CF Correspondent

Finding the right blend of youth and experience is one of the biggest challenges in perming a team, the emerging Bangladeshi talent though could not wish for better role models than the senior figures showing them the way.

With eight World Cups between them, Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan are continuing to prove inspirational examples of what can be achieved when dedication, talent and sheer cricketing nous converge.

Mashrafe who is playing his fourth World Cup, first appeared as far back as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2003 in South Africa, knee trouble forced him out of the 2011 edition that Bangladesh co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka.

Shakib, meanwhile, is continuing an unbroken sequence stretching back to 2007, when he and Mashrafe helped Bangladesh secure one of their greatest white-ball victories, against India in Trinidad.

The fact that victories these days, such as the one against South Africa last Sunday, cause less surprise is a testament to the way that Mashrafe and Shakib alongside the likes of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim have not only performed, but inspired those around.

It was not to be against England at a vibrant Cardiff, but Mashrafe punctuated the heavy scoring with his accuracy and changes of pace, while Shakib kept things tight in the difficult first few overs before adding to successive half-centuries leading up to his innings against England, with a brave and stylish hundred.

Opening the bowling and batting at number three are demanding roles in their own right, so for Shakib to fulfil the two underlined once again why he ranks as the leading all-rounder in the MRF Tyres ODI rankings.

One of the most exciting passages of play saw him whip Jofra Archer over the fine leg ropes during a spell in which the bowler clocked 153 kmh, the fastest the ball of the tournament so far.

In a different way, the cat-and-mouse exchanges with the new ball as Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow wanted to attack were no less compelling. It is always hard to look away when Shakib is involved. He is both the leading all-time run-scorer and wicket-taker for Bangladesh at World Cups while Mashrafe’s tally of 19 wickets places him third in the bowling chart with power to snare more victims in the remaining six group games.

Mashrafe first encountered England as a young colt way back in 2003 when he took eight cheap wickets against Nasser Hussain’s tourists. How fitting, then, that James Anderson, whose own Test debut occurred the same year, should be at Cardiff to witness the latest victory for will-power over creaking limbs.

While Mashrafe nowadays focuses on the white-ball game, Anderson is priming himself for Test match action come the Ashes series later in the summer, but he would have empathised with Mashrafe’s dedication to the cause.

Mashrafe is now in double-figures when it comes to operations on his knees and ankles and he made his last Test appearance as far back as 2009. He has admitted that his first few balls can be a struggle but, like dipping a toe into cold water, his body quickly adjusts and complies.

When a captain calls for that extra effort in the field, team-mates are more likely to respond if the skipper is prepared to make sacrifices of his own, and no-one can doubt that Mashrafe is pushing his body to the maximum. It is leadership by example.