Tag: Shakib Al-Hasan

A Historic Day at the World Cup

A look back at today’s world cup match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which featured a classic century from Charith Asalanka, 90 from Najmul Hossain Shanto, a Player of the Match all round performance from Shakib Al-Hasan and a moment of cricket history – the first ‘Timed Out’ dismissal in any international match. Also a photo gallery.

Today’s match at the 2023 ODI World Cup was between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. A win for Bangladesh would mean that England stood alone as the sole team with as few as two points, while a win for Sri Lanka would effectively book their place in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

THE SRI LANKA INNINGS

Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bowl first. Sri Lanka’s fourth wicket fell at 135. Angelo Mathews came in at that point. One minute and 54 seconds after the fall of the fourth wicket Mathews put his helmet on and tried to tighten the strap, which promptly broke. Mathews then had a bit of a laugh and called for a replacement helmet. Shakib Al-Hasan, mindful of the laws of the game and the playing conditions in force for this tournament, appealed, and the umpires had no choice but to give Matthews ‘Timed Out’ for not being ready to face the ball within two minutes of the wicket falling. Mathews eventually left the crease, and as he crossed the boundary he petulantly flung down his bat and helmet.

The Laws of Cricket require that the new batter be ready to face within three minutes of the fall of a wicket, while this tournament has a playing condition in place tightening that to two minutes. The Sri Lankan numbers 3,4 and 5 had all been ready within about 100 seconds of the fall of the wicket. Mathews was testing the limits even before his helmet strap broke while he tried to tighten it. The umpires apparently checked twice with Shakib Al-Hasan as to whether he wished to withdraw the appeal, and he quite rightly refused to do so – Matthews was out fair and square.

It was the first time anyone had been given ‘Timed Out’ in any international fixture, though there are six official incidents from first class matches and from before ‘Timed Out’ was officially introduced there is the case of Harold Heygate for Sussex v Hampshire, who originally did not intend to bat since he was suffering from rheumatism, but at the crisis decided to attempt to go in, took too long to reach the middle and was denied his innings. A detailed analysis of the Mathews dismissal can be found here. For more on bizarre dismissals, here is a link to a post I created during the first Covid lockdown.

The rest of the Sri Lankan innings after Mathews’ zero ball duck was dominated by Charith Asalanka. The talented left hander scored a splendid 108, which enabled his side to reach 279 from 49.3 overs by the time their tenth wicket fell. Shakib Al-Hasan had 2-57 from his 10 overs of left arm spin, as well as playing his role in the historic Mathews wicket.

THE BANGLADESH REPLY

I missed a chunk of the Bangladesh innings due to having to visit my surgery. Bangladesh were firmly in control by the time I got home, and did not seriously look like losing at any stage, though they lost a few late wickets. Najmul Hossain Shanto scored 90 off 101 balls, and Shakib Al-Hasan 82 off 65 balls. Bangladesh won by three wickets with 8.5 overs to spare, a result which moved them above Sri Lanka in the table, and left England even more firmly nailed to the foot of the table than they already were. The Sri Lankan players refused to shake hands with their Bangladeshi counterparts at the end of the match. Shakib Al-Hasan’s all round contribution earned him the Player of the Match award.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Apologies for the background on this one – this bird was on the grassland in front of my house, and spoiling the background was the only way i could display its markings properly.

All Time XIs – The Letter A

Assembling an XI all of whose surnames begin with A. Also some photographs.

