|
|
The Tony Greig Show
'Bangladesh, Zimbabwe games aren't internationals'
August 31, 2008
Why Dhoni is such a successful captain, why Symonds needs to be worried, and how KP silenced his critics
Download (3513k)
|
Listen (9:59)
| Podcast
| iTunes
 Read Comments (52)
|
|
Comments have now been closed for this article
|
|
When a cricket intellect like Tony greig says Bd and zim should be relegated to status B, it is explicitly understandable why still cricket is the less popular sports in the world. We have only 10 countries playing test cricket and few more those are playing the one dayers and such a shame it is that still some of the rigid personnels like Tony are thinking to minimize the number and keep it between only 8 countires! Well how about west Idies mr. Tony greig??I dont remember when was the last time West Indies won a series or a test match?? Why dont you suggest to relegate WI as well?
What i feel is that Bd and Zim are lacking in confidence and the habit of winning a game is just not happening for them. It is not easy for the players to get beaten pretty often and fight with the depression along with the constant pressure of int cricket. So I beg to mr. Tony if you can't come up with any good ideas on how to overcome these problems just do not discourage the globalisation of cricket.
Posted by Anandacool on September 03 2008, 20:32 PM GMT
|
|
I would like to draw a parallel with hockey.
Now India failed to qualify for the Olympics and its performance
in recent years are not encouraging. Does it mean India will not be allowed to
play top teams in the world? Come on Tony be bighearted; teams in their infancy or facing political turmoil need the big brother supportand not discarded What the toppers can do is to send their A/ junior teams to play against them, by this way they can also rest their key players and unearth new talent.
Posted by vinchester on September 03 2008, 11:27 AM GMT
|
|
Maybe a solution would be to let them play at test level, but at the same time make them play against A teams from Aus/Ind/Eng/SA. A lot of international players (or players of that quality) play in A teams, so it will give these teams a chance to play competitive international cricket, which will actually improve their game. If ICC really wants to improve cricket, they should include A games in FTP program (with first class status) and should be interwoven logically with test level FTP programme. But I guess there will not be enough miney to justify efforts, so few people will be bothered to think about it
Posted by tusharkardile on September 03 2008, 09:21 AM GMT
|
|
I think the situation is like "Two goats surrounded by eight lions". I know its harsh but thats the truth.
Posted by Firefox87 on September 03 2008, 01:23 AM GMT
|
|
I really have to make some points about the comparison of New Zealand and Bangladesh in the early years. Before NZ achieved their first win they had played 43 tests. But they drew 22 of them and lost 21 of them. The win came against a good team. Whereas Bangladesh has so far played 53 tests and lost 47 of them. One win came against a team that disintegrated into pieces due to politics. Against top teams they managed to earn two draws - one due to rain. There is no way NZ were this bad. They weren't remotely close to being this bad. This day and age you have so many tools to analyze yourself. You get to play on flat pancakes. Those days cricket was played on uncovered pitches. I find it delusional to say that NZ took 20 odd years to win the Test. They played much less tests in that period than Bangladesh has played in the last 8 years. It is not about years. It is about number of matches. Anyway you look at it Bangladesh has been the worst.
Posted by Vkarthik on September 02 2008, 16:12 PM GMT
|
|
I noticed on the scorecard from Bangladesh's last match against Australia (that is Australia minus Ponting, Symonds, Lee, Hayden - more like Australia 'A' really) their 'best' batsman Mohammad Ashraful scored 5 from 16 balls, which made very little impact on his tailender average of 23 from 126 matches.Do you think it made him a better player? Do you think if he plays another 126 matches he might get that average up to 25? Opener Mehrab Hossain jnr made an 8 ball duck, will he learn anything from it to improve his game? I notice a lot of readers have commented that Bangladesh have beaten Australia,Pakistan and India, if they had actually watched these matches they would realise it was more a result of those teams playing badly than any sudden miraculous performance from Bangladesh. If they continue to average 20-25 ODIs per year they will no doubt beat a major team every few years, I just wonder if there will be any paying spectators there to see it.
Posted by BigRedCandle on September 02 2008, 15:08 PM GMT
|
|
Bangladesh and Zimbabwe must play more first class matches and should prove themselves that they have the eligibility to be a good Test-playing nation. Globalising is fine, but they need to prove themselves. Winning or losing is part of the game. But we don't want a team to play Test cricket at the higher level which always loses. 'Consistency' is what required at the moment. They can prove this only by more playing more first class matches then international test matches.
Posted by SenthilKumaranV on September 02 2008, 15:07 PM GMT
|
|
I would like to put the question wether this kind of topic is in the spirit of the game. Cricket is a gentlemen's sport, and it is best to keep it that way. Picking on Bangladesh and Zimbabwe does nobody any favours.
Posted by PakeeZPunsiha on September 02 2008, 11:59 AM GMT
|
|
the issue should be looked from a pragmatic point of view. there are two objective confronting, i) Globalization of the game and ii) Maintaining standard of top class cricket (i.e. internationals). We need to create a balance. In my opinion bangladesh and zimbabwe is alright for ODIs but not for Test cricket. however office bearers are required to take effective steps to arrange first class matches between these two countries and state/province teams of eshtablished test playing nations. In the name of globalisation, We should not encourage awarding test status to a team which is incapable to beat 1st class state/province teams on regular basis. BD and ZIM should play at least 100 1st class match in next 5 to 7 years and prove their worth of test playing nation. Moreover we should not think of globalising TEST cricket, it is impossible. However I must confess the passion for cricket in bangladesh is unbelievable and no less than India or Pakistan.
Posted by sampad on September 02 2008, 09:07 AM GMT
|
|
People seemed to become very annoyed with Tony's comment on Bangladesh cricket. I myself being a Bangladeshi and a big supporter of them would like to say that Tony was not all that wrong, to some extent he is right. At least some criterion to be set for the minnows like Bangladesh at int level to achieve. You got to compete at international level lose or win doesn't matter. 9 out of 10 matches if you find some team within 15/20 overs have already lost the match then what is there to watch in a game? Talking about talent?? What is the use of talent which last for 1 series or at best one calender year sometimes 1 or 2 matches only?? People talk about BAN WC performance. Being a full member losing to Ireland was equally shameful.
Posted by KIAZIZ on September 02 2008, 07:36 AM GMT
|
|
|
Read all 52 Comments  |
| Top ^ |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
