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Journalism of Courage
It’s an interesting match-up to say the least. Australia are the undisputed champions in the seniors’ segment and Bangladesh are everyone’s favourite whipping boys at the same level. One simple twist of fate against Zimbabwe relegated defending champions Australia to the Plate playoffs, where they come face-to-face with their hosts, the original favourites for the lower trophy at the ICC Under-19 World Cup, tomorrow here in Dhaka.
Having spent the latter half of the meet competing against countries like Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Scotland, Australia will be itching to prove themselves, even if it’s just for the Plate. Bangladesh will now struggle to ensure they keep some of the booty on offer at home. Team coach Richard McInnes, wishing to avoid the rather irritated home media, kept it short. ‘‘We are confident. We have done well so far and are going to be positive against Australia tomorrow. Zimbabwe beat them in an ODI, it just needs one solid day….’’
But Australia manager Brian Freedman, while sticking to the ‘‘we’ll be positive’’ cliche, was frank on the team’s fall from grace. ‘‘To be honest, we expect to win’’, Freedman told The Indian Express. ‘‘We’ve already done badly enough to have missed out on the Super League and the main championship. We played poorly in just one game, and that sealed our fate. A couple of things didn’t go our way, but that’s all in the past. We should be able to pull it off tomorrow against Bangladesh though.’’
Push him a bit about the ‘‘couple of things’’ and Freedman says, ‘‘I am not using it as an excuse, but you have to realise that the centres we played in, like Rajshahi, were not really like Dhaka or Chittagong. It wasn’t comfortable playing there and the boys were quite low.’’ He also spoke of the injury to star player Colin Freedman — at the nets, before the tournament began. ‘‘When you lose your number one player without playing a single match, it does make a difference.’’
But then the Aussies had, and have, Moises Constantino Jesus Henriques. Sounds more like a winger for Real Madrid than an all-rounder for the Aussies, but the 17-year-old, of Portuguese descent, has emerged as the premier member of the team so far.
The team will depend on him for some of the impetus tomorrow, said Freedman, adding, ‘‘he’s emerged as a fantastic talent and we’ll be surprised if he doesn’t move up in a couple of seasons.’’
One thing that the organisers can count on tomorrow is packed houses. Not something that’s happened since Bangladesh were relegated and only the India-Pakistan Super League semi final had a decent crowd. The Australians will hope to keep some of the pride intact as they take the pitch, and Bangladesh, likewise, have their own share of the stakes.
At the end of it, the holders might prove too strong for the hosts but, as we’ve seen so far this year, reputation often counts for nothing. And Bangladesh will take hope from Ireland’s showing against the Aussies in their semi-final, when they reached 291 chasing Australia’s 309.
