Bangladesh need to give their best if they want to beat Zimbabwe in the impending five-match one-day international series, warned coach Jaime Siddons on Monday.
‘Zimbabwe came here to play good cricket and they are an improving team. We’ve to be at our best and ensure that we maintain rhythm,’ Siddons said at the official press briefing of the home side.
Asked if he thinks anything other than a clean sweep victory would be deemed as failure, Siddons said it is not a priority at all at the moment for Bangladesh.
‘I am more worried about our game and what cricket we play. We should play good cricket to win the game,’ he said.
‘I would love to win by one run or win the series 3-2. It’s nice to win 5-0. But that’s very difficult. One slip-up against resilient Zimbabwe can make you pay. We have to be ready for that and play our best cricket to win the game.’
The coach indicated it would be a tough job for him to select the best XI after the return of Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Ashraful to the side. The dilemma over Ashraful and Roqibul Hassan for number four slot particularly worries him.
‘Tamim and Mash now back in the team, which makes us stronger. Ash was dropped generally for poor form. He fought back his way. He plays good cricket. Roqibul is there and someone will take the No 4 slot. That’s a matter of decision on who should play,’ he said.
‘Number four is the position I am really worried about. Ash coming in now, Roq comes in now and we need to make this position really stable. Need 1 to 7 positions stable.’
Siddons rated New Zealand, Bangladesh’s opponents in a 4-0 bashing in October, are a better side than the touring Zimbabwe, though he said it does not necessarily mean they will be easier to beat.
‘I think New Zealand are better. But Zimbabwe are very competitive and a hard batting team. They look for good cricket and played great cricket last time. We had to play fantastic cricket in Zimbabwe last time to win the series. Probably we had to score 320 runs to win a match. We need to play that sort of cricket,’ he said.
Sakib al Hasan, who was appointed captain for the series a day earlier, echoed the same views.
‘This is obviously a tough series for us. Definitely there will be pressure on us as the expectations are high after winning the series against New Zealand. But I think if we play to our best, we will win the series and bring up a good result,’ he said.
‘It’s difficult to say what will be the margin. But we should keep improving and not repeat the little mistakes that we did against New Zealand.
‘We are used to setting the target game by game, you know. So the focus will be to win the first ball than the match. So for the time being our target is to win the first match and we are thinking about our start,’ he said.
