New coach Russell Domingo wants Bangladesh to place greater emphasis on Test cricket

Waseem Ahmed 09:16 22/08/2019
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  • Russell Domino (r). Image credit - BangladeshCricket/Twitter.

    Newly appointed head coach Russell Domingo had identified the need for Bangladesh to play more Test cricket if the side are to improve from their current ICC ranking of nine.

    The former South Africa coach’s first assignment with the Bangladesh team will be a one-off Test against Afghanistan that gets underway on September 5. With the inaugural cycle of the World Test Championship getting underway earlier this month, Domingo wants the Tigers to shift their focus from limited-overs to red-ball cricket for the near future.

    “It’s hard to get any sort of rhythm in your Test match cricket if you’re not playing that many Test matches,” Domingo said in his maiden media interaction since taking over as Bangladesh head coach.

    “With the new Test Championship, that allows a team to focus a lot more on Test match cricket. We know often Bangladesh play one- or two-Test series. Hopefully now there will be three-Test series, four-Test series, which gets them more into that format.

    “A lot of that focus now needs to move away from the World Cup and the 50-over format into Test match cricket. So it will be a good start to put a lot more focus and emphasis on our red-ball skills in the next couple of months.”

    Bangladesh’s last Test assignment came against New Zealand at the start of the year with the side falling to a 0-2 defeat. The Tigers have failed to show the same improvements in the Test format as they have done in limited-overs cricket with just one series victory over West Indies to show for in the last four years.

    Domingo believes that a greater emphasis on red-ball cricket and more scheduling of Tests can help combat those woes.

    “It’s a massive opportunity for Bangladesh to compete regularly in Test match cricket. Their last Test match was maybe six months ago, we can hardly remember when it was,” he said.

    “The more you play the better you’re going to get in the format. That’s probably where they have been lacking, they haven’t played a lot of Test match cricket.

    “If you look at England, Australia, India, and weigh those up against the number of Tests Bangladesh have played, you can understand why they are the leading sides in the world in that format.”

    Russell will be joined by his compatriot Charles Langeveldt in the Bangladesh coaching staff with the former South Africa seamer taking over as bowling coach. The pair have joined the the ongoing conditioning camp for Bangladesh players at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.

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