A Giant Amongst Pygmies

All the talk on Radio Five Live this morning - largely thanks to what Geoff Boycott and Michael Vaughan said on TMS yesterday - appeared to be about the future of Bangladesh as a Test playing nation.

True, Bangladesh were abysmal in the final two sessions of the Old Trafford Test, and, once Tamim was out early yesterday afternoon in overcast, seaming conditions, it was only a matter of time before the end came. But, in the short attention-span world of the media, it's easy to forget that they're improving (albeit very slowly) and it would make no sense to downgrade or remove their Test status after just ten years. Vaughan's lazy comment that a Test-class batsman only had to concentrate to make a century against Bangladesh didn't say much for the 'concentration' of most of England's batsmen, but Boycott made a worthwhile contribution with his commonsense suggestion that the ICC should pay for Bangladesh to tour the world playing domestic sides in unfamiliar conditions. Not that that's very likely to happen.

So, for the time being, Bangladesh are stuck with having to rely on a timid, ineffectual bowling attack and an order propped up by the mighty Tamim. In him, they at least have a batsman of world-class behind whom they can rally. However, as opposing sides begin to probe his weaknesses and the pressure of carrying the side begins to weigh him down (if it ever does), they're going to need others to step forward. No wonder Jamie Siddons doesn't have any hair.

As the Third Man highlights here, a good start might be for the others to do what Tamim, for all his gifts, apparently feels he does better than his less talented compatriots.

Work harder.