da heads bet： The Plays of the Day for the first one-dayer between Pakistan and Bangladesh in Lahore
Osman Samiuddin in Lahore08-Apr-2008
At least some bothered to show up © AFP
100 and counting
The burden on Mashrafe Mortaza is a heavy one. He is Bangladesh’s firstreal pace star and the continued overlooking of Shahadat Hossain means heis the only one currently. He strode a manly path today, bowling withconsiderable zip to end with respectable figures. His secondwicket – that of Misbah-ul-Haq – was his 100th in ODIs, becoming only thesecond bowler from Bangladesh to achieve the feat and the first pacebowler to do it. He is also, by far, the quickest to the landmark though said later it could have come in better circumstances. “Definitely it is a good feeling, but the team didn’t play so well today so I’m not that happy.”Low-key you say?
Bangladesh was never going to draw the crowds in the way Australiawould’ve done, but considering the scarcity of international cricket inPakistan you would’ve expected more than tonight’s turn-out at the GaddafiStadium. Hardly any marketing pre-series didn’t help but all told, andthen maybe adding some on out of sympathy, no more than 2000 people werepresent. Perhaps what was really needed was a crowd-puller: if this is asign of things to come, all is forgiven, Shoaib.Blackout of the day I
Pakistan is going through a pretty severe energy crisis at the moment.Most cities experience between 6-8 hours loadshedding a day and thesituation, according to some experts, will get considerably worse nextyear. So the power blackout after the 12th over of Bangladesh’s chaseshould not have been totally unexpected, especially as the same venue alsosaw play halted for an hour when West Indies were here in November 2006.Play was suspended for about half an hour this time, enough time for onereader to surmise, “I think Naseem Ashraf forgot to pay the bill for theelectricity.” Either that or WAPDA, Pakistan’s power supplier, just gotbored of what was turning into a mismatch.Blackout of the day II
…came one over after the original when one of the floodlights conked out,halting play for a further 18 minutes. By the time full power wasrestored, the already sparse crowd clearly had had enoughand by the end, there were less than a thousand left.Mercy gesture of the day
The decision to play on after a floodlight failed for the third time withBangladesh on 105 for 9 and the match all but over. Another delay for amatch that was effectively over halfway through would’ve been unbearabletorture for the handful of spectators left at the end.Collective brain drain of the day
Bangladesh’s top and middle order: a target of 323 was never going to beeasy but the way Bangladesh’s went about the task, they might as well havenot bothered. Of the first six wickets to fall, not a single one could beattributed to the bowler, the ball or a flat track. The worst of the lot?A three-way tie between Mohammad Ashraful’s awful slog, Aftab Ahmed’sugly charge and Shahariar Nafees’ horrendous swipe at a ball so wide itwas last spotted in Sialkot.