Whatmore widens view
Dav Whatmore said that he was thinking beyond the selected twenty to shape up a final squad for the coming home series against England.
The Sri Lankan-born Australian, who is preparing for his first home series as Bangladesh coach, made this bending remark on the first day of the national camp since the team returned from Pakistan on September 24.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "Anybody can be picked, even from outside the squad," said Whatmore during the training at the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.
The desire of Whatmore to widen the area before the final selection not only pressed the panic button among the primarily selected 20 cricketers but also left chief selector Faruque Ahmed in an uncomfortable situation.
Faruque had earlier categorically mentioned that there was little or no chance for anyone outside the primarily selected players to win a place in the final squad for the two Tests and three one-day internationals against England.
Michael Vaughan's England will fly in in Dhaka on October 8 to play their first full series against Bangladesh.
Whatmore, who is seriously considering the English challenge on home soil as a platform to end Bangladesh's non-stop defeat syndrome, also admitted his team lack a couple of good middle-order batsmen after the axe fell on talented young right-hander Moha-mmad Ashraful and all-rounder Sanwar Hossain.
Ashraful had a miserable tour in Pakistan and Sanwar's off-spin looked harmless.
Presently Whatmore is left with captain Khaled Mahmud and Mushfiqur Rahman to fill up the void after the selectors decided in favour of more slow bowlers keeping in mind the weaknesses of England batsmen against spinners, particularly in this part of the world.
Leg-spinner Mosaddek Hossain is one of the two new inclusions in the side while the other is off-spinner Fahim Muntasir.
But Whatmore was clearly not excited about the two young slow bowlers.
"I have seen a bit of Fahim, but the other bowler (Mosaddek) had gone abroad for training. It's too early to make a judgement about how good they are without seeing them in training for sometime," said the 49-year-old.
Mosaddek is now attending a special training on spin bowling in Mumbai and the leg-spinner will join the camp on October 11.
While Whatmore appeared focussed in striking a balanced combination before the first Test against England from October 21, his captain Mahmud was more concerned about his own performance.
"My first target is to prepare myself as a worthy member of the team. It's not an easy job. Although I have done my part well as a bowler in the series against Pakistan, I am still unhappy with my batting," said Mahmud.
He said that he was confident to carry on with the good work in Pakistan.
"We are not thinking of winning or losing, rather we want to continue with the process we initiated during the Australia tour. We want to maintain the upward performance graph in the coming series."
However, Mahmud expressed his ignorance about the composition of the team.
"The selectors didn't call me when the 20-member squad was named. So, I don't know what was the plan behind the selection. Maybe they will call me before the final selection," said the diminutive all-rounder.
He also said that he was yet to discuss this matter with Whatmore.
Mahmud however warned that the idea of a spin-friendly wicket to take home advantage might backfire as it did against South Africa early this year.
"You saw that the slow-wicket strategy backfired against the South Africans. Paul Adams took full advantage of the condition to destroy us. England have also some good spinners, so we should be careful before making a final decision," he said adding that he would prefer a batting-friendly wicket.
"Actually we do not have a strong point in any department. But I still believe that batting is our main strength."
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