Improvement of individual skills has now become a top priority as Bangladesh began their practice with the World Cup cricket in their mind at the Sher-a-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday.
Coach Jamie Siddons divided the 26 players of the preliminary squad into four groups with one group called for net practice while the others were kept busy in the field by new recruit Julien Fountain.
On the first day, the batting group included Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Roqibul Hassan, Jahirul Islam, Imrul Kayes and Nazimuddin and all they had practised in the nets were reverse sweeps and drives.
In the centre wicket they, however, were allowed to play all kinds of shots.
‘I always wanted to put emphasis on this kind of training. It gives me an opportunity to work with them individually for a long period as we are still a month away from the series,’ said coach Jamie Siddons.
Prolific opener Tamim Iqbal, who recently was nominated by the International Cricket Council for the Test Player of the Year award, welcomed the idea.
‘This is a new concept of training which we have not done earlier. I really enjoyed it,’ Tamim told reporters after a gruelling net session. ‘Earlier we used to bat for half an hour while today [Sunday] I batted more than two hours.’
‘Naturally if we could continue in this manner then we are sure to put up a good show against the Kiwis,’ said Tamim, who was carrying a wrist injury and was hoping to fly out to Australia sooner than later for an expert opinion.
The new fielding coach Julien Fountain had also sweated on the first day of business and was the last man to come out of the field after spending more than three-and-a-half hours with the players.
The batsmen, who spent time in the nets, were also called onto the field to take elementary lessons from Fountain.
Skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza was among his keen students and he was visibly impressed.
‘We are really very
keen to improve our fielding and under the new coach we are bound to improve. He seemed very professional from the beginning and I am impressed,’ Mashrafee told reporters.
‘Hopefully the improvement will be reflected in the coming series against the Kiwis,’ added the skipper underlining the need for a fielding coach.
