Cricket returns to its course braving COVID-19 fears

|| CF Correspondent ||

International cricket amid the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic has seen its glorious return to competitive matches through the spirited Test match between two traditional powerhouse teams-England and West Indies.

The match has witnessed a bunch of temporary recommended changes by the cricket connoisseurs around the world. There were no differences in Bangladesh cricket experts and cricketers from former skipper-turned-national team selector Habibul Bashar Sumon to current Test skipper Mominul Haque Saurav.

Many have shared their point of views regarding the new rules of crickets that they have seen through the first Test victory of West Indies in Southampton on July 12.

Test skipper Mominul Haque was surprised to see the list of umpires in the scoreboard on the first day of the Test, where all were from England whether field umpires, TV umpires, reserve umpires or match referees.

“Looking at the scorecard, I thought, what is happening, all are local umpires. Later I remembered, this is the new rules due to the COVID situation,” Mominul Haque told a leading Bengali daily.

The batsmen have suffered a little in the first two days of the Southampton Test. The more they were able to adapt, the more the bowlers became frustrated that Mominul as batsman enjoyed the scene.

“The batsmen suffered in the beginning due to the condition. Later, when the sun rose, I saw that it has become much easier to bat on the wickets. It’s good to see the helpless look of the pacers as batsmen,” he added.

There have been a lot of talks about the rules being changed for the interim period before the Southampton Test. Former Bangladesh captain and selector Habibul Bashar thinks the changes have not had much of an impact on the game.

However, he sees the long break as the reason for the way the batsmen have suffered. And so, he feels that if the wicket was made bowling friendly, the match would then have been greater to watch more.

“Batsmen always have hand-eye combination problems when they are out of the match for a long time. It’s difficult to overcome it even with practice. That is the effect. Many batsmen have got out by a straight delivery. They couldn’t understand the line. They had a difficult time understanding where the off stump is,” Habibul Bashar said.

“There was not much reverse swing in the second innings. The bowlers of both the teams have done whatever they can with the new bowl. When the sun rises and the batsmen settle on the wicket, it’ll be a game of runs with the old bowl. If the wicket was bowling friendly, the game could have been better,” he added.

But young pacer Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi was deeply concerned about the new ICC rules because he is the only fast bowler in the Bangladesh Test team whose main strength of bowling is swing.

The 26-year-old pacer, who has played nine Tests so far, got happy by getting the answer of his question from watching the Southampton Test of how it is possible to swing without using saliva or spit.

“They’ve shined the bowl with sweat. Now at least I am relieved that the bowl can be rubbed. I thought it could not be rubbed! However, I am hesitant, the bowlers of England did not get much swing, and the bowlers of West Indies got a lot. (James) Anderson didn’t get a steady swing; again (Ben) Stokes got it occasionally. It may be due to the condition,” Abu Jayed said.

Al Amin Hossain, another fast bowler of the Bangladesh team, is giving the full credit of bowling to the Caribbean side how they have adapted them on the pitch.