.I ask Akram if he agrees with what everyone tells me. Was this the s

DENVER -- Tyler Chatwood crossed up catcher Wilin Rosario, throwing a curve instead of a fastball, and it skipped past his catcher and bounced to the backstop. Buster Posey raced from second to third. But the ball ricocheted right back to Rosario, who spun and nailed Posey by several feet. It would be that kind of night for both the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants. "That was awesome," Chatwood said after the Rockies 10-2 rout Saturday night. "That was completely my fault. We had just gone over the signs and I completely whiffed it. So, for that to work out like it did was pretty helpful. "I crossed him up pretty good. But it worked out." Just like the rest of the night did for the Rockies, who capitalized on three more errors by the mistake-prone Giants. The wall was moved up six feet during the off-season when the Rockies added a walkway in front of the first row of box seats behind the plate, and that surely made a difference on the big play that helped thwart a big second inning by San Francisco. "He crossed me up, but thats OK," Rosario said. "I got lucky the ball hit the wall and come back fast to me." Chatwood (2-0) weaved his way in and out of several more sticky situations, allowing seven hits and four walks in 5 2-3 innings -- but he gave up just one run before hitting the showers after a 99-pitch performance. Promoted from Triple-A Colorado Springs before the game for his second stint with the Rockies, Chatwood helped himself out with an RBI single off Tim Lincecum, too. "I enjoy it, its fun," Chatwood said of hitting. Fielding has been a nightmare for the Giants on this trip. "We just came off a really good homestand and everythings that hit is either not at us or were having some difficulties handling tough balls. Its a funk," Giants right fielder Hunter Pence said. In addition to his nifty defensive play to thwart a big second inning, Rosario drove in three runs for the Rockies, who beat the Giants for the second straight time after snapping a 10-game losing streak to them with a 10-9 win one night earlier. Lincecum (3-3) committed a costly throwing error that led to a three-run third inning and also had a balk when he slipped off the mound that led to another run in the fourth before Rosario took him deep for his ninth homer in the fifth. The Giants defensive slump continued despite a team meeting before the game in which manager Bruce Bochy addressed San Franciscos poor play in the field. Then, he watched the Giants commit three more errors, giving them a dozen in the first five games of their six-game trip that wraps up Sunday at Coors Field. Posey airmailed a throw into centre field on Carlos Gonzalezs stolen base attempt in the first inning. Gonzales trotted to third but he was stranded there when Lincecum got Troy Tulowitzki to ground out to short to end the inning. In the top of the second inning, Posey tried to advance to third on a pitch that got past Rosario only to be out by several feet. Brandon Belt followed with a two-out double to the right-field corner. Gregor Blanco drove in Belt with a bloop single to centre, and Brandon Crawford drew an intentional walk before Lincecum was caught looking at the third strike, thwarting what could have been a bigger inning. The Giants second error proved more costly as Lincecums bad throw on a comebacker led to a big third inning for Colorado. "It was just frustrating," Lincecum said. "Just not consistently hitting spots, leaving balls up. Kicking the ball around. That was probably the biggest frustrating thing for myself when I knew I could have made that play. After that I didnt collect myself and concentrate. Kind of unraveled." Dexter Fowler doubled down the left-field line, scoring Charlie Blackmon from second to tie it at 1. Fowler scored when Lincecum fielded Josh Rutledges chopper and threw the ball into right field. Rutledge ended up at third base and trotted home on Gonzalezs groundout. "Trying to make something there out of whats not possible," Bochy said. "Thats what weve got to stop doing, compounding the problem. Weve done it a few too many times. It might have caused him to lose a little focus." Lincecum said the Giants are pressing on defence. "People try to do too much in tough situations because we want to make that big play. Thats who we are," Lincecum said. "When it doesnt get made, it just adds to that frustration." The last time the Giants committed 12 errors in a five-game span was April 18-22, 1996, according to the team. "Errors arent always mental," Lincecum said. "You try to find the silver lining in the effort. Its not for lack of effort. Everyones hustling, everyones trying to make that play, thats why its tough." Lincecum slipped off the rubber while pitching to Blackmon in the fourth, resulting in a balk that sent Nolan Arenado to second base. He took third when Blackmon flied out to centre and scored on Chatwoods single back up the