Russell Domingo believes Bangladesh have all the tools to become a cricket powerhouse

Waseem Ahmed 17:33 18/08/2019
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  • Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo.

    Newly appointed Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo believes that the team has the potential to become a ‘powerhouse’ in the world of cricket.

    The former South Africa coach beat off competition from the likes of Mike Hesson and Andy Flower to land the Bangladesh job and he is excited by the project on hand with the Tigers.

    “If you look around the world, Bangladesh seem to be one of the teams that has developed the most over the last five or six years,” Domingo told ESPNcricinfo in an interview.

    “They have an unbelievable fan base. Having met the board, they definitely seem to have a plan. There is definitely a big interest in the future of the game, in some of the younger players coming through.

    “Everything looks in place to be a real powerhouse in world cricket, and that has really excited me about Bangladesh.”

    Under their previous coach Steve Rhodes, Bangladesh recently finished a disappointing eighth in the 2019 World Cup in England despite starting the campaign with much promise. Domingo, however, has seen plenty of encouraging signs from Bangladesh in the tournament and believes that the eighth-place finish will form a steep learning curve for the ODI team.

    “I am excited with what I saw [of Bangladesh] in the World Cup. There were so many games when they got really close,” Domingo stated.

    “You think of the game against New Zealand, it was a missed run out opportunity that made the difference in not reaching the semifinal. The margins are so small that it is about overcoming the mental obstacles.

    “Now that the World Cup is done, it is time to move forward and take the learnings into the next World Cup.”

    The Tigers were most recently whitewashed 0-3 in an ODI series in Sri Lanka after parting ways with Steve Rhodes but Domingo is refusing to read too much into a performance that came immediately in the aftermath of the World Cup.

    “I have been there as a national coach. I was there when South Africa lost the World Cup semifinal (in 2015 against New Zealand). It took us a long time to overcome that particular defeat,” he said.

    “Look, I am not reading too much into the side’s performance in Sri Lanka simply because straight after a World Cup, it is so hard to get yourselves going once again,” Domingo added.

    Domingo’s first assignment with Bangladesh will be one-off four-day Test against Afghanistan at Chattogram which gets underway on September 5. The Tigers will then host a T20 tri-series also involving Zimbabwe and Afghanistan before they embark on a tour of India in November.

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