Jurgensen in high spirits

It might have been a tough day for the Bangla-deshi bowlers but interim head coach Shane Jurgensen praised his bowlers highly despite there being little to smile about on the second day of the second and final Test against West Indies at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium yesterday.
The patient batting from Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo denied the Bangladesh bowlers, who were excellent in their line and length on a very unfavourable track. The pair added 198 runs for the unbeaten third-wicket stand. The question however was whether Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim could have been more attacking to unsettle the two batsmen who played uncharacteristically cautious knocks.
Jurgensen though defended his skipper and gave full credit to him for keeping the West Indies batsmen in control.
“I think he had a nice balance, people at short cover, people in close. They were getting a good partnership, but it was important we didn't give away too many runs. I thought his captaincy was excellent today. They batted well, but I was proud of the way the bowlers stuck to their plan. I thought our fielding was also fantastic,” observed Jurgensen, who is mainly a specialist bowling coach.
He acclaimed the effort of pacer Rubel Hossain, whose one wicket was poor return for his fine performance. Jurgensen also praised Shakib Al Hasan for his improved bowling.
“Rubel was great today, really attacking. The wicket has less bounce than Mirpur so it is hard work for fast bowlers. What I saw from him today, is what I need to see. He bowled at a good pace, he just kept the pressure on. Shakib has bowled better than the last Test,” said the excited Bangladesh coach.
When asked about debutant paceman Abul Hasan's bowling, he said; “He was very nervous. It was his first bowl in a Test match, so he would have liked to be a little closer to the off-stump in the first over. As he bowled more and more, he was comfortable and got a good rhythm. It is a very tough wicket to be coming across in your first Test match.”
But there was a cause for concern for Jurgensen after the way his top order batsmen gave away their wickets, especially after good starts. “I'd like our batsmen to score more 100s. We needed to score more runs. We have got 20s, 30s, but there's got to be more effort to apply themselves.
The last two days, we have proven a few things to a few people. Eight batters got starts, I'm trying to look at it as positively as possible. The partnership in the end was fantastic. We would have liked to have scored over 400, but it didn't happen,” he added.
But for today the Bangladesh coach would love to see his team bowl well to turn the tables.
“I want to see more of what I saw today. Once we get that early wicket, we can create more pressure. We need to bowl well as a team, I can't have one bowling well and the other guy leaking a couple of runs,” he said.