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[UtopiaRay]

OD World Cup Review

Tour Details

We entered this world cup with a realistic shot of playing finals and with an outside chance of going all the way. In the end, we missed out on finals qualification on NRR which is a disappointment. It's particularly frustrating to get close enough where NRR was the deciding factor and still miss out. Anyway, we'll quickly recap the games and then go in to individual performances.

Fixtures
Game 1 v Pakistan - Lost by 7 wickets

We started our tour by failing to defend 331 against Pakistan, in Overcast/Flat conditions. Aminul Bishwash (95 off 105), Syed Zobair (82 off 75) and Milon Rafique (73* off 56) all made good contributions, but losing 4 wickets in the final 10 overs hurt our attempted charge in the slog overs. Pakistan cruised home, set up by a 249-run opening partnership with our quicks failing to take a wicket between them (LFS Dhawal Shewag took 3/70 off 9 overs).

Game 2 v Bermuda - Lost by 5 wickets

Game 2 saw us go down to Bermuda, who have qualified for the grand final. We lost the toss for the 2nd time and were asked to bat in Overcast/Uneven conditions. This was the most frustrating performance of the tour from my perspective, but not for the batting. We made 7/229 in conditions that give F/FMs considerable assistance (Syed Zobair and Arafat Khadim both made 61), so we expected that our highly-rated pace attack would blow Bermuda away. Debojit Das was superb in taking 3/34, but got little support (Semi Valemei 0/36 off 9, Rubel Hafiz 0/46, Saeed Uddin 1/57) from his fellow quicks as Bermuda got over the line with 11 balls to spare.

Game 3 v Canada - Won by 6 runs

Things finally turned around against Canada, in the same conditions as game 1. We were once again asked to bat first, and made 7/334 - just 4 more runs than we did in the loss to Pakistan. Bishwash made a fine 123 off 109, backed up by Santosh Dutta (63 off 71) and Milon Rafique (55 off 48). Semi Valemei and Akram Matin (both 1/49) managed to keep it tidy, and despite the struggles of the rest of the bowlers (combined figures of 1/230 off 30 overs) Canada fell 6 runs short of victory. Malcolm Moreno (169* off 152) and Jamel Randolph (89 off 99) did well, but it wasn't quite enough in the end.

Game 4 v Australia - Won by 6 wickets

The turnaround continued with a 6 wicket victory over the other team in the grand final, Australia. In Windy/Green conditions, we were asked to bowl first as Australia made 7/263. Sarvesh Rayudu (4/52) and Dhawal Shewag (3/37) were superb but got little support (Jaffor Wadud was economical with 0/47) and 263 seemed like a very good total in what should be bowler-friendly conditions. Instead, we ran it down with 6 wickets and 17 balls to spare. Syed Zobair's 59 off 73 set things up for Moinul Chowdhury (95* off 89) and Debojit Kapoor (48* off 53) to charge home.

Game 5 v Sri Lanka - Won by 4 wickets

We then completed the hat-trick of wins by successfully chasing 218 against Sri Lanka. We entered this game in a similar position as the Sri Lankans - to qualify, both teams needed to win and hope Australia either tied or lost to a winless Canadian outfit, as Australia's NRR (+0.6993) was too much for SL (+0.1047) or us (-0.0295) to overcome. We turned in our most complete bowling performance of the tournament (our "worst" performing bowler Akram Matin still managed to keep things tidy, taking 0/48), spearheaded by Semi Valemei (3/25) and Dhawal Shewag (4/45). Our openers were kept quiet but Santosh Dutta (71 off 85), Milon Rafique (59 off 88) set things up for Debojit Kapoor (31* off 36) to close out. Unfortunately, Australia beat Canada and we missed out on qualification.

OD World Cup - Touring Squad

Batters

Aminul Bishwash - Welsh Fire (4 games) - Aminul tonned up against Canada and made 95 in the loss to Pakistan, finishing the tournament with 265 runs @ 66.25 (SR 94.64). A fine effort from the veteran opener.