middle, making it 4-1. "My spike slipped on the mound," Lincecum said. "Its happened twice here already." The Giants put runners at the corners in the fifth but Posey grounded out to the mound to end the threat, and Rosarios two-run homer, his ninth, made it 6-1 in the fifth. All of the six runs Lincecum allowed in five innings were earned. He gave up seven hits and walked a pair. Rosarios 60-foot dribbler down the third-base line off Jean Machi in the seventh drove in Fowler from third to make it 7-1. Crawfords RBI single made it 7-2 in the eighth, but he committed San Franciscos third error in the bottom half of the inning when he took his eye off a throw back into the infield, allowing Fowler to advance to second following an RBI single. Notes: Tulowitzki added a two-run single off George Kontos to make it 10-2 ... Josh Outman threw two effective innings of relief and Wilton Lopez got the final four outs. ... Rockies OF Michael Cuddyer says he doubts his neck will bother him again this season after getting an epidural that relieved pain and stiffness. He returned to throwing and taking batting practice Saturday. ... The Giants and Rockies wrap up their four-game series Sunday with LHP Barry Zito (3-2) and RHP Juan Nicasio (3-1) squaring off. Orioles Jerseys 2020 . 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Stitched Orioles Jerseys .Y. - General manager Billy King says the Brooklyn Nets are looking to add a big man and confirmed the team worked out centre Jason Collins, who would become the first openly gay active NBA player if signed. Gordon Greenidge cried the most. Everybody was crying, he couldnt hold himself back.Bangladesh and Netherlands might have played each other only once in international cricket - in Glasgow at that - but they share a bittersweet history; a history of tears of anguish and tears of joy for Bangladesh. Back in 1994, and then in 1997, the two countries were involved in two matches, which though not recognised as internationals, were key to the future of cricket in Bangladesh. Those were in the days of the ICC Trophy, where the Associates take part in tense contests - a tension followers of Test-playing nations can never truly appreciate, and that includes me - just to make it to the World Cup. Just to let the world know they exist.Akram Khan, arguably the greatest entertainer to play for Bangladesh, was involved in both those seminal matches against Netherlands. He is a national selector now, and often comes to watch the Bangladesh nets. On his way to the ground on Sunday, on the eve of a crucial match against Netherlands, all he could think of was those two emotion-filled games - emotion that perhaps surpasses what we have seen in Bangladesh this World Cup.In Nairobi in 1994, Bangladesh had restricted Netherlands to 205. Understandably, the coach, Mohinder Amarnath, then told them not to take any risks while chasing and just to knock the runs down. Bangladesh took the advice too seriously, as Akram remembers, and it turned out to be choddo over, baro run [fourteen overs, 12 runs]. It sounds funny now, but it was a huge setback. Bangladesh ended up losing by 47 runs.Zimbabwe had been granted Test status, thus opening up another slot among the Associates for the first large World Cup, to be played in 1996. Three teams were to qualify from the ICC Trophy, and Bangladesh were the favourites. Thanks to that defeat, though, Netherlands usurped Bangladesh.Akram and Bangladesh were inconsolable then. Bahut takleef hua tha [It hurt us a lot], he says, that we didnt qualify for the 1996 World Cup. We had got all sorts of help from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They all helped us with the infrastructure and facilities. They used to send A teams. We thought we had let them down, our country down, everybody down.Three years later Bangladesh went into another ICC Trophy, this time in Kuala Lumpur, as the favourites. They had a strong side, so strong they played the same XI throughout the tournament. The matches were covered live on radio, and the whole nation was hooked. They went unbeaten through the tournament, but rain was cruel to them. When they had bowled Ireland out for 129 in a league game, they had to settle for shared points because of rain. That left them in a must-win situation in their last league game against Netherlands at the Rubber Research Institute in Kuala Lumpur.Bangladesh bowled Netherlands out for 171, and they were just one solid chase short of going through to the semi-finals. However, after having gone unbeaten for seven games, they found themselves at 15 for 4. The dream was crashing. This would be too big a heartbreak. The rain arrived again, this time as the saviour. Or so it seemed at that point.Akram and Minhajul Abedin then put together a partnership. Abedin, a wristy batsman, also came from Chittagong, like Akram. The two street-smart cricketers not only got runs, they indulged in some time wasting too: asking for a helmet during an over, fiddling with