I am revisiting the theme of All Time XIs. This time I am focussing on teams that can be composed with players whose surnames all begin with the same letter. I begin at the beginning with the letter A.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

  1. Bobby Abel – Surrey and England. The diminutive opener scored 74 first class centuries with a best of 357* v Somerset at Taunton. He was the first England batter to carry his bat through a completed test innings, scoring 132* on that occasion. He was also a fine fielder.
  2. Saeed Anwar – Pakistan. A superb left handed stroke maker, an excellent counterpart to Abel at the top of the order.
  3. Babar Azam – Pakistan. One of the best all format batters in the world at the moment.
  4. Zaheer Abbas – Gloucestershire and Pakistan. The only Asian to have scored 100+ FC hundreds, a roll of honour that includes scores of 274 and 240 vs England in test matches and eight instances of a century in each innings of an FC match, including four where one of the centuries was a double.
  5. Mohammad Azharruddin – India. A wristy middle order batter who did enough before his career ended in scandalous circumstances (match fixing and other dealings with dodgy bookies) to earn his place in this XI. He announced himself with centuries in each of his first three test matches, and at his peak dominated attacks all around the world.
  6. *Shakib Al-Hasan – Bangladesh. Has an amazing all round record and has achieved it without ever having what could be described as a stellar supporting cast around him
  7. +Leslie Ames – Kent and England. The only recognized keeper to have scored 100FC hundreds. Also holds the record for career stumpings in FC cricket (418). Won the Lawrence Trophy for the fastest hundred of the season twice in its first three seasons. Three of the four instances of the ‘wicket keepers double’ – 1,000 runs and 100 dismissals in FC cricket in a single season – were achieved by him.
  8. Wasim Akram – Lancashire and Pakistan. Among left arm fast bowlers who bat only Alan Davidson of Australia, who played many fewer matches, boasts a test record to rival him.
  9. R Ashwin – India. The best off spinner of the current era, and a handy lower order batter. It is a fair bet that England’s exhilarating run chase at Edgbaston would have been harder work had India picked him rather than Thakur for the number eight slot in their team.
  10. Curtly Ambrose – Northamptonshire and West Indies. The list of bowlers with over 400 test wickets at under 21 a piece currently stands at one: Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose. He rocked the WACA in Perth in 1998 by claiming seven Australian wickets for one run in a spell of 33 balls. Australia having reached 100 only one wicket down were all out for 118. At Trinidad in 1994 England need 194 in the last innings to win, with an awkward hour and a bit to survive in murky light on the penultimate day as their first task. By the end of that short session England were 40-8, and although bad batting played its part, so to did an immaculate spell of bowling by Ambrose.
  11. James Anderson – Lancashire and England. More test wickets than any other pace bowler, and nor is there any obvious sign of his powers waning as his 40th birthday approaches.

This XI has a heavy scoring top five, a genuine all rounder at six, an all time great keeper batter at seven and a quite awesome quartet of bowlers, two of whom can certainly also bat. While the bowling attack is missing a leg spin option it is by any standards both powerful and varied, with left arm pace (Akram), two of the greatest right arm fast mediums of all time, who are different in methods to boot (Ambrose, relying on his immense height and unrelenting accuracy, and Anderson with his mastery of swing and seam). This trio is backed up by a pair of contrasting spinners (Ashwin, off spin, and Al-Hasan, left arm orthodox spin). The biggest decision is likely to which of Anderson or Ambrose gets to share the new ball with Akram.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Mike Atherton was close to claiming an opening slot and Dennis Amiss even closer, but I feel credit should be given to Abel for the fact that most of his runs were scored in the 19th century when pitches were often treacherous, and in the case of Amiss also feel that his decision to join a rebel tour of apartheid South Africa counts against him. Two top order batters who could bowl seam up both entered my thoughts: Mohinder Amarnath and Tom Abell. Russel Arnold of Sri Lanka came close. Among the quicks I could not accommodate were Kyle Abbott (Hampshire and South Africa) and Mohammad Abbas (Hampshire and Pakistan). Sri Lankan strokemaker Charith Asalanka may merit a place in few years time. Tommy Andrews, an Aussie middle order batter and ace close fielder of yesteryear was another who could not force his way into the middle order. West Indian left hander Keith Arthurton needed a bit more substance to go with his style to claim a place. Finally, although anyone capable of scoring 167 on the kind of pitches that existed in 1777 as James Aylward of Hambledon did must have been a very fine player, but I felt that there was just too little evidence to justify such a selection.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…