The Bangladesh women cricketers need to develop an aggressive attitude towards their opponents in the coming days to excel in international cricket, said new Australian coach Shane Deitz on Thursday. Members of the national women’s team are going through a rigorous training programme under the watchful eyes of Deitz, who was appointed on November 14 ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 2014.
‘We must have the attitude like the Tigers and we must be aggressive towards the opponents,’ said Deitz, the former South Australian batsman. ‘I noticed it is something that is missing and what I am looking to change.
‘The first week I just watched lots of games to find out where we are and what our strengths and weaknesses are. Now, I developed a programme leading up to the World Cup. The girls are already starting to show a good improvement.’
Deitz said that in his first few days as the coach he has found batting to be one of the weakest links of the Bangladesh women’s team along with the physical aspects and the tactical senses.
‘Our batting is weaker than our bowling while our fitness and strength is not as good as Australia and New Zealand,’ said Deitz.
‘There is some lacking in the tactical sense like what to do in a certain situation and it is the biggest thing that I got to teach them,’ he said, who appeared in 66 first-class matches in a ten-year (1998 to 2008) playing career.
Deitz was the High Performance Coach of Wellington Firebirds in New Zealand prior to his Bangladesh assignment.
‘The possibility in women’s cricket is huge,’ observed Deitz. ‘These girls never had a professional training scheme before. I hope in future if we can have money we can develop a good team for the 2017 [2019] World Cup [50-over],’ said the 38-year-old, looking beyond next year’s ICC World Twenty20.
Deitz, under the initial agreement with the Bangladesh Cricket Board, will stay in charge of the women’s team until after the end of the ICC World Twenty20, Bangladesh 2014.
Deitz, who holds a Cricket Australia Level-3 Cricket Coaching Accreditation and is a presenter for Level 1 and 2 cricket coaching courses, added that the BCB needs to expand an infrastructure to develop women’s cricket.
‘The dominant countries in the world in women’s cricket have a national
programme and a development programme along with a good domestic programme and a youth programme. So I think in the future I am sure the BCB will want to do this,’ said Deitz.
‘Captain Salma [Khatun], opener Shuktara [Jakir], pace bowler Jahanara [Alam] and spinner [Khadijatul] Kubra are all world class players. We have got five to six close to world class players and if we can get the rest close to them we will have a competitive team,’ he added.
Deitz added that former national coach Jamie Siddons had a role in his decision to apply for the post.
‘I played with Jamie [Siddons] for South Australia, then he was my coach in South Australia and then in Wellington, New Zealand he was head coach and I was his assistant. Jamie said “Bangladesh is a great place and you will love it”,’ he said.
-With New Age input
