Whatmore Pleased With Preparation

[chinaman]

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore said that the Tigers now have the right approach and can assess the situation better.
"I think attitude and understanding are the main differences between previous series' and the coming series," said Whatmore yesterday while talking with reporters after his charges had their last practice session at the Bangabandhu National Stadium before their departure for the African nation of Namibia on January 28.

A 16-member Bangladesh team will leave on Wednesday night for Namibia where they will play three limited-over and one three-day match against the ICC associate members before leaving for Zimbabwe on February 10.

For new skipper Habibul Bashar it will be a second trip to Zimbabwe but a much different one than the first.

"We were totally raw when we first toured Zimbabwe. But now we have experience. I am confident of a better performance this time," said Bashar.

The 31-year-old thanked his predecessor Khaled Mahmud for transforming the squad into a fighting and organised unit.

"Mahmud regrouped the team after our World Cup disaster, which was a great achievement. It has made my job easier," said Bangladesh's most successful batsmen.

Whatmore expressed his satisfaction over the extensive preparation of the Bangladesh team. A number of expert foreign coaches and specialists assisted Whatmore in preparing the Tigers,

"It was a very wonderful two-months preparation for the team. We started the camp in December and after Christmas, we resumed it in the first week of January. I am totally satisfied with the preparation," said Whatmore.

Former Bangladesh coach Trevor Chappell worked as a specialist fielding coach while Sri Lanka-born Australian Owen Mattau gave batting tips to the Tigers. Australian psychologist Anthony Stuart conducted special sessions with the cricketers to make them mentally stronger.

Whatmore however cautioned his boys that there was no chance of taking Zimbabwe lightly although they are struggling at the moment in the international arena.

"I think it is silly to take any opponent lightly because we are the underdogs no matter who we play against. And Zimbabwe played brilliant cricket recently against the West Indies on their home soil," said Whatmore.

Whatmore believed that the players improved in bowling and fielding but he was still a bit worried about his batters.

Source: Daily Star

[BangladeshCricket]

We tried with lots of combinations still we haven't found a batsman who can take our team to even not to a winning position but to a respectable position...may be we need to send our players(batsmen) to leagues or like tournaments like Patrons trophy or English leagues...otherwise we will not improve.Period. We have been practicing cricket professionaly and seriously after late 70's and midd 80's but still after the improvement we got in mid 90's we just stopped improving comparing to the other teams' improvements in world cricket. I know it takes time but atleast we were not correcting the mistakes(especially the batsmen). We never expected a dramatic win..but atleast they should have try to work with their mistakes..I guess don matter what unless we give heavy training it wont be fixed.
And our bowling got better, but still quality bowler is missing except Masri, and tapash otherwise other pacers is not threatening at all. and thank to Rafiq otherwise we woouldn't have any bolwing weapons to even face the world class teams.
Whatmore is confident and optimistic, also I am. but If we don't change our structure and training systems, we won't improve that much. We really need to consider about it. Thanks.