Rishi Chauhan - Armstrong 13's (2 games) - Rishi was unable to grasp his chances, managing 38 runs @ 19 (SR 70.37). He made 15 off 30 v Bermuda and 23 off 24 v Australia and moves on to senior cricket before the first tour of next season.

Moinul Chowdhury - Denstone (2 game) - Moinul made 131 runs @ 131 (SR 119.09, the highest of our batters), thrashing 36 off 21 against Canada and 95* off 89 against Australia. His power game in the middle order really came off on this tour, his final at U20 level.

Santosh Dutta - The North Howick Diamondbacks (2 games) - Santosh made half-centuries in both his innings, ending with 134 runs @ 67 (SR 85.90). Santosh signs off from U20 cricket by showcasing his reliability at no. 3.

Mahir Kamal - Oxhey Players (3 games) - Mahir managed 82 runs @ 27.33 (SR 92.13), making 3 cameos but not kicking to play a substantial innings. Not bad, but not particularly good either.

Arafat Khadim - Revolution (4 games) - Arafat had one good innings and 3 flubs. He made 80 runs @ 20 (SR 71.43) with a fine 61 against Bermuda, but didn't reach double figures in any of his other innings. A bit of a let-down in his final act at U20 level.

Milon Rafique - Illawarra Dragons CC (4 games) - Milon had a very strong tour, making 203 runs @ 67.67 (SR 94.86). He made half-centuries against Pakistan, Canada and SL, making him one of our better performing bats. A fond farewell from an excellent U20 player.

Syed Zobair - The Shrill Otters (4 games) - Syed continued his strong OD form with 209 runs @ 52.25 (SR 76.28). His low SR is a non-issue as he was regularly asked to lay a platform for the middle order to capitalise on, and he did so in consistent fashion. We will miss Syed's reliability at the top in the coming season.


Wicketkeepers

Debojit Kapoor - Mekerz Tanks (4 games) - Debojit Kapoor did his job of accelerating in the middle order, ending with 133 runs @ 133 (SR 104.72). He also hung on to 8 catches across his 4 games which is tied for most keeper dismissals and most catches in the tournament (at time of writing), in a fine all-round performance.

Zahed Haque - W&HCC (1 game) - Zahed had a quiet tour, scoring 6 off 5 in the middle of a late-innings collapse against Canada, and dropping the only catch that came his way.


Allrounders

Sarvesh Rayudu - Xanadoosra (1 game) - Sarvesh was fantastic in his lone game on a Green pitch, taking 4/52 and a catch in the win over Australia. Next season should see Sarvesh become a more consistent member of the starting XI.

Dhawal Shewag - El Dude Brothers (4 games) - Dhawal was required to bat twice, making 15 off 11 v Canada and a golden duck against SL. With the ball, however, he ended the group stages as the competition's leading wicket-taker (and still holds this title at time of writing), with 11 wickets @ 21.45 (ER 6.05, SR 21.27). His batting didn't come off, but his bowling was first rate.

Saeed Uddin - ARKACHIEVERS (1 game) - Saeed struggled in his lone appearance, taking 1/57 in what should have been very friendly conditions for him in the loss to Bermuda.

Bowlers

Mehrab Ahmed - Caradon CC (3 games) - Mehrab signs off from U20 nats with a disappointing tournament. He took 1/180 across 3 games (ER 6, SR 180), struggling for economy and to be a wicket-taking threat.

Debojit Das - Sydney Cricket Club (4 games) - Debojit had one fantastic performance, one competent performance and a pair of questionable ones. He took 3/34 in the loss to Bermuda, where he was comfortably the best performing quick in either team. He took 0/46 against SL, keeping things tidy while Shewag and Valemei were nearly unplayable. He got hammered by Pakistan (0/81) and was anonymous v Australia (0/57), ending with 3 wickets @ 72.67 (ER 5.45, SR 80). Disappointing from a very fine bowler.

Rubel Hafiz - ALIENS (1 game) - Rubel was anonymous against Bermuda in very helpful conditions, taking 0/46. He was reasonably tidy, but we needed more.

