Cricket: Test 'babes' find the going tough

By RICHARD BOOCK

For different reasons, Bangladesh will be hoping to adopt New Zealand's five-day strategy when the first test starts in Hamilton on Tuesday.

World cricket's most recent test nation, Bangladesh have been obliterated in all but one of their seven matches so far and will be happy if they can keep New Zealand on the field for the full five days at WestpacTrust Park.

Stephen Fleming's men adopted a similar philosophy against Australia, when their plan of pushing the world champions into a part of the game they seldom see - the fifth day - almost paid the ultimate dividend at Perth.

Bangladesh's hopes are possibly less ambitious - they would leave Hamilton with some degree of satisfaction if they could avoid being beaten inside four days.

It is a familiar position for the new inductees to the international scene.

New Zealand took 26 years to win a match and their greatest batsman, Bert Sutcliffe, never savoured a test triumph; Sri Lanka waited five summers and 14 tests for victory; and Zimbabwe endured a similar period (if you don't count their dodgy win over Pakistan in 1994-95).

For all that, Bangladesh's early form has been comfortably worse than any of the other "expansion" teams, having lost three times to Zimbabwe, and once each to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka since gaining admittance last year.

The only time they have not been beaten was in their sixth match, when they drew with Zimbabwe at Dhaka after rain washed out the last two days.

A sobering statistic is that the lowest innings score against them so far is 429, and that only once - in their most recent loss to Zimbabwe at Chittagong - have they managed to extend a test into the fifth day.

Even in the less-certain, lottery-type atmosphere of the one-day scene, Bangladesh's performance has been less than encouraging.

They lost their first 22 ODIs before beating associate member Kenya by six wickets.

They then lost their next nine ODIs before beating Scotland, and - in more controversial circumstances - Pakistan at the 1999 World Cup. They have not won a game since.

In comparison, Sri Lanka won their fifth, sixth and eighth ODIs, and Zimbabwe got off the mark with a stunning victory over Australia at the 1983 World Cup.

It might be a reason for some gloom among Bangladeshi supporters, but coach Trevor Chappell is in no doubt about the potential strength the side might eventually bring to world cricket.

"They're short of first-class experience, but they're improving and I think eventually Bangladesh will become a strong test-playing proposition," Chappell says.

"Look at it this way - they have a population of 130 million and cricket's their main game. There's only one way this team will go, and that's upwards.

"It might take some time to gain the experience needed to compete at the highest level, but that will come.

"In time, Bangladesh will be a team to be reckoned with."

There have been a few mutterings about the readiness of Bangladesh for the rigours of test cricket and questions raised about whether their weak status could ultimately harm the game.

Noises have even been made about their admittance having more to do with their Asian bloc neighbours and their vast potential in terms of television rights.

After all, this is the side who were so badly outplayed by Sri Lanka in Colombo this year that the hosts retired two batsmen for the first time in the history of test cricket - Marvan Attapatu, who was on 201, and Mahela Jayawardene, on 150.

Chappell admits he has his hands full, but says he enjoys the huge challenge that is Bangladeshi cricket, the pressure that accompanies it and the scope for achieving much in a short period of time.

He is placing a lot of emphasis on the basics, believing that if the fundamental skills are in place the performance will inevitably improve with experience and maturity.

"The main things we've been concentrating on have been aspects such as fielding - which is coming along - running between the wickets and the mental side of the game in terms of batting and bowling.

"With our batsmen so used to the 50-overs role, we've been wanting to reinforce the idea of patience.

"Our guys need to understand that you don't need to go looking for runs in the longer game - the runs will come if you stay there long enough.

"It's much the same with the bowlers. They're learning that in this type of cricket a steady line-and-length is much more effective than a whole series of miracle balls."

Chappell says he can understand how foreign the concept must be to players who have been raised on a diet of limited-overs cricket, but has a warning for anyone who doubts that the Bangladesh side should be playing at test level.

"It will take some time and some pain and some hard work, but when it happens - watch out.

"They could be the real sleepers."