ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
Siddons seeks to move on
Our Correspondent, Chittagong
Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons admitted that his confidence was ‘dented’ by the humiliating loss to West Indies last Friday, but was keen on forgetting the setback and moving on.
“The boys are still shell-shocked. They are sad about what happened and the performance we put up. My confidence is a bit dented as well,” Siddons, who was speaking at a press conference at Chittagong’s Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, replied when asked how they were taking the nine-wicket loss. “Today is another day. We are back on the park now. It should all be forgotten. We’ll move on. I don’t expect anybody else to forget it, but we need to forget it and move forward.”
The Tigers are in Chittagong for their must-win encounters against England on the 11th and the Netherlands on the 14th.
In the face of stiff criticism and public outcry, Siddons defended his players saying that it was a matter of things going wrong on the day. “The public needs to realise it, and I think they do, that the players were the most devastated, most embarrassed, most upset by the result. They don’t go out there to play cricket like that. We are very keen to bounce back.
“It just fell apart on that one day. I don’t want to over-analyse that. That will not get us anywhere. But we need to learn from it, and the players are aware of that. They need to change a few things and stick to the team plans, which they didn’t do well in that match, and not even against Ireland. They went away from what has been successful for us.”
The coach said that the criticism from newspapers and past players affected each individual differently, and expressed his discontent at the comment of some former players. “We try not to read the paper or listen to what people say. A lot of players are disappointed by the past players. And I am also disappointed with some of the past players that are saying stuff about me as well.”
Asked how the mood in the camp was ahead of their crucial tie against England, Siddons said, “Definitely more determined. And [the West Indies game] also makes us realise where we are at. We need to improve some things, and we can be — because of our youth and age — up and down. Don’t expect us to be that down, though. We have been playing better cricket for the last 12 months, and that was out of the blue. No one expected that, that’s why we are so devastated.”
The focus must now shift to the England game and Siddons seemed optimistic. “We have played them [England] recently here.
We played pretty well against them in Dhaka and here. They are struggling, but they are still a very good cricket team. They are not struggling as much as we did the other day,” Siddons said, and mentioned how crucial local player Tamim Iqbal would be in their next assignment.
“He is one of our key players, we need him to start well. He is determined and
confident of doing that. He played well last time here, and he likes playing against England.”
Courtesy of The Daily Star
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