Akram Matin - Crowlandia Cricket Club (3 games) - Akram took 2 wickets @ 75.50 (ER 5.18. SR 87.50), which sounds bad but considering he played on a Flat pitch & 2 Uneven pitches, his economy in unhelpful conditions was valuable.

Imrul Rahman - Hoarders CC (1 game) - Imrul played against Australia and managed 0/62 against a powerhouse batting lineup.

Semi Valemei - Mackay Cutters (4 games) - Semi's tour was similar to Debojit Das' - excellent v SL (3/25), sound against Canada (1/49), anonymous v Pakistan (0/52 off 8.1 overs) and Bermuda (0/36 off 9 overs). 4 wickets @ 40.50 (ER 4.36, SR 55.75) is below what he is capable of.

Jaffor Wadud - Bancroft (3 games) - Jaffor had a bit of a shocker, taking no wickets in his 3 appearances (0/180, ER 6). Taking 0/53 on a road against Pakistan was fine, but disappearing for 80 runs v Canada almost cost us the game. Taking 0/47 on a Green pitch v Australia was disappointing for a man of great promise.

[UtopiaRay]

T20 Division 1 Squad

Fixtures
16th Feb v Netherlands - Crumbling
17th Feb v South Africa - Uneven
18th Feb v UAE - Uneven
19th Feb v Netherlands - Uneven
20th Feb v South Africa - Hard
21st Feb v UAE - Dry

We start season 64 with a tour based in Australia where we will have 4 consecutive pace-friendly pitches (really 3 and a 4th game with a road that F/FMs can do ok on) bookended by a pair of turners. The games for this tour will be played at 0:00am FTP time.

T20 Division 1 - Tour Selection

We've stuck to 10 bowlers/10 batters once again, with quite a few returning players to start this season.

Batters
Raqibul Asghar - Glen Fruin (U20 Debut)
Aminul Bishwash - Welsh Fire (23 Caps)
Moinul Haque - Bancroft (U20 Debut)
Saeed Hossain - Bancroft (U20 Debut)
Mahir Kamal - Blazing Dragons Cricket Club (10 Caps)
Raihan Khatun - The Hurlutown Partnership (U20 Debut)
Habibul Sarkar - Caradon CC (3 Caps, T20 Debut)
Minhaz Zia - Bancroft (U20 Debut)


The batting group has seen the most change, with 5 players making their entrance to U20 nats and a sixth in Habibul Sarkar playing his first T20 nat tour. Aminul Bishwash and Mahir Kamal will both bring fine U20 nat careers to their conclusion at the end of this tour, with Raihan Khatun following them in to senior cricket as well.

Wicketkeepers
Faisal Hassan - Homegrown Heroes (U20 Debut)
Debojit Kapoor - Mekerz Tanks (6 Caps, T20 Debut)

Debojit Kapoor continues on after the WC and will play his first T20 tour. Faisal Hassan has come in for Zahed Haque as the long term replacement.

Allrounders
Sarvesh Rayudu - Xanadoosra (3 Caps)
Dhawal Shewag - The El Dude Brothers (17 Caps)
Saeed Uddin - ARKACHIEVERS (2 Caps, T20 Debut)

Our ARs are all familiar faces to start the season. Sarvesh Rayudu inherits the mantle of premier seam AR, with Dhawal Shewag continuing on in his final season at U20 level. Saeed Uddin will play his first T20 nat tour before moving on to senior cricket.

Bowlers
Debojit Das - Sydney Cricket Club (12 Caps)
Gautham Jain - Dragons (U20 Debut)
Akram Matin - Crowlandia Cricket Club (3 Caps, T20 Debut)
Imrul Rahman - Hoarders CC (4 Caps)
Sreesanth Ramchand - Sitakunda Leopards (4 Caps, T20 Debut)
Semi Valemei - Mackay Cutters (15 Caps)
Jaffor Wadud - Bancroft (5 Caps, T20 Debut)

Our specialist bowlers have had minimal change, with Gautham Jain the sole uncapped player amongst them plus Jaffor Wadud, Sreesanth Ramchand & Akram Matin making their T20 debuts. Semi Valemei and Debojit Das will move on after this tour, so more changes will come as the season wears on.