other equipment, doing whatever they could to delay things. Arguments ensued. Akram now smiles and says, I did some bad things. Not good.We thought if we got away with one point from that game, we would qualify for the semi-final, Akram says. But when we came back, the match referee told us we had to win the game. We were stunned.This is where emotion makes the story hazy. All the journalists, the team themselves, and the fans present there, agree with this version: that when Bangladesh came off they thought a draw would be enough, but learned to their horror that nothing less than a win would do.That does not sound entirely accurate because Bangladesh went into that game with three points and Netherlands with one. Ireland had already qualified with five points. So a no-result would have taken Bangladesh to four and Netherlands would have been stuck at two.dddddddddddd A defeat for Bangladesh, though, would have tied Netherlands at three points, in which case Netherlands would have advanced based on the head-to-head.There are two plausible explanations for the delaying tactics Bangladesh employed and the celebrations that greeted the rain. Bangladesh may have realised that with the partnership between Akram and Abedin, they were ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score, and by slowing the game down they were just ensuring that lead. However, just before they came off, Abedin was run out, which could have pushed them just behind on the reckoning, which would have meant they would lose if no further play was possible.Also D/L was a new beast back then, and perhaps Bangladesh didnt realise they had already played the minimum number of overs required to constitute a game and were now going to lose.Then again, perhaps the version accepted in Bangladesh is correct, and this conjecture is merely conjecture. Its all trivial, though. What is important is that the whole of Bangladesh, glued to the radio, was praying for rain, and once it stopped play, they celebrated. Then came the news that this wasnt good enough for them to qualify. The news was relayed on radio. Everybody who prayed for rain was now praying for the resumption of the game. We worried about our futures, Akram says. All negative thoughts came to our mind. The failure in 1994. And now we thought we might never be able to play international cricket.Woh jumme ka din tha [It was a Friday]. A lot of Bengalis come to work in Malaysia. They all turned up at the ground. Everybody started praying. Luckily the rain stopped and the play resumed and we had a revised target.Akram then produced an innings on which Bangladesh cricket stands today, as anybody in the country will tell you. Those who were present there say it was a chanceless innings, with no sense of panic or hurry. I believed if I stayed there till the end, we would win this, Akram says. Nannu [Abedin] was a vital player. He had performed well in domestic cricket, and I got a partnership with him and then one with Saiful Islam. In the end I stayed not out.That kicked off wild celebrations. Athar Ali Khan, who opened the batting in that game, says it was the same as what we have seen on the streets of Dhaka and Chittagong this year after the national teams wins over England and Ireland. My body was draped in the Bangladesh national flag, and we didnt leave the ground for a long, long time.Akram says everybody cried that day. The journalists, and their friends, say they cried too. Gordon [Greenidge, their coach] cried the most. Everybody was crying, he couldnt hold himself back.Gordon Greenidge crying. Just imagine a win that makes Greenidge cry; a man who had come from a different country, a different culture. The owner of one of the fiercest square-cuts ever seen, the man with the double-century on one leg, the man whose image first comes to mind when the words beware the wounded batsman are said; Greenidge cried after that win. Thats how much it meant to the team.I ask Akram if he agrees with what everyone tells me. Was this the single most important innings in the history of Bangladesh cricket? He pauses. Says yes. Then laughs. Says yes again. It cannot be denied. For because of that innings, Bangladesh played the semi-final, then the final, then the World Cup, where they beat Pakistan and got Test status. If they had lost on that jumme ka din, there would have been no World Cup, and who knows how long they would have had to wait to qualify for a World Cup.We all talk about the pressure of expectation on the current team, but at least they know they will be playing international cricket even if they lose. They knew they would be playing international cricket even when they went 47 games without a win. The class of 1997, though, even after having gone unbeaten in that tournament until then, didnt know if they would ever get to play if they lost that day. It wasnt quite a Messerschmitt up the arse, but surely Keith Miller wouldnt have scoffed if Akram told him he was under pressure that day. ' ' '