2 Tests	West Indies	v	Bangladesh
Pre-rating	870.2		600.6
Form	-27.4		-9.1
Expected Margin	West Indies by 185 runs
Actual Margin	England by an innings and 244 runs
Post-rating	874.8		587.3
Series rating	996.2		472.9

Bangladesh were likely to battle against the West Indies regardless of their lineup, so it is worth noting that, given the value Shakib adds - as their best batsman, best bowler, and probably best fieldsman as well - the losses recorded are in line with expectations. But they were still bad.

They took only 21 wickets in the two matches, failing to dismiss Chanderpaul at all, and squandering their one decent effort in the second test, by letting the tail put on 111 for the final three wickets. Taijul Islam, on debut, took 8 of those wickets, but still conceded 309 runs, and not economically. Nor is he of much value, as the one thing Bangladesh don't need, is yet another left-arm orthodox spinner. And almost every batsman got starts, even if only Braithwaite's 212 really went big.

With the bat, only Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Mominul Haque and Tamin Iqbal had more than token efforts, and even then only the captain scored a century. There were no runs in the tail either, losing 4/35, 5/35 in the first test, and alarmingly, 8/34 in the second. Benn and Roach shared most of the wickets, but even without their efforts the West Indies were never under any pressure in the field, nor against the clock. Bangladesh batted at a slower rate than usual, but they still need to find a way of slowing the match, to get draws when they can't possibly win.

Rankings at 21st September 2014
1.	South Africa	1289.1
2.	Australia	1273.7
3.	England	1084.7
4.	India	1082.6
5.	Pakistan	1078.2
6.	Sri Lanka	1050.1
7.	New Zealand	937.8
8.	West Indies	870.2
11.	Bangladesh	587.3
12.	Zimbabwe	570.7
9.	Ireland	594.8
10.	Afghanistan	587.6
13.	Scotland	430.3
14.	Namibia	383.4
15.	Kenya	276.4
16.	U.A.E.	257.3
17.	Netherlands	182.4
18.	Canada	147.9

Shaded teams have played fewer than 2 games per season. Non-test team ratings are not comparable to test ratings as they don't play each other.

Cricket - Ratings - Test 21st September, 2014 00:54:02   [#] 

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