da apostaganha： Expectations are onerous, but against a side as well-drilled as theAustralians, no-one truly imagines a surprise in the coming match.
da roleta： The Preview by Andrew Miller in Antigua30-Mar-2007
Bangladesh players wait under cover for the rain to stop on the eve of their match in Antigua © Getty Images
The Bangladesh squad is a picture of contentment at present. Nothingand no-one can rattle their sense of pride, achievement, andbelonging, as they prepare to embark on their biggest adventure ofall. If you saw the squad members milling around their hotel lobby, orsheltering from the rain on the steps of their dressing-room, you’dhardly imagine that the triple World Champions, Australia, are lyingin wait for them tomorrow.Relaxation has been a key component of Bangladesh’s preparations. OnThursday, for instance, the squad took an entire day off training andwent for a picnic at the top of Shirley Heights, Antigua’s most sceniclook-out point. “We’re determined to enjoy every minute of theexperience,” said Dav Whatmore, the coach who has guided the team witha paternal instinct ever since their debacle at the 2003 World Cup.”We feel we’ve earned our right to be in the Super Eights, and ourmain objective is to stay here as long as we can.”No-one truly imagines that their adventure will extend beyond thesenext six matches, although the youthful disdain with which they sweptpast India in their pivotal group game in Trinidad means that theflakier qualifiers for this round – Ireland, West Indies and Englandin particular – will not be permitted to relax in the comingfortnight.Neither will the Australians, who know from humiliating experiencejust how dangerous it is to drop their guard against theseBangladeshis. At Cardiff in June 2005 they succumbed to a thrillingfinal-over defeat in the NatWest Series, thanks to a nerveless hundredfrom Mohammad Ashraful, and key contributions from several of the menwho will feature tomorrow – including Mashrafee Mortaza, HabibulBashar, and Aftab Ahmed.”It’s long gone and forgotten about as far as we are concerned,” saidRicky Ponting, who had been braced for the inevitable question. “Wejust didn’t play at our best and I had a few things on my mind duringthe course of the day. We lost that game, Bangladesh played well, wemade a lot of mistakes and hopefully we are a better team tomorrowthan we were on that day.”
‘The cricket you’ve seen us play the last few weeks would indicate that tomorrow, the way we aregoing at the moment, we should be able to play cricket good enough to win this game’ – Ricky Ponting © Getty Images
That final sentiment is hardly in doubt. Australia are the runawayform team of this tournament to date. They have topped 300 runs ineach of their four innings in the competition, and no opponent hascome closer than South Africa’s 83-run margin in their group-stageencounter at St Kitts. “The cricket you’ve seen us play the last fewweeks,” added Ponting, “would indicate that tomorrow, the way we aregoing at the moment, we should be able to play cricket good enough towin this game.”All the same, Bangladesh’s morale is so high that nothing can fazethem at present. “We’re not finished yet,” insisted Habibul Bashar,their captain. “It is not going to be easy; it will be very tough. Butwe believe it is not an impossible task. We had a good win against NewZealand, another against India – and we strongly believe that if weplay well together on our day we can beat anyone.”Such confidence is a world away from the bedraggled gang of seriallosers that used to represent Bangladesh. But in the past two years,something dramatic has happened in the country. The sheer volume ofpotential talent that a nation of 150,000,000 people can produce meansthat an upturn in fortunes was always going to happen, but the speedof the transition is something else. The exploits of Tamim Iqbal,Mushfiqur Rahim and Saqibul Hasan in particular, have been some of themost thrilling and uplifting events of this tournament.”Fearless is one descriptive word,” said Whatmore as he addressed thebig-hitting impact of his top-order teenagers. “The way some of themplay is sometimes a bit foolish. But overall it’s good to see apositive attitude. It’s very important to back yourself atinternational level and have a bit more self-belief.”That self-belief comes from winning,” added Whatmore, whose chargeshave thrived against the big guns at age-group level, and have spentthe last 18 months honing their aggressive instincts against thelesser lights of Zimbabwe, Kenya and Scotland. “That stamp ofaggression is nice to see if you can break a game open, but there’s alot of expectation and difficulty attached to ones so young. If itcomes off, it’s great, but I’m sure they will improve as time goes byand they become more consistent.”Expectations are onerous, but against a side as well-drilled as theAustralians, no-one truly imagines a surprise in the coming match.Especially now that the Aussies are fully aware of the dangers ofunder-estimating their opponents. “They are in the Super Eights partof the World Cup tournament so you have to pay them the attention theydeserve,” added Ponting. “They’ve probably used the minnow tag verywell in their favour. I think they are actually a bit better thanthat.”They have improved a lot, there’s no doubt about that,” hecontinued. “We know they are a very capable side and we know thatone-day cricket is the sort of game that if you don’t pay enoughattention to it, that it can sneak up on you and things can go againstyou pretty quickly.” Expect the Australians to be fully focused onvictory during Saturday.Australia (probable) 1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Matthew Hayden, 3Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 MikeHussey, 7 Shane Watson, 8 Brad Hogg, 9 Nathan Bracken, 10 GlennMcGrath, 11 Shaun Tait.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Shahriar Nafees, 2 Tamim Iqbal, 3Saqibul Hasan, 4 Aftab Ahmed, 5 Habibul Bashar (capt), 6 MohammadAshraful, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim, 8 Abdul Razzak, 9 Mohammad Rafique, 10Mashrafee Mortaza, 11 Syed Rasel.
