In modern cricket, two fielders working in tandem to complete a catch, with one parrying the ball from the edge of the ropes and the other fielder grabbing the ball, is a fairly common scenario.
However, yesterday fans witnessed something truly unusual as three Bangladesh fielders — skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shahadat Hossain Dipu and Zakir Hasan — jointly dropped the catch of Prabath Jayasuria, an effort that encapsulates Bangladesh inept catching in the first two days of the Chattogram Test against Sri Lanka.
The incident occurred in the 121st over of the Sri Lanka innings and the unlucky bowler was Khaled Ahmed, who, after going wicketless on Day 1, finally managed to induce an outside edge only to see three fielders making a mess of it.
After taking the edge, the ball flew to Shanto at first slip, who couldn’t hold on to the ball as it rebounded to Dipu at second slip, who also fumbled the catch. The ball, still in the air, now went towards third slip where Zakir dived to catch the ball but grassed it.
The team’s batting coach David Hemp claimed that the comedy of errors from the trio was highly unusual and unfortunate for the hosts.
“Dipu was the one I thought had the best chance of getting it. Both of them [Dipu and Zakir] field at short-leg, so their reaction is pretty good. So, I actually thought when it popped up that one of them would grab it but unfortunately not. We don’t see that too often,” Hemp said after the day’s play.
Bangladesh’s misfortune continued as the Tigers dropped two more chances in the day, taking the number of dropped catches in Sri Lanka’s first innings to six, worsening the plight of bowlers on a pitch which had very little on offer for them in the first two days.
Prabath, who got his first life on six, got another reprieve on 23 — this time wicketkeeper Liton Das failing to grab an under-edge off the bowling of Taijul Islam.
Taijul, who went wicketless in the innings, saw another catch go down off his bowling in the final session, this time debutant Hasan Mahmud dropping Kamindu Mendis on 60 at deep mid-wicket.
Mendis went onto add another 32 runs to remain unbeaten on 92 to push Sri Lanka’s first innings total to 531.
With yesterday’s three dropped chances, the Tigers have now grassed 83 catches in Tests since 2019.
Hemp had no clear explanation behind the team’s shocking catching, saying the players are working to improve upon it.
“This is something that we have been working on and we will continue working on. No-one means to drop catches. The bowlers were working hard to create opportunities; you have got to take those opportunities,” he said.
Bangladesh have dropped three catches at the slip cordon in the match, with Joy and Dipu dropping one each on Day 1.
Hemp said that to be a good catcher at slip, fielders need to expect that a catch could be coming every ball, something the Bangladesh fielders did not do in the first innings.
“Slip fielding is a difficult job. It’s not easy. A lot of it is anticipation and expectation. It’s expecting the ball to come to you every ball. Unless you have got that mindset, it does make it a bit difficult,” the Bermudan said.
Bangladesh reached 55-1 at stumps and are trailing the visitors by another 476 runs.
