Bangladesh U-19 team depart for England today
The Bangladesh Under-19 squad begins its tour of England today, with high hopes and aspirations to perform well in the youth tri-nation series with the hosts and Pakistan.
Bangladesh start their campaign with a practice match against EDP U-17 team on August 2 before taking on the Pakistan side on August 5. The rest of their matches in the group phase are on August 7, 9, 11, 12, and 15. The final is on August 19.
The team is scheduled to return to Bangladesh on August 21.
The 15-member squad, which went through an intense training programme under BCB-Sahara National Academy manager Richard McInnes and his associates, will be captained by Mehedi Hasan, who is looking forward to the opportunity to enrich his experience.
The right-handed batsman, who was entrusted with the responsibility after his stint as captain of the U-15s and U-17s, and his teammates looked excited during the official photo shoot at the NCA premises on Saturday.
‘It feels really good, but it will feel better if the team performs and we get results,’ Mehedi told reporters.
‘The first responsibility is to make sure that the team performs and that the team works well. I will try my best to live up to the expectations.’
Mehedi added that it would be a mistake to take on any extra pressure, as that would hamper their efforts to perform to their potential.
‘There is no pressure as such because this is our job. The one who takes pressure won’t be able to do well,’ he said.
‘This is the first time I’m going to England, so we worked to get accustomed to those foreign conditions.’
When asked whether he was worried that there were no big names in the side compared to the likes of Sakib al Hasan and Anamul Haque from past youth teams, Mehedi responded positively.
‘There are no big names, but that provides us with the opportunity to create a niche for ourselves,’ he said.
‘We have senior cricketers like Mosaddek Hossain and Abu Hyder, who played in the last World Cup. They are sharing their experience.’
‘Everyone knows about the Bangladeshi spinners but I think we have a formidable pace line-up also. I have faith in the abilities of the four quick bowlers in our team – Abu Hider (Rony), Mehede (Hasan), Mustafizur (Rahman) and Rifat (Pradhan),’ he added.
Leg-spinner Jubair Hossain is confident that he will be able to perform to expectations after his superlative performance in the last home series against Sri Lanka, where he was among the leading wicket-takers.
‘Everyone feels that the pace bowlers will do well in England, but I am also confident that I will do well because of my preparation,’ said Jubair.
‘I have been learning to pitch the ball in the right areas and, if I can do that, success will surely follow.’
‘In the Champions League spinners did well, which also makes me confident,’ he added.
Both players, along with other team members, were keen to avail of the opportunity to travel around the UK and see different places that will enrich their experience.
Under-19 coach Richard McInnes was also optimistic but was keen to focus on process.
‘I like to focus on the processes, not the outcomes. If we get our processes right we will win games, history tells you that,’ McInnes was quoted as saying in a BCB press release.
‘If we bowl in consistently good areas, while varying our pace and angles, with well set, assertive fields we will have success,’ said McInnes.
‘If we rotate the strike well by backing and knowing each other’s games well we will prevent bowlers creating pressure on us and be able to keep the score board moving.
‘If we constantly get ourselves into good positions on the field we will be ready to take the half-chances and able to turn the game in our favour by taking catches and affecting run outs. If we do all or most of those things more than our opponents then we can win. If we don’t, we won’t,’ he added.
-With New Age input
