Players work hard to face England
Nannu thinks Afghanistan series will help Tigers warm-up well
Sports Reporter
Chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu was also hopeful that the ODI series against Afghanistan ahead of the series against England would be materialised to give the players a much-needed match practice what is imperative ahead of taking on an inform English team.
Nannu apparently was worried about the long gap that Bangladesh has been going through from the international cricket circuit. They havent been playing Test and ODI cricket since July and November 2015, respectively.
As we havent been in cricket for long, I couldnt tell the exact condition of the players. You indeed couldnt judge a player if he is not in cricket. But we have done enough skill training and from what I have seen that the players remain confident about showing a good performance, Nannu said yesterday.
We have the lack of match practice because of not playing international cricket for long period. We had plans to start the BCL before the England series so we could fill up the deficit of match practice as we have. If Afghanistan comes here, it will be great as it will give us a perfect match practice, said Minhajul Abedin, who is preparing himself for the Masters Cricket Carnival, a tournament that will be played by the former cricketers at Coxs Bazar.
The chief selector said that he does not see any cause to not play better cricket against England if they have right mentality. He said that they this year will do better in Test what they could not do earlier.
Ive been in selection committee since five years. After forming squad if players cant play well then the blame first falls on us. I think last three years we have improved a lot in one day format what we didnt do in Test. As we this year will play so many Test matches we will improve in Test also, the selector opined.
Former captain said that they have selected squads for the BCL so they could bring forward a good number of players for the teams future.
All the best players of the Bangladesh are in the BCL. Weve kept those who did well in NCL. Weve kept some players, who have ability to give more as we expected from them. Along with that, they could be used to longer version, he said, adding BCL will start in due time. We have Test series ahead against England. Batsmen needed to bat a longer period and bowlers have to bowl in longer spell. If you are not in games for a longer period then you needed to play in more times. I think BCL will give more confidence in players.
The 50-year-old said that they have kept ready their plans to make change in the face of the situation.
We had plans that those, who will play ODI series against England, will play the first round of the BCL games. But those, who will play Test, will also play the second round. If Afghanistan come then we have to bring a change in our plan, he said.
When asked to watch the ongoing series between Pakistan and England, Nannu said that they are hopeful of making a tough fight against the experienced English side.
Of course we watch their games. England is a vast experienced side. You cant compare them with us. They are much more experienced than us. They toured a lot in our subcontinent, he said.
But were confident as we play a better cricket in our home soil. Weve furnished our team as per our planning. Im also confident of presenting a good series against England this time, he also said.
The chief selector said that they will announce their final squad before the onset of the Eid vacation.
