Members of Bangladesh cricket team (from left) Mushfiqur Rahim, Elias Sunny , Nazmul Hossain and Abdur Razzak share a light moment during a swimming session at the Pan Pacific Sonagoan Hotel on Satuday. — Staff Correspondent
When West Indies are planning to exploit Bangladesh’s weakness against short-pitched delivery in the upcoming series, the new generation of batsmen said they are well equipped to handle this kind of ball.
The fifth batch of the GP-BCB Academy completed their course on Saturday fully knowing that they have been given enough lessons on how to handle the short-pitch bowling that might come their way in future.
‘After completing this training all I can say is that I am more comfortable against short balls,’ said left-handed batsman Mominul Hoque. ‘It is an area that gave me a major concern before I enrolled at the Academy.’
The Bangladesh Cricket Board made a drastic change in their style of running the academy last year and this batch was to be the first beneficiary of the new policy.
The BCB appointed Australian Ross Turner as the head coach of the academy in April and he unveiled a completely new curriculum for the 24 players to help them learn everything – from batting and bowling technique to off-the-field activities.
They players underwent a month-long special training camp under the supervision of Australian Alan Campbell and Geoff Lawson, who gave them valuable tips on batting, wicketkeeping and bowling.
‘Allan [Campbell] showed me how to duck against fast bowling and taught me what to do when the ball is coming to my chest height,’ said Mominul. ‘This is the most important lesson for me as I am now more comfortable against short-pitch bowling.
Momiul said he already had practical experience of handling short-pitch bowling when they toured South Africa in April.
They suffered a 2-1 defeat in the one-day series, went down 1-0 in the two-match four-day series and also lost both the T-20 games. But Mominul said it was still a very good learning experience for them in a testing South African condition.
‘The tour of South Africa helped me a lot as I had to go through some real hard times in that series against fast bowling,’ said Mominul, who was outstanding throughout the tour that has already caught the attention of the selectors. The left-hander played for the Bangladesh A team in the BCB Cup and will have another shot today when he will play for BCB XI in the Twenty20 warm-up match against West Indies.
Mominul is just not alone to improve his skills against pace bowling at the Academy. Opening batsman Myshukur Rahman said he is also confident now to handle short-pitch deliveries.
‘We had several sessions on how to handle the pace bowlers. One of the things that really bothered me is how to make a decision in the face hostile pace bowling,’ he said.
‘Apart from that we had different classes regarding our lifestyle which I think was really important as a player’s career-span is only 10 to 15 years and each day is important ,’ he added.
Alauddin Babu, another find of the academy, who has been identified as a potential all-rounder by Turner, is also indebted to his academy life.
‘We worked very hard on our skill and fitness which are necessary to be a genuine fast bowler,’ said Babu.
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