A sense of relief
Al-Amin from Chester-le-Street
The Bangladeshi cricketers had hardly smiled over the last eight days. But one good day on the field completely changed the scenario albeit a series whitewash in the two-Test against England inside three days.Bangladesh captain Habibul Basher and team really enjoyed a drive back to the hotel after they had put on 267-8 on the second day and denied England a two-day demolition. "We had a lot of fun back going to the hotel and I even asked the driver of out bus whether he could drive a bit faster. He said he could not go beyond 60mph," Bashar said after appearing at the post-match briefing at the Riverside ground. "We have lost the series badly. But, still we can feel comfortable after a good showing in the fourth innings," said Bashar while referring to Bangladesh's 316 in the second innings, which was their highest score against England. Coach Dav Whatmore did not appear at the official briefing but the 50-year-old was happy to talk to reporters in front the dressing room. He also reflected on the two-Test series. "Yes, much better display. I'm very pleased that the team finished off on pretty much a high note as far as the Bangladeshi point of view is concerned," said Whatmore adding that it would help Bangladesh grow in confidence going into the one-day series. "It was very important that they do something and salvage something from this game just to reassure themselves that they are good players. We all know that they have not showed that in the first two innings of the two Tests. But they restored a bit of faith in the fourth innings. "Honestly, looking back most people will agree at the time when wickets were falling we all feel very upset and very sad. But in the fourth innings here the conditions were a little bit more familiar. The ball was not bouncing as much and wicket became a bit flatter and this is what we can expect late in the summer. So, in fact we came here early in the summer and that made the job a lot harder." He also admitted that his boys brought about their own doom by playing too many shots. But he said it was an ideal condition for Bangladesh to bat. "But given little bit of condition that we are used to you can see what these boys can do." He also dismissed the claim that Bangladesh's bowling apart from Mashrafee was very ordinary. "I can understand what you are saying. But the reality is that when you walk on that pitch and you got a hundred runs on the board to protect no matter what you do you are going to get criticized. That's a very difficult situation to be in if you are a bowler and you are a fielding team. That is the area which is very hard to measure how good a bowler is. It's a very difficult job to get ten wickets if you have 100 runs on the board."
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