Bangladesh women’s cricket team coach Oshadee Werrasinghe found it hard to predict the outcome of their three-match Twenty20 series against South Africa which begins today at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium as he thinks both team are in good touch.
The first match is scheduled for a 10:15am (local time) start that will be telecasted live on ATN Bangla.
The home side, after their 2-1 defeat in the three-match One-Day International series, is eyeing to change their fortune on the shortest format of the game.
‘I think the series is unpredictable as both the team are playing good cricket at the moment,’ Werrasinghe told reporters at the BCB-Academy ground where the women’s team had their training session ahead of the series.
‘We are confident with our batting and bowling after the first two matches though we did not do well in the last match.
‘I feel we should forget the result of the last match and start everything from the scratch,’ said Werrasinghe.
The Sri Lankan hinted a change in the batting order of the eves as the openers are not putting enough runs on the scoreboard and the management is planning to lift in-form Lata Mondol and Rumana Ahmed up the order.
He was also confident that the team would display their fielding capability, which is considered to be a major concern for the hosts, that he believes is not that bad as it seemed in the last two ODIs.
Bangladesh dropped six catches in the two matches that eventually cost them dearly as South Africa won both the games to clinch the series after going down in the first match.
‘I think we are not as bad a fielding unit as it seemed. The players are quite capable of holding catches but somehow they have not been able to do that in the last two matches,’ Werrasinghe said.
Overall T20 records, however, suggests Bangladesh, newer to the scene, to be the more successful team between the two. Bangladesh had played two T20Is with a record of a win and a loss while South Africa played 21 matches and had won only three.
Despite the records, South African skipper Mignon du Preez was happy with her team as she thinks that they have achieved their primary goal of learning to play the spinners in the sub-continent.
‘We have developed the habit of playing the spinners that I believe was our primary goal ahead of the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup,’ said Preez.
The players are upbeat after winning the ODI series and I hope we would take the confidence along with us when we take on Bangladesh in the T20 series,’ she said.
-With New Age input
