Bangladesh cricketers had a fanfare when they were taken to the Kurmitola Golf Club on Tuesday for the practice of golf which has things common with cricket.
All 26 the cricketers but Sakib al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal joined coach Jamie Siddons and his assistant Julien Fountain at the golf club where they stayed for about two hours.
‘We really enjoyed it,’ batsman Mohammad Ashraful told reporters. ‘It was very much useful. Many of us have a problem with back-lift. If we can continue playing golf regularly, I think we can overcome the problem.’
‘In golf, players need to drag the club from back before hitting the ball. You need to do this if want to take a big hit or hit a six. It gives the ball some additional force and also helps it swing. I think we all can learn the trick from golf,’ said Ashraful.
Not everyone in the side, however, took it as seriously as Ashraful did. Skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza saw some adventure in golf which he said had helped the players to remove their fatigue.
‘We have learnt a new game and everyone enjoyed it. That is the most important thing,’ Mashrafee said.
Pacer Nazmul Hossain said although the game was new to them it took the players only few minutes to learn the basics.
‘I hardly imagined it is such a wonderful game. Within a few minutes, we learnt how to play it and then everybody got busy hitting the ball and targeting the hole,’ said.
The team will have their last practice session before the break today. The selectors are expected to name the final squad today for New Zealand in a five-match ODI series in October.
