WAITING FOR THEIR RETURN TO TESTS

Things are slowly getting back to normal. Bangladesh were comprehensively beaten (to put it mildly) by England in 7 sessions are Old Trafford. Zimbabwe lost (finally!) to Sri Lanka comprehensively (to put it mildly, again!) at Harare in the tri-series final. This chain of events imply that India should have 2 easy wins in the 2 Twenty20 Internationals that they are scheduled to play against Zimbabwe to end their African tour.

And there is a good chance that we may see a couple of one - sided matches as India, smarting from twin defeats to the hosts, may well come out all guns blazing to completely streamroll the opposition. Or... Or we may witness an upset or two more. That is a smaller possibility but there is a chance that India, wary of Zimbabwe after the ODI defeats, may look to play cautious cricket and allow the hosts to seize the initiative.

Whatever happens in the 2 Twenty20s... kudos to Zimbabwe (and Bangladesh of course) for the fight and the improvement they have shown in their cricket. These two teams do not have too many threatening names in their lineup... names for  whom the opposition teams sit for hours in a meeting formulating plans and strategies... but they are good as a unit. They have learnt how to fight... and these skills are helping them as they take on the bigger teams with bigger names.

It's good that the teams have become competitive... it will help the game grow. I am just waiting now for Zimbabwe to be allotted the Test status once again... I know Andy Flower no longer plays for them, but I do hope someone else comes along who impresses me just as much as Andy Flower did!

WASHED WHITE AFTER A FIGHT

After an impressive showing in the First Test, Bangladesh were back to their old self during the Second Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.

To be fair to them, they did put up a fighting opening partnership in the first innings... courtesy their new talisman Tamim Iqbal, but once that first wicket fell... it was a procession... a total collapse! Eventually, 20 wickets fell in 2 sessions... with all the English bowlers chipping in. England's 419 all out in the 1st innings eventually turned out to be sufficient for an innings and 80 runs win.

The Bangladesh team management must have been pleased with the fight shown... but also upset that the team went back into their old habit of collapsing without a fight all of a sudden... their 20 wickets fell for just 213 runs after a first wicket stand of 126. It's Tamim or nothing for Bangladesh, at the moment.

England will be quietly happy with their performance... though Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss will know that a lot of improvement is necessary if they are to have a chance of retaining the Ashes in Australia later this year.

With the Test series having ended, I am hoping for a good performance from Bangladesh even in the 3 match ODI series to be played later in July... maybe, even sneak in a victory.

TAMIM'S CHOCOLATE FACTORY

What an anti-climax! England captain Andrew Strauss asks Bangladesh to follow on in the 2nd Test at Old Trafford... and just as everyone gears up for another Tamim Iqbal show, he falls for 2 on the 2nd ball of the day from James Anderson.


But irrespective if this failure, I just found this quote by Tamim from The Corridor (a cricket blog)... "If you start a company, a chocolate company, you can’t compete with Cadbury in the first 10 years. It will take time. I can’t compete with Sachin Tendulkar after getting one century. I need to work very hard."


Now that is one seriously good quip!

54 YEARS IN WAITING

Greame Swann has become the first English off-spinner since the great Jim Laker to take a 10-wicket haul in a Test match against Bangladesh today.

Incidentally, Laker's last 10-for was his famous 19 for 90 in the Ashes Test at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1956. It has taken almost 54 years since then and a sub - continental pitch at Chittagong for another English off-spinner to come along and grab a 10-for.

England's troubles at producing quality spinners have been well documented through history. Many have regarded this inability as also one of the reasons why their batsmen are inept at playing quality spin bowling. So it was hardly surprising that the wait for the next genuinely good English off-spinner lasted more than 4 decades.