First-class negligence brings ODI mess
South Africa's record of chasing the highest total in ODIs without losing a wicket against Bangladesh on Sunday is an ignominious result for the Tigers, but if it surprised the team and supporters, they may want to take their heads out of the sand. In the 21 ODIs at away or neutral venues since the start of the 2015 World Cup, which was one of Bangladesh cricket's seminal moments, the Tigers have conceded more than 200 and failed to take more than three wickets in five matches.
Even during the period when they have universally been acknowledged to have taken a big developmental step, the period that has led to South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis to say that they are now proven performers overseas, Bangladesh's bowlers have basically failed to turn up virtually once every four matches away from home. Even more alarmingly, that number goes up to once in every three overseas matches in 2017, and three times in the last five ODIs.
The semifinal finish in the Champions Trophy may be taken as a triumph, but in two of the four matches played there Bangladesh conceded 308 for two against England and 265 for one against India in unsuccessful defences. In light of this track record overseas, Sunday's performance does not seem surprising and Du Plessis's generous words seem like an overestimation. The bowlers' one-day inefficacy is not much different from their weakness in Tests -- when the opposition start going like South Africa did while scoring 496 for three and 573 for four in the Tests, for instance, the Bangladesh bowlers, especially pacers, are often clueless. They have proven utterly unable to work out on the field how to get set batsmen out, and that showed on Sunday and throughout this tour.
Why blame Walsh for a cultural shortcoming?
While many may satisfy themselves by pointing the finger at pace bowling coach Courtney Walsh, the finger could justifiably be pointed straight back at the bowlers. It will be an epic failure of the bowling group and the cricketing culture at large if the tenure of a legend like Walsh's ends without there being some noticeable improvement. If international bowlers cannot get the basics -- like spot bowling to frustrate set batsmen, a tactic that any youngster who has watched even one spell of Walsh's bowling should be aware of-- then what hope do they have of learning the higher skills of pace bowling that Walsh is steeped in?
The reality of the matter is that Bangladesh's current crop of pacers have not grown up in a culture that values the longer form. Rubel Hossain, in a cricket career dating back to 2007, has played just 48 first-class matches and 25 of those were Tests -- which works out to an average of just over two domestic first-class matches a year. Taskin Ahmed has played 10 domestic first-class matches in six years of being a professional cricketer. Mustafizur Rahman may be a slight exception as he has played 15 domestic first-class games in a little over three years. Sunday's ODI debutant Mohammad Saifuddin, meanwhile, is an outlier as he has played 24 first-class games and 23 List A games in three years, but as a complete newcomer, his trend is not yet possible to determine.
Longer-version experience becomes especially relevant when viewing performances like Sunday's because in first-class games run containment works hand in hand with taking wickets, which is the primary goal. During a partnership like Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock's, a wicket is the primary goal because you cannot expect to contain two set batsmen of such quality below a sub-300 total. Former Australian batsman Ian Chappel's oft-repeated adage 'You can't score runs sitting in the pavilion' is as true for ODIs as it is for Test matches.
Rubel's, and especially Taskin's, failure on Sunday as well as in the past is that they were unable to respond to what is in front of them, or they lack the skill to do so. Amla hit seven of his eight fours on the off side, but Taskin kept feeding him balls outside off stump. De Kock hit a majority of his 19 boundaries square on the leg side, yet Taskin kept bowling at his body.
The result was Taskin leaking 61 runs in his eight overs. He is a bowler who came into the side with great potential, but has been exposed badly when not backed by the spinners on the spin-friendly pitches at home.
And this trend is set to continue. Even if pacers play domestic first-class matches or Tests at home, their role is usually limited to bowling five overs before the spinners take over to operate on batting tracks that favour spinners. South Africa's highest Test wicket-taker Shaun Pollock, during the second Test in Bloemfontein, genuinely asked whether Bangladesh actually want to do well away from home. Lip service aside, until the authorities truly learn to value longer-version cricket as the source of quality cricketers, especially bowlers, tours like the current one will continue to be commonplace.
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