Tigers’ last chance to live up to name

IT’S like the opening bars to that famous tune by Eminem: Bangladesh’s cricketers have one last shot, one opportunity, to get, well, not everything they ever wanted, but something – so can they capture it or let it slip?

Based on the last five weeks, it’ll probably slip through their grasp again in Potchefstroom this afternoon. Bangladesh have faced South Africa in six matches across three formats and been belted every time – the margins between the teams ranging from 333 runs in the first Test to 200 runs in the last One Day International. They even lost a 50-over tour match to an Invitation side who had a teenager with less than 10 senior games to his name in their ranks.

The fact that they lost by just 20 runs in the first T20 International in Bloemfontein last Thursday is being held up as a sign that they are still willing to fight for that first win on this tour. Indeed it was a spirited display against a South African side missing many ‘regulars’ but, it was hardly earth shattering. However when you’ve been smashed up and down the country like they have, you’ll take anything.

The fact is Bangladesh arrived in South Africa with high expectations; they wanted to prove themselves on this tour having already established their strength on home-soil with wins over England and Australia. Beating Sri Lanka in a Test away from home earlier this year also showed that they could perform on their travels, albeit in that case it wasn’t in conditions in which they were unfamiliar.

And they put in the preparations ahead of this trip, but when they got here they saw demons. In Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein, the pitches were actually well suited to them, but they had prepared for fast and bouncy tracks.

Scarred by those defeats, they folded in the ODIS, despite the presence of their best player Shakib Al-hasan, who asked to be left out of the Test series to rest. Schisms have opened up between the players and the administrators and now questions have been asked of their Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurusingha.

So the last match is a significant one for them, because a win does give them something to take away from the tour – a drawn T20 series by no means deflects from what else has gone before, but it’s better than nothing.

The match starts at 2pm.