches against slow bowlers. "But we played pretty well to beat Sri Lanka on this surface. Compared to the way we played against Sri Lanka, it's like chalk and cheese."

The same three spinners had routed India, but according to Smith, the 67-run defeat was the result of an overall meltdown. "There's no right thing to say," he said. "We just have to take our pain. It's a big loss for us and we are hugely disappointed. We couldn't give it our best shot and didn't get the basics right. We didn't play the kind of cricket we are capable of, and it's hard to take any positive from any facet of the game today."

In hindsight, the key moments came in the 36th over, with Bangladesh's run rate still stuck below four an over. Kemp had bowled just seven overs in five previous games, but with Andrew Hall apparently having a quadriceps problem, he was pressed into action. The consequences were disastrous, with Aftab Ahmed teeing off and the momentum shifting.

"I don't want to take the credit away from Bangladesh," Smith said. "They played superbly. We gave them the opportunity and they grabbed it with both hands. We let ourselves down very, very badly."

AB de Villiers' place may be under threat © Getty Images

With Ashraful having played himself in and wickets in hand, the charge came in the final ten overs. When it did, South Africa had no answers, with Charl Langeveldt and Makhaya Ntini coming in for especially harsh treatment from Ashraful and the swashbuckling Mashrafe Mortaza.

"His innings changed things," Smith said, when asked about Ashraful, who eased to 51 from 64 balls before driving and paddle-sweeping a further 36 from just 19 balls. "He set them up, worked the field well, and kept us under pressure right from when he came in to bat."

With no Hall to bowl cutters at the death, and no Robin Peterson to provide the notional spin option, there was a sameness to the attack that both batsmen pounced on. Smith defended his team selection, but changes are certain when they play West Indies, with Andre Nel having bowled himself into the XI with a splendid spell of 5 for 45.

The fall guy could well be Kemp, whose batting isn't really suited for these sluggish pitches. AB de Villiers might also come under the scanner. After a superb 92 against Australia, he has done nothing of note, and South Africa do have the hit-and-miss talent of Loots Bosman to call upon. The reluctance to juggle the batting order may also have been costly. With Gibbs unable to bat till the fall of the fifth wicket after the time he spent off the field with a calf strain, it might have made sense to promote Shaun Pollock, another accomplished player of spin.

Smith didn't think so. "Kempy's the type of guy who needs time, and he was the one we promoted today," he said. Kemp's return was 7 from 29, and his hard-handed approach to the turning ball never looked like succeeding.

All is not yet lost for South Africa. Tuesday's game against West Indies now assumes knockout proportions, and England will also be scrapping for a place in the final four. "We need to regroup and there's still an opportunity with three big games coming up," Smith said. "Our focus will be on winning all three matches. We don't really want to be relying on other people to get us through."

A few days ago, the talk was of avoiding Australia in the semi-final. Right now, even scaling such a height is far from certain. Being No. 1 is never easy, and being knocked off the perch hurts. Even more so when the knockout blow is delivered by a team that was given less of a chance than James 'Buster' Douglas against 'Iron' Mike Tyson in Tokyo 17 years ago.

Dileep Premachandran is associate editor of Cricinfo

© Cricinfo

Bangladesh's Achievement in the World Cup Cricket 2007

Bangladesh played to their potential and fought the good fight

Tigers 1, Lambs 0

The Verdict by Anand Vasu

March 17, 2007

Bangladesh have slowly, steadily, doggedly worked at their cricket to the best of their ability for years now, and the fruit of that is this win © AFP

There are moments in sport that you don't bargain for, when the euphoria of a great win and the agony of defeat collide, and a large well of emotion implodes. When Bangladesh beat India in spectacular fashion, deflating the high and the hype of the months preceding the World Cup, it was time to cast parochialism aside.

Indian players' houses may be attacked, the knives that have been sharpened for Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid will be driven in and twisted, a feeding frenzy will begin in bloodthirsty quarters. That's the dark side. There is, fortunately a pleasant one. In Bangladesh, all those passionate believers, and even people directly involved in the game, will say, "I told you so", and it would be churlish to deny them that at this time.

What is significant about this day, however, is that it is not quite like February 29, 1996, when West Indies were stunned by Kenya in Poona. It's very different from June 18, 2005, when Australia had the rug pulled out from under them by Bangladesh in Cardiff. Those were very much flashes in the pan, lightning striking. This was no David slaying Goliath, simply a case of a weaker team playing to its potential and a strong team failing to keep to its standards.

Bangladesh have slowly, steadily, doggedly worked at their cricket to the best of their ability for years now, and the fruit of that is this win. But, they have won matches like this so many times now, prompting people to say they have finally arrived. The point is that they have been around for a while now, it's just that not too many have taken note.

Dravid's decision to bat, with the world's best batting line-up - on paper at least - and with Bangladesh lacking a [Michael] Holding or a [Jeff] Thomson, was a fair call. Yet what Bangladesh did have was a sprightly Mashrafe Mortaza running in with superb rhythm and sticking to a plan. They had a Syed Rasel who bowled textbook left-arm seam - bending the ball back in to the right-handed batsmen and having enough control to angle the ball away at will. They had two spinners of genuine quality - a wily veteran of many beatings in Mohammad Rafique and a fearless youngster in Abdur Razzak who dared not merely to toss the ball up but to send down an overspinning arm ball that beat a batsman of Sachin Tendulkar's quality in the air and off the pitch.

Where the inadequacy of one team ended, the beauty of the other came to the fore, making this a game of two halves

What India did not have was respect - for the opposition, for the conditions, or for the game. "Anything can happen", goes the saying. "And sometimes it does." Some batsmen, when out of form, find a variety of ways to be dismissed. Virender Sehwag is the opposite - no matter whom he is facing, in whatever conditions, he gets out in similar fashion. Robin Uthappa, who should have taken the chance to cement his place in the side, whacked a wide one into point's hands as though this was a Sunday afternoon club game. Those dismissals were symptomatic of the Indian team that took the field on the day.

Where the inadequacy of one team ended, the beauty of the other came to the fore, making this a game of two halves. We'd only barely heard of a 17-year-old called Tamim Iqbal; they said he was the hardest hitter of a cricket ball in Bangladesh. Often, that isn't saying much; on the day, it said everything. He walked out to bat without the thought that chasing middling totals is often tricky. He walked out to hit the ball that was hurled at him.

With poise, balance and hand-speed reminiscent of a young Saeed Anwar, Tamim drove on the up with panache and precision, but it was one ball that symbolised what a young talent from a small country brought to the table. After an early assault, Zaheer, unsure what to do, clearly flustered, went round the stumps. Tamim waltzed down the pitch, saw Zaheer adjust his length, cleared his mind, and without the slightest doubt, dispatched - no, launched, or was it arrogantly dismissed - the ball into the stands over long-on.

If Tamim was Bangladesh's belief, Mushfiqur Rahim was the wise old boy of 18, calming the nerves, not looking at the scoreboard and thinking of celebrations, instead playing one ball at a time, the perfect way to approach batting, something very few batsmen manage very few times in an entire career.

India fought, for sure, making Bangladesh work for their win. But it was the erstwhile minnows, Bangladesh, who fought the good fight.

Anand Vasu is assistant editor of Cricinfo

© Cricinfo

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