Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh’s newly appointed batting coach, said on Saturday that they need to be patient with the youngsters if they want them to shine in international cricket.
Siddons, who worked with the national set-up earlier as their head coach, is enjoying his second stint in Bangladesh after BCB appointed him as their batting consultant and later included him in the support staff of the senior men’s side after Ashwell Prince decided to step down.
Jamie had been a crucial hand behind developing senior batters like Tamim Iqbal and Shakib al Hasan during his tenure as the team’s head coach. The Australian, who has bee in Bangladesh since the first week of February, watched the recently-concluded edition of the Bangladesh Premier League very closely to know more about the current crop of cricketers
In the ongoing ODIs series against Afghanistan cricketers like Afif Hossain and Mehedy Hasan excelled in the opening game while Liton Das scored a blazing hundred to help the host seal the series with one game in hand.
“I have already seen some young talent in the two games: Miraz, Afif and Litton. They are quality, classy and calm cricketers who will only get better. The more they play, the more times they will perform in big matches. These are pressure games for our boys. They had to win these games. The young players stood up which is great to see. The senior players we know will stand up at one point but they need the young players as well to help them out. That’s the exciting part.” Siddons told reporters at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Saturday.
“We have to remember that Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiqur and Riyad were all inconsistent when they started. We could have dropped them at any stage of their career. If Shakib wasn’t a good bowler, he would have been dropped as a batsman a lot of times before he started to succeed. But he held it together because he was a good potential batsman. We have got some potential superstars here. We have to give them time, pick the right ones and nurture them. We should give them opportunities without putting too much pressure on them. I have no doubt that they will be the new Shakibs and Tamims.”
Siddons added that Tamim is yet to play his best cricket and it can be achieved with minor tweaks in his footwork.
“Tamimwants to straighten up his front foot. It won’t happen really quickly, but we are talking about long-term. If he is going to play for the next three or four years he has to straighten his front foot up a bit and he will have a lot more success. If he doesn’t get out lbw, they will find it very hard to get him out. He will play a lot of runs. I can see his best cricket is still ahead of him.”
Siddons added that he is aware that Bangladesh need to utilize the powerplay well in the T20Is considering that is their weakest link while also adding that the team needs to emphasise on finishing off the game well if they want to do well in the shortest format.
“T20s is the focus, because it is the next World Cup but we are also preparing for a lot of games. It won’t be me making experiments with the team. I will be working with whatever batter I am handed. We will definitely have a list of players in line for T20 cricket. I will try to improve them in that format.
“We are looking to get better at our starts, our powerplays in T20s, and definitely finishing a bit better than we do.”
Siddons noted that Bangladesh are well aware that Afghanistan will be a harder opponent in the two-match T20I series, scheduled following the ongoing ODIs.
“Afghanistan probably play better T20 cricket at the moment than they do ODI cricket. We know it is their favourite format. We know we have a lot of improvement to do from the World Cup, part of that is the first four overs, and sustaining that smart aggression, and finishing the game. We have to score more runs quicker to win against Afghanistan.”
