Domestic cricket’s quality under spotlight

Bangladesh reached stumps at 268 for seven in their second innings on the fourth day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Chattogram yesterday, still needing a daunting 243 runs to win, as the Tigers are tottering at the edge of another Test defeat.

Bangladesh batting unit has once again come under fire for irregular shot-making. Many have argued that playing more first-class cricket could help avoid such batting disasters seen in Bangladesh's recent Tests matches -- as evident by the Tigers failing to cross the 200-run mark in last five innings.

Former captain Mominul Haque, who features regularly in Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) and National Cricket League (NCL), accepted the fact that the team failed as a batting unit but also opined that domestic cricket in the country did not have enough quality to help players adjust to international Test level.

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"What is the difference in quality of our first-class and international cricket? Is it at the same level?" Mominul responded to a question on whether national team Test stars should play more in domestic cricket.

When it was suggested to him that he is one of the cricketers who largely has to come up with his own preparation schemes in order to be ready for international assignments, Mominul replied: "Yes I stay in touch [with basics] to play, but my process and a junior player's preparation is very different. I have played 61 Tests and I know what the match situations are and know how to handle particular situations."

For Mominul, the gulf in quality between international stage and domestic cricket is big enough that he does not get to encounter the same obstacles in domestic cricket as he does in Tests.

"Sometimes I am able to handle it and sometimes not. I feel that our domestic cricket and international cricket is very different, even if it sounds bad to hear it. We all know it. When I play in the national league, I don't face the same challenge there," said the 32-year-old.

It was an open admission from Mominul, who himself was the top run-getter in the last NCL, having notched 475 runs from nine innings. Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan and Zakir Hasan along with Shahadat Hossain are the other batters who have played a majority of NCL games while skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto had played one match last season.

Even if the top-order had played more domestic games, Mominul's argument suggests that their preparedness would not have improved. However, it also leaves room for criticism on how the team management planned for the two Tests -- part of the ICC World Test Championship.

"I don't think preparation was inadequate. Everyone played white-ball cricket and it's not like playing one four-day game would have been enough," he said, and rightly so as most of the players have been playing regularly in white-ball formats.

All the batters got starts in the second innings, but there was only one 50-plus partnership among five 35-plus-run stands, and all batters who got out yesterday had faced at least 32 balls before registering double-digit scores.

"In this series we collapsed as a batting unit and there are no excuses; we batted poorly as a team," Mominul said, rueing their latest batting performance.

"If we could have scored the runs we did for the loss of four wickets, then it would be a little different tomorrow. Or even if we had scored 300 for four, they would be under pressure tomorrow [today]. The pitch is good now, but the wickets fell quickly and most batters got out after getting set, so everyone is responsible. Even if I am being optimistic, the situation is challenging," he said.