Bowling worries Ash
Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful was satisfied that most of his batsmen got some runs in the lone two-day warm-up match to gain confidence ahead of the tough two-Test series against South Africa.
But he was concerned about the lack of discipline from the new ball bowlers despite the fact that right-arm paceman Shahadat Hossain had bowled brilliantly in his second spell on the first day and also produced some good deliveries in the final day to finish with a match haul of five wickets against SAA Challenge XI.
“Our performance was not at all bad in the practice match. But still we are well below our 100 per cent in every discipline,” said the Tigers skipper after the drawn two-dayer in Kimberly.
“We have much to improve in our bowling. We conceded too many runs with the new ball which is not good. We need to bowl in the right areas to make sure we are not conceding too many runs in the initial stage which is very important to put pressure on the opposition,” observed Ashraful.
“Rajib (Shahadat Hossain) was struggling in his first spell but bowled well in his second spell but we are looking forward to getting Mashrafe (Bin Mortaza) back for the first Test and I hope it will be a much better show in the main battle,” he hoped.
Shahadat however was not happy with his overall performance in the match and admitted that he never gave his hundred per cent in any practice match.
“I didn't bowl well in the first spell. Actually my performance was not satisfactory in the practice match. Honestly speaking I never give my best efforts in a practice match. I am looking forward to the Test series,” said the lanky paceman.
He also said that the new bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake has been trying to bring a few changes in his bowling and he would work on the new things in his off-time because it may backfire if he tried anything new right now.
“I got good results following his (Champaka) instructionsto dig in the ball as much as possible and to bowl off an open chest. The two changes bring control in my bowling and I think it will be better day by day,” Shahadat informed.
The Bangladesh captain was not sure whether the right-arm paceman would share the new ball with Mashrafe but it seemed that he was ready to give Imrul Kayes a chance to open the batting with Tamim Iqbal.
“Imrul has a good chance to make his Test debut because I have faith in him. He looked very good against bowlers like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the one-day series and made 86 runs in the practice match,” said Ashraful.
He also praised Mushfiqur Rahim's knock in the practice match.
“I think he (Mushfiq) scored the runs in right time. He played a brilliant innings and it could have been fantastic if he could have got the hundred,” Ashraful said reflecting on the wicketkeeper-batsman's 89.
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