BSS, Chattogram :
Jamie Siddons, the new batting consultant of Bangladesh national team was excited to see a lot of talented players here, who, he thought, had already made his job already half done.
Siddons who was the former head coach of Bangladesh said that the players just needed to have self belief and the technique to thrive in the foreign conditions.
According to him, Bangladesh are already a powerful team at home as they won 12 of the last 13 bilateral series since June, 2014 but the main challenge of the Tigers now would be to win matches at a broad in consistent basis.
“There are four or five six-foot tall fast bowlers who bowl 140-plus (kph). It is quite exciting to me. You still have the world’s best allrounder (Shakib Al Hasan) who delivers nearly every day that he plays, whether with the bat or ball,” Siddons said on Saturday in his first interaction with the media after coming to Bangladesh as batting consultant.
He particularly singled out the names of Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Afif Hossain and Liton Das who were instrumental in Bangladesh’s last two wins against Afghanistan.
Mehidy and Afif put on a record 174-run for the seventh wicket after Bangladesh reduced to 45-6 in the first ODI, chasing a target of 216. But their partnership helped Bangladesh win the game by four wickets from the jaws of defeat.
Liton in the second game struck a sublime 136 to guide Bangladesh to an 88-run win and take an unassailable 2-0 lead.
“I have already seen some young talent in the two games: Miraz, Afif and Litton. They are quality, classy and calm cricketers who will only get better. The more they play, the more times they will perform in big matches. These are pressure games for our boys. They had to win these games. The young players stood up which is great to see. The senior players we know will stand up at one point but they need the young players as well to help them out. That’s the exciting part.” “My job is half done because the class of players is already there. When we go against South Africa, Australia and India, they have four of those. They got three quality spinners coming at them too, so there’s no respite. There’s no easy runs. That’s where we will be challenged. That’s where we
have to be improved, and be ready for it in their conditions. We have got a long way to go to get to that point, but we are a really good cricket team. We need to continue to do that. The young players just need to take that extra step so that they perform overseas all the time,” he said, disclosing the challenging factors for Bangladesh in the coming days.
According to Siddons, the senior players knew their role and performed on a regular basis and now it is up to junior players who make an impact everywhere. He believes that the players like Liton, Afif and others have the credentials to fulfill what Bangladesh want.
