Impossible for us: Jamie
Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons could sugarcoat his team's predicament in the World Twenty20, but he is too straight a shooter.
They have virtually no chance of making the next stage of the tournament after Australia's emphatic win against Pakistan in St Lucia on Sunday, he conceded.
The Bangladeshis take on Australia in Barbados today in the final Pool A match and would need to win by a huge margin to qualify for the Super Eights ahead of Pakistan, who defeated them by 21 runs in the first game.
''I think it's going to be near impossible for us to get through,'' Siddons told the Herald.
''It depends on the calculations - we'll have to sit down and work all of that out and figure out how much we need to win by.
"It's not going to be of any use winning and not have the right margin. We're going to need a reasonable run rate, that's for sure,'' added Siddons.
Because of Australia's huge total of 191 in their tournament opener against Pakistan, scored at a run rate of 10.05, they're almost certainly through to the second round. Bangladesh would need a mighty effort to better Pakistan's net run rate with a sizeable victory over Michael Clarke's side and sneak in ahead of the defending world champions, who were humbled in all aspects of play by the Australians at Gros Islet.
''If Australia score near 200 again then forget it,'' said Siddons, who dared Australia to change their line-up and include an extra paceman on the quicker Barbados pitch. ''They can't fit another paceman in there -- if they do that weakens their batting so it's better for us.''
The Tigers' last chance against the Australians also mean that they hop on to the plane to England early, if they are eliminated, and get to play three practice matches instead of two.
The Australian captain, meanwhile, suggested room might be found for Ryan Harris despite the team's solid display.
''Unfortunately only eleven guys take the field but there's four other guys there who are fighting fit and looking forward to an opportunity. So to me if conditions suit another fast bowler in Barbados, I don't see why not,'' he said.
The 34-run win at Beausejour Cricket Ground was perhaps Australia's finest Twenty20 performance, certainly in a World Twenty20.
It was achieved on the back of Shane Watson's glorious 81 from 49 balls. On Saturday, Watson spent 45 minutes in the nets working with coach Tim Nielsen on his straight lofted drive, complaining that his recent tendency had been to roll over the shot, leaving him prone to leading edges.
Nielsen advised him to keep the lead forearm straight, and the right-hander nailed the shot again and again in oppressive heat.
''In the nets [on Saturday], there was something I've been working on for Twenty20 mainly,'' said Watson, who prefers the front-foot drive along the ground in the longer formats.
''It's good to have another gear up my sleeve. That's something I worked on. Because I haven't played a lot of Twenty20 apart from the IPL over the last year especially, I wasn't exactly doing what I wanted to do.
''I was able to get it going good [on Saturday]. And it came into the game [yesterday] and I was able to execute exactly what I was doing yesterday. ''
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