[UtopiaRay]

This morning, we kicked off our Season 64 nats season with the start of T20 Division "1". Our first game was against the Netherlands in Cloudy/Crumbling conditions where we lost the toss and were asked to bowl first.

The Netherlands started quickly but hit an early hurdle as opener Sebastian de Groot departed for 18 off 12, which was notable as he was the sole Dutch player to score at better than a run a ball. No. 3 Torben Engles departed in the 5th over for just 4, and the Netherlands were 2/33 at this point. Hugo Wagenaar and Ronald van Wolfswinkel managed to stick together for a few overs, before both men fell for 20 (of 22) and 17 (off 21) respectively, leaving the Dutch on 4/66 after 11 overs. From here on Bangladesh’s bowlers applied the brakes and the Netherlands limped to 6/111 which felt like a below par score. Dutch skipper Denny Snijder top scored with 31* off 34, where quick Semi Valemei (2/26), spinners Akram Matin (2/15) and Imrul Rahman (2/17) were the standout performers for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's response started strongly, only for Aminul Bishwash (caught on 18 off 15) and captain Mahir Kamal (run out for 13 off 10) to depart in consecutive overs, leaving Bangladesh 2/34 at the 5 over mark (the exact same score Netherlands were on at the same stage). Nos. 3 & 4 Raihan Khatun (24 off 30) and Debojit Kapoor (7 off 15) found the going very difficult against the Dutch spin twins Jurrie van Oostlander (1/22) and Frits van Noortwijk (2/11), and both men fell in the 12th over to leave Bangladesh on 4/65, needing 47 off 54. Though the going was tough, the Netherlands did not manage another wicket as Minhaz Zia (24* off 28) and Dhawal Shewag (19* off 15) guided Bangladesh to victory with 6 wickets and 8 balls to spare. Frits van Noortwijk was given MOTM for his exceptional performance in taking 2/11 where he was completely unhittable. Zia and Khatun both top scored with 24.

We move on to tomorrow's game against South Africa in Cloudy/Uneven conditions, the first of 3 consecutive games on Uneven pitches.

https://fromthepavilion.org/scorecard.h ... Id=7134191

Match Ratings

Netherlands U20 Bangladesh U20
Batting - Top Order 9,015 9,924
Batting - Middle Order 7,263 8,469
Batting - Tail 4,317 4,962
Bowling - Seam 9,139 (12) 10,290 (8)
Bowling - Spin 11,011 (8) 10,600 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 10,146 10,997
Overall 157,939 173,836

[UtopiaRay]

Today was our 2nd game of our ongoing T20 tour, against South Africa in Cloudy/Uneven conditions.

For the second game in a row, we lost the toss and were asked to field. South Africa may have been rueing their decision when both openers were dismissed with just 2 runs on the board, but they were able to work their way back in to the game after our pace attack's early burst. No. 4 Ryan Wrexham fell with the score on 31, but what followed was the biggest partnership of the match - 64 runs in 61 balls, as RSA went from 3/31 after 7.1 overs to 4/95 after 17.2. Captain Dave Doolan fell for 38 off 36, equal top-scoring with no. 3 Willem Cronje who lasted 45 deliveries. South Africa had a late collapse but hammered 16 off the final over to finish on 7/119. Debutant RFM Gautham Jain was the best performing bowler for either team, taking an incredible 2/7 off his 4 overs (and picked up MOTM).

Our chase started a little bit stronger than our opponents but suffered a far worse collapse early on. 1/15 in the 4th over became 4/36 after 7 overs and though we were in touch with the RRR, opener Saeed Hossein (35 off 45, the innings' top score) and Dhawal Shewag (17 off 21) were able to stabilise but could not get going as the innings wore on. Shewag falling to end the 15th over (where we were 5/80) triggered a late and ultimately match-defining collapse as our deep batting lineup crumbled in the face of RSA's 5-man pace attack. Despite a late flurry by no. 9 Debojit Das (14 off 9), we fell short by 2 runs in what originally felt like a manageable chase. Pick of the bowlers for South Africa was Roelf Vorster with 3/23.

After that narrow defeat we take on UAE tomorrow in identical conditions to today.

https://fromthepavilion.org/scorecard.h ... Id=7134195

Match Ratings

Bangladesh U20 South Africa U20
Batting - Top Order 9,479 9,479
Batting - Middle Order 9,279 8,413
Batting - Tail 4,703 4,065
Bowling - Seam 9,596 (16) 9,466 (20)
Bowling - Spin 10,593 (4) 0 (0)
Fielding/Keeping 10,718 10,768
Overall 170,278 163,402

[UtopiaRay]

We roll on to game 3, against UAE in the same Cloudy/Uneven conditions.

For the first time this season, we won the toss and elected to bowl first and got off to a mixed start - we took 3 wickets inside the first 3 overs, but at the cost of 32 runs. UAE were able to stabilise before no. 3 King Ramesses II departed for the innings top score of 36 off 32. They were hit with a 3 wicket collapse a few overs later that looked to hamper their late momentum. Looked being the operative word there, as 6/98 after 15.1 overs became 7/140, driven by finisher Abbas Kalil's 31* off 16. LF Semi Valemei was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh, taking 3/28 off his 4 overs.

Our chase hit an early setback with skipper Saeed Hossein falling for 1 in the first over, but veteran Aminul Bishwash and T20 debutant Habibul Sarkar put on 77 runs off 71 delivers to keep us within touching distance of our target of 141. Sarkar fell in the 12th over for a fine 40 off 29, and Bishwash was joined by Raihan Khatun. Bishwash and Khatun put on a 44 run partnership but it took 41 balls at a time where we needed to start accelerating to keep the RRR in check. We needed 21 off the last 2 overs with Bishwash and Khatun still there before disaster struck. In the space of 3 balls, Bishwash was stumped for 63 off 59, Raqibul Asghar nicked behind for a golden duck and Sarvesh Rayudu ran himself out for 1 off the only ball he faced. We needed 14 off the final over, with debutant keeper Faisal Hassan on strike and it felt as though the game had slipped away from us. Thankfully, Hassan and Khatun were equal to the task, and we got home off the final delivery to wrap up a very tense 5 wicket victory.

Tomorrow, we take on a winless Netherlands in the exact same conditions as the last two games, where we will look to pick up our third victory.

https://fromthepavilion.org/scorecard.h ... Id=7134199

Match Ratings

Bangladesh U20 UAE U20
Batting - Top Order 9,309 8,871
Batting - Middle Order 8,299 8,553
Batting - Tail 4,498 4,342
Bowling - Seam 9,297 (20) 9,261 (16)
Bowling - Spin 0 (0) 10,012 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 10,362 11,027
Overall 161,503 162,864

[UtopiaRay]

This morning saw us play our return fixture against the Netherlands in Cloudy/Uneven conditions in the last of our 3 "home" games for this tour.

We lost the toss and were asked to field, and started strongly by restricting the Dutch to 2/25 after 6 overs, losing Nicolaas Cocu for a golden duck and Joshua Zirkzee for 15 off 18. The squeeze continued to be applied for the following 4 overs as the Netherlands limped to 2/38 after 10 overs, driven largely by Jaffor Wadud's sensational 1/8 off 4 overs. Netherlands did find some momentum in the back half of the innings, but they could only manage 5/102 in their allotted overs. LFS Dhawal Shewag was arguably our best bowler with 2/19, backed up by Semi Valemei (1/20). Skipper Denny Snijder steadied the ship with 63* off 68 but found no support from his teammates.

Bangladesh's response saw some initial aggression (1/47 after 6 overs) turn in to steady accumulation as we sauntered to the target with 8 wickets and 4 overs to spare. Skipper Mahir Kamal made a fine 55 off 48 and found support from Habibul Sarkar (32* off 34) as the Dutch struggled to trouble our batting lineup. RFS Kamiel van de Velde was the pick of the Dutch attack with 1/17 off his 3 overs, supported well by Gerald Hassink (0/11) who was unhittable but unable to take a wicket (RFS Jarno Cornelius took the other wicket on his way to figures of 1/35 off 4 overs).

We currently sit 2nd overall in the group, behind an unbeaten Nepalese outfit. We look to continue our good form against South Africa in Cloudy/Hard conditions.

https://fromthepavilion.org/scorecard.h ... Id=7134206

Match Ratings

Bangladesh U20 Netherlands U20
Batting - Top Order 9,273 8,498
Batting - Middle Order 8,633 6,615
Batting - Tail 5,524 4,132
Bowling - Seam 9,406 (16) 8,634 (12)
Bowling - Spin 10,593 (4) 10,175 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 10,317 9,796
Overall 167,367 148,488

[SABIRISBACK]

Bangladesh U20 defeated South Africa U20 by 8 wickets after a strong all-round performance.

South Africa were bowled out for 116 in 19.4 overs, with W. Cronje scoring 47.
Dhawal Shewag starred with the ball, taking 5/22 to dismantle the middle order.

In reply, Bangladesh chased comfortably, reaching 117/2 in 17.1 overs thanks to a 106-run partnership between:
Saeed Hossein – 52*
Habibul Sarkar – 53

Man of the Match: Dhawal Shewag

Match Ratings
South Africa U20
Batting (Top Order): 9,459
Batting (Middle): 7,596
Batting (Tail): 4,015
Bowling (Seam): 9,393
Bowling (Spin): 0
Fielding: 10,946
Overall: 160,075
Bangladesh U20
Batting (Top Order): 8,933
Batting (Middle): 8,176
Batting (Tail): 4,870
Bowling (Seam): 9,182
Bowling (Spin): 10,377
Fielding: 10,271
Overall: 162,164

Rating Difference: Bangladesh +2,089

Bangladesh’s spin strength and middle-order depth proved decisive.

Scorecard:-
https://www.fromthepavilion.org/scoreca ... Id=7134210

[UtopiaRay]

Last Saturday was our final game of the T20 tour, against UAE in Sunny/Dry conditions.

We lost the toss and were asked to field first, and our opening bowlers quickly reduced UAE to 2/14. Our two seamers in Semi Valemei (1/17) and Sarvesh Rayudu (1/18) did a fantastic job of applying pressure in conditions that did not give them much to work with and allowed our spinners to maintain the pressure throughout the innings. The Emiratis were 5/102 with 2 overs remaining and it looked like we would be chasing below 120, but Jawad Abdellah and Ziyad Ayasha smote 23 off the penultimate over to propel them to 6/133 which seemed a solid total in spinning conditions. Abdellah was UAE's top scorer with a fine 59 off 43, while RFS Sreesanth Ramchand was arguably pick of the bowlers alongside the two quicks in taking 1/15.

Our chase got off to a decent start with a 42-run first wicket partnership off 35 balls, which ended when youngster Raqibul Asghar fell for a run-a-ball 24. No. 3 Raihan Khatun struggled for fluency before departing for 18 off 25, leaving Bangladesh on 2/88 off 14.1 overs. Opening bat Aminul Bishwash fell 2 overs later for the innings' top score of 54 off 44 and we needed a further 30 off 21 balls. Keeper Debojit Kapoor hit 27 off 18 before getting run out to start the 20th over, but we reached the target off the next ball and secured victory with 6 wickets and 4 balls to spare. RFS King Khufu was the pick of the UAE bowling attack, taking 1/21 off his 4 overs.

This victory meant we ended the tour with 5 wins, and with Nepal losing their final fixture it meant we finish the tour at the top of the table. We've started this season confidently, and we look forward to continuing our good form into the One Day tour in 2 weeks’ time.

https://fromthepavilion.org/scorecard.h ... Id=7134214

Match Ratings

UAE U20 Bangladesh U20
Batting - Top Order 8,617 9,417
Batting - Middle Order 8,168 8,057
Batting - Tail 4,069 4,225
Bowling - Seam 8,817 (6) 9,293 (8)
Bowling - Spin 9,853 (14) 10,211 (12)
Fielding/Keeping 10,618 10,417
Overall 158,915